Dead Horse Canyon and Canyonlands

Day 38    May 13, 2015

Dead Horse Point

Carins marking the trail

Looking into the Colorado canyon

Mesa Arch

The plan today was to see Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park.  Again, another day began early for us.  We went to Dead Horse Point first and got there as they were opening.  Knowing there was going to be exercise during the day we decided at the Visitor’s center to hike out to the point and hike back.  First we looked off of the overlook at the center.  It was really impressive looking down about 1500’ and seeing dirt roads below that were used regularly for off-roading and mountain biking.  As we hiked on toward the point we followed “cairns” (stacked rocks) as trail guides to the location of the trail.  Most of the trail stayed between the road to the point and the bluffs.  The trail was fairly easy but over confidence slips up on us and Jan did a “face plant”.  She came out unscathed, luckily, always a concern for us.  When we arrive at the point, we joined several groups of folks that had driven.  What a view.  We were looking down on the Colorado River as it makes some great curves.  While we were there we watched a helicopter fly down into the canyon and up and down the river.  I was wishing that we could have been inside it.  That will not happen, since Jan doesn’t see any reason to leave solid ground for a better view.  After getting back to the visitor’s center we drove over to Canyonlands.  It was just a few miles across the plateau to it.  We stopped at the visitor’s center to get a plan for our visit. Our first stop was the Upheaval Dome.  The source of this has been a well debated.  As we look out in the crater with the broken dome we draw our own conclusions.  Most of us stand behind the idea that it was created by some type of falling extraterrestrial object.  We stop at Mesa Arch next and see one of the most photographed points within the park.  It really pretty looking through it and seeing buttes on the canyon floor.  More and more people are now arriving at the different lookouts and drive outs.  We headed next for the “Grand View Point Overlook”.  From this point we are able to see the canyons created by both the Green and Colorado rivers.   The hike to it was very easy along the edge of the bluff.  As easy as it was, I found a little rock that grabbed my toe and put me to the ground.  Since I was carrying a camera, I did not want it to hit the ground, so I tucked my left side into the fall and smacked the ground firmly, ouch.  I had a couple to see it happen and they rushed over to the old man and ask if they could help.  Joining them was a medic who wanted to make sure I was coherent, even walking up right that has been a debate among my friends for years.  He held up 3 fingers and asked me how many fingers, with a straight face I told him 4 ½ .  Then looking at him and making sure he knew I was not serious, I told him that I really was okay.  He insisted on seeing me get to my feet and me making my first steps.  I told him that I really did appreciate his concern but that I was okay.  He and the couple were really concerned and I did feel extremely appreciative of it.   The only thing that was actually hurt was my Garmin (broken) and all along my left arm were bruises and an elbow scrap.  Not bad given that over 210 lbs of me hit the ground hard. 

Canyonlands

Getting to the “Point” we looked out into the valley.  It is hard to describe what it looked like, but we compared it to a cookie cutter that created the first canyon and then a smaller cookie cutter cut out another set of cuts below.  This ain’t like any of the hills and valleys of Tennessee.  We thoroughly enjoyed our day at these two parks, they were a pleasant surprise.