Dead Horse Point State Park is an amazing place. It’s very scenic and like no other place! A colorful rock wonderland. The incident or incidents that happened by its namesake happened back in the 1800’s. Life was different back then. Do we know all the details? Did bits and pieces not get told along the way? Did they leave the horses with water and intentions to return to get the rest of the horses? And when they did, had the water run out? Guess we may never know.
Tim and I first went back to the Visitors Center today here at Dead Horse. Last time we had purchased a smoothie I think and sat outside on the observation deck to drink it. Today the cafe wasn’t open but they had ice cream in the park store! Made our purchase of ice cream Drum Sticks and sat out on the upper deck to eat them and watch the amazing canyon below and mountains on the horizon.
Our decision was to then hike both the East Rim and West Rim Trails. So beautiful. Last time we only went to the Dead Horse Point Lookout. It was pretty spectacular to see the entire 360* view during the hike of the point and to see the Colorado River in the canyon below. The Colorado River with the help of erosion continues to make changes here.
Canyonlands National Park is where we then spent our afternoon. It’s one park with four different districts. Island in the Sky, The Needles, The Maze and The Rivers. We have only visited Island in the Sky and that’s where we went back to today. Perfect weather! It’s definitely a Jeep kind of place with the White Rim Road being very popular. It’s suggested to drive it in two to three days. It’s almost 72 miles of unpaved four-wheel drive road down into the canyon.
The Rivers district is where the Colorado River and the Green River have cut through the sandstone forming two deep canyons. These two calm rivers meet at the confluence and have created the powerful Cataract Canyon below it with world-class white water.
The day was ending quickly so we opted to stay above the rim and just do the Green River Overlook and then go hike to the Mesa Arch. Great day to do this and the crowds had thinned out by late day.
Once back at basecamp Jett was excited to see us. She was left at the Airstream today to hold the fort down. Not that it’s hot here now but she can’t go on any of the trails and since we have power it’s best she stay at the Airstream where it’s cooler. We enjoyed a warm cozy campfire before calling it a night. But not before Ms. Fox came back for a visit. Found out she is a Kit Fox and completely nocturnal.
Sunset: 7:21 pm
Sunrise: 7:04 am
Wildlife viewings:
Chipmunks
Raven
Mule Deer
Kit Fox
No comments:
Post a Comment