Senior Ride Over To Dead Horse Point State Park

Dead Horse Point was recently selected at a Travel Photo of the Day. This senior citizen loves those sites and most all of them are worthy of a blog. First of all Dead Horse Point is a State Park in Utah and not far from Moab, which is the center of the universe for one of my daughters.

There is a legend associated with a name like Dead Horse. Before the turn of the 19th century, mustang herds ran wild on the mesas near Dead Horse Point. The unique promontory provided a natural corral into which the horses were driven by cowboys.

According to one legend, a band of broomtails was left corralled on the Point. The gate was supposedly left open so the horses could return to the open range. For some unknown reason, the mustangs remained on the Point. There they died of thirst within sight of the Colorado River, 2,000 feet below.

Labeled Utah’s Grand Canyon, Dead Horse Point State Park is perhaps Utah’s most spectacular state park and offers a magnificent view of the Colorado River and the eons old canyons carved from the sandstone rock.

Seniors Find Awesome Views

Senior travelers will find the Park nine miles northwest of Moab on US 191 and then 23 miles southwest on Utah 313 to the end of the highway. Here is where the ending of the movie “Thelma and Louise” took place as they plummeted off the edge of the cliff in their convertible.

Check out these awesome views from the Point. They say the the view from Dead Horse Point is one of the most photographed scenic vistas in the world. Plus there are miles of pet-friendly developed hiking trails in the park, including a paved trail which provides easy access to some of the most scenic views.

Senior mountain bikers will love the new Intrepid Trail System at Dead Horse Point. Dead Horse Point is situated atop a high plateau at an elevation of about 6,000 feet. From the point, a “layer cake” of geologic time may be viewed, revealing 300 million years of the earth’s geologic history.

While standing on the canyon rim, 8,000 feet of geologic strata is visible looking from the peaks of the 12.000 foot high La Sal Mountains to the river below. Because of its far reaching views over the Colorado valley, Dead Horse Point was declared a state park in 1959, several years before the creation of Canyonlands National Park which contains a much larger area of similar scenery to the south.

Take this 3D view of Dead Horse Point and enjoy the scenery. My wife and I have put this on our bucket list.  jeb