Day Four – Dead Horse State Park

About forty-five years ago I had taken a month-long geology course where we travelled throughout the southwest learning about the geology that created the amazing natural features found there. One stop had been to Dead Horse Point in Utah. I remember the fabulous view looking down into the Colorado River Gorge at the point of one oxbow bend. Although the view has not changed during the intervening years, the tourism features sure have!

The road to the park now has numerous pullouts and view points. Even just driving in to the park is a miracle of sandstone layers and cliffs in a variety of yellows, browns, and reds. There is a visitor center and numerous picnic areas with shade covers in the state park. Many, many biking trails and a number of hiking trails now cover the area which had just been rock, sagebrush, and juniper when I had visited all those years ago. Also, probably most importantly, they have built rock walls to keep people from going out too close to the cliff edges. There are always those who have to get right on the precipice for the perfect photo, sometimes with disastrous results. I was more than happy to have a solid rock wall to lean against while peering over the edge. 

Dead Horse point is about 2,000 feet above the winding Colorado which had a greenish tint to it. The yellowish Kayenta Sandstone formation is the main rock you stand on at Dead Horse. It is enjoyable to wander along the stone and gravel paths looking over the various edges of the steep cliffs to marvel at the wind and water eroded forms of the canyon.

The legend behind the name for Dead Horse Point goes something like this: the point was once used as a natural corral for wild mustangs. Cowboys would round up these horses on the nearby mesas and drive them onto the point. A narrow, 30 yard wide, neck is the only access to the point (a bit harrowing as you drive your rig over it now adays). It was easy for the cowboys to fence off the narrow part with branches and brush so they could decide which horses they wanted to catch.

The legend continues that the cowboys left the other mustangs on the “waterless point where they died of thirst within view of the Colorado River.

Personally, I suspect there might be another cause for the name. Cowboys were the “naturalists” of the old west and I strongly doubt they would have left horses to die that way. In addition, if driven by thirst once the men had left, I am certain a lead mare would have jumped or broken down the temporary fence guiding the remaining herd back to the mesa.  However, I could easily see how a few terrified mustangs that were stampeded onto the point may have accidently tumbled off one of the steep cliffs.

What do you think? 

Driving across "The Neck" 

-Note the steep drop off and the wood branches "fence" on either side.