Dead Horse Point State Park

24^th May

It was a Holiday weekend in USA and Moab was having an Arts Festival so we were unable to stay in our campground. We moved to Horse Thief BLM campground, which is just outside Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands NP. 

Dead Horse Point is a plateau of grass lands you could imagine wild horse roaming on. We visited the State Park in the afternoon and were amazed by the scenery as we looked down on a panorama of sculptured pinnacles and buttes.  It was fantastic!  It reminded us of the Grand Canyon with similar vistas carved by the same Colorado River which at this point is 2000ft below us.  We have often thought of State Parks as being for Recreational purposes, we were surprised to find that this area has not been designated national status for its outstanding scenery.  The area has been used for film locations as a substitute for Grand Canyon shots.  It was in this area that they filmed the last scenes from Thelma and Louise (when they drove the car off the cliff.)

According to legend cowboys used the point to drive wild horse onto and fenced them in by putting a wooden barricade across the 30ft wide ‘neck’ of land.  They then roped the horses they wanted to keep but left the others to die of thirst and hence the point got its name Dead Horse Point – which is a very sad story.

Again it is very windy today and the dust hanging in the air affects the long distance views.

In the evening, whilst taking an evening stroll around the campground, we got chatting to Jo and her husband Woody and met their cat Pumpkin.  By the end of the evening they had invited us to join them the next day on a hike around Canyonlands.

 

25^th May  Syncline Trail, Canyonlands NP

Woody drove us in their RV through Canyonlands NP down to the trailhead.  Pumpkin was to stay in the RV in the car park whilst we were off hiking.  The Syncline Trail is classed as a ‘strenuous trail for experienced hikers’ and at 8.3 miles was one of the longest.  We chatted to a Ranger, who advised us that it can be difficult to find the trail in places and this is the trail they have the most people getting lost on and having to call out search and rescue …….. Do we really want to do this??

In fact it was not that difficult to follow the series of Cairns marking the trail.  There was a lovely canyon we walked down and then we came to the Boulder Garden …….. This was a little more challenging for Alison and involved clambering down huge boulders. At one point Jo gave Alison instruction on where to find hand and foot holds.  It was a walk in the park for experienced rock climbers, Woody and Jo!
 

We had lunch by the rock pools, at the bottom of the canyon, in the shade of the Cottonwood trees. We continued down the canyon and then followed a dried up wash. 



The sun by then was getting hotter and hotter. As we started the climb up and out of the canyon we encountered steep switch backs which were hard work in the heat.

We eventually got back to the RV nearly 7 hours later, just within the recommended trail time.   

26^th May Canyonlands NP

After yesterday’s hike we needed a rest in the morning.  In the afternoon drove back into Canyonlands to see the remainder of the Park.   Canyonlands is split into three distinct regions.  This region is in the north and called the Island in the Sky and is bordered by the Green and Colorado Rivers.

We drove around the various ‘Overlook’s where we could see down to the rivers.
 

 

We hiked up to Upheaval Dome Overlook to see the crater that we had hiked around the day before.  Having only seen 6 other people on our hike yesterday we were a bit overwhelmed by the number of visitors we met today on the top of the plateau. (None were brave enough to hike the lower trail)

The trip up to Mesa Arch was a pleasant surprise, with its delightful views of the distant La Sal Mountains visible through the Arch – Paul had to wait several minutes for the other visitors (Dam tourist) to get out of the way for the photo opportunity!

We spent the evening chatting with Woody and Jo. 

27^th May Horse Thief Campground

We spent the day in the campground chilling out and doing all those “one day” jobs that we hadn’t got round to for the last couple of months.  The constant travelling and movement means that things work loose in the RV and need tightening up from time to time – little jobs that Paul loves.

Woody and Jo joined us around the camp fire in the evening.

28^th May Moab again

We drove back to the camp site in Moab and picked up our mail as well as filling up with water and other necessary chores.  We used the camp site wifi to skype friends in UK and also make some advance camping reservations for other national parks.  We are getting into school holiday season at the end of June and camp sites are getting full.

Moab is a major centre for Mountain Biking and there are trails all over the area.  Woody and Jo had been out on their mountain bikes for the day and met up with us for an evening meal in town before we said our farewells.  It rained during the evening.  We have seen rain about 4 times this year and this is the second time this month – definitely time to move on!

29^th May Needles, Canyonlands

We visited the second district within Canyonlands called the Needles which was around 65 miles from Moab.  We chose another BLM campground but this one required driving up a rather rough dirt track.
 

In the Needles district the rock formations are quite different from those in the Island in the Sky district.  We are at a lower elevation here and hence we are looking up at the pinnacles and mesas rather than looking down into a canyon.

We spent the afternoon driving around visiting a number of viewpoints and hiking a couple of short trails.  One trail took us up a couple of ladders onto the top of the rocks and we saw where the cowboys used an overhanging rock as an open air camp site.

In all the NP there are signs about the fragile Biocryptic layer of the soil.  It is a knobbly crust which forms over time and enhances nutrient and moisture retention which aid plant germination.  Treading on the crust damages it and it can take years to re-form.  Yet the signs are being ignored and there are footprints all over the sand in all the parks we have visited. It seems a shame that in the world today there are still people who cannot read. (These are adults not children)

There were lovely views around our camp site.  In the evening we sat watching the sun set behind the mesas listening to the silence of the desert ..( it’s difficult to get a good sunset when you have  
temperatures in the 80s, clear blue skies and 0% humidity, the things we have to put up with?)