Canyon of the Colorado

A glimpse of the Colorado River, as it cuts a "mini-grand" canyon 2000 feet below Dead Horse Point, Utah.
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The water starts as a trickle up on the Continental Divide, in the "Never Summer" mountains in Rocky Mountain National Park.  Along the way to Utah along I-70, we crossed and recrossed it a dozen times as it lazily paralleled our journey across Colorado.  About 1400 miles (2300 km) from its source, it finally reaches California.

It is, of course, the mighty Colorado.

Try Pucker Pass, if you dare...

We took a side trip from Arches National Park to visit and walk around Dead Horse Point State Park. This is probably Utah's most spectacular state park; it is breathtakingly impressive. A high point above a bend in the Colorado River, the red rock canyon floor surrounded by steep cliffs, Dead Horse Point is a gorgeous canyon near Moab. The park overlook is 6,000 feet above sea level, while, two thousand feet below, the Colorado River winds its way from its source in Colorado to the Gulf of California.

A map I found showing the Colorado River along its entire length. Dead Horse Point is about a third of the way along.
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The canyon is a “Mini-Grand Canyon,” where you can see erosion on a truly grand scale. The erosion process has taken 150 million years, mostly caused by the river slicing down into the earth as the land was forced upward. We were amazed at the fantastic shapes of the bluffs and spires. The photos just cannot do the scenes justice.

Jayne and I started hiking along the rim of the canyon, each new promontory offering a different view of the canyon. The park ranger’s brochure showed a number of marked trails, some proceeding well down into the canyon. But it was late in the afternoon, so we did not venture too far afield this time. The cliff walls were hard to photograph without climbing equipment, and, coward that I am, I was not up to hanging off the edge into thin air. Nonetheless, we were able to view and capture some canyon scenes.

Cliff edge at Dead Horse Point
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A photo I did not take was on the alternate road back to Moab, at a place they call “Pucker Pass.” Until I actually got there, I couldn’t quite appreciate the name. We drove along the unpaved road for a few miles, then parked and took a look at the “rough spot,” as the ranger had called it. The dirt road narrows, then becomes almost invisible as it descends steeply downhill into a hairpin turn, continuing down the slope until it eventually flattens out on the canyon floor a couple thousand feet below. On one side was a sheer cliff extending upwards, and the other a drop off equally steep. Even though we had 4-wheel-drive, we turned around and headed back to the main asphalt-paved road, even passing up the chance to have an experienced local drive us through the pass. He and his friend were in a pickup and had no qualms at all about going down. Pucker Pass, yessirree.

Jayne standing safely away from the sheer cliff edge at Dead Horse Point.
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Interestingly, we never did see any of the dead horses that give the point its name. The park brochure provides some interesting history on the park's name.  Stories go that in the late 1800s wild mustang herds ran on the mesas near Dead Horse Point. The promontory provided a natural "corral" where local cowboys could herd the horses. The only escape for the horses would be through a narrow bit of land they kept fenced. The horses were then roped and broken, the better horses being kept for personal use or sold to eastern markets. Unwanted culls of "broomtails" were left behind to find their way off the Point.

Red rock striations on a cliff edge at Dead Horse Point
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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, but for some unknown reason, they remained on the Point where they died of thirst within sight of the Colorado River.

Dead Horse Point -- now you know.