Dead Horse Point State Park

If you can't get enough of Canyonlands, Dead Horse Point State Park is another rim view 2,000 feet above the Colorado River. I actually liked the view better than most of the overlooks in the Island in the Sky District of the National Park (which is adjacent). Still, is the viewpoint worth another $10 bucks? That's the same cost to purchase a 7 day entrance to the National Park....for all it's districts. There is a visitors center and a few trails as well. It's worth one visit so fork over the cost and see the site.

The name Dead Horse comes from a story that the point was used as a corral for wild mustangs. The cowboys rounded up these horses, herded them across the narrow neck of land and onto the point. The neck, which is only 30-yards-wide, was then fenced off with branches and brush. This created a natural corral surrounded by precipitous cliffs straight down on all sides, affording no escape. Cowboys then chose the horses they wanted and let the culls or broomtails go free. One time, for some unknown reason, horses were left corralled on the waterless point where they died of thirst within view of the Colorado River, 2,000 feet below.