We had a relaxing day, visiting two parks: Dead Horse Point State Park and the Islands in the Sky section of Canyonlands National Park. This involved a 40 mile drive from Moab. We visited Dead Horse Point first, and on our way in, saw a group of 4 antelope! Mary was able to get a picture of two as they ran off. While we stopped at several viewpoints, the main attraction was this classic view of the Colorado River as it bends around Dead Horse Point.
Almost every parking lot we approached today (and also at Arches yesterday) was full or nearly full. With this being fall and children in school, Mary and I both wondered how crowded these parks must be in the summer when attendance is at its highest. People must be shoulder to shoulder at the most popular sites!
Next we headed to Canyonlands. Driving to the park was very impressive, as you are driving on the top of a large plateau covered with scrub trees until you get to a viewing area when you can see the canyons. Here are a couple of pictures of the high canyon walls. Almost every parking lot we approached today (and also at Arches yesterday) was full or nearly full. With this being fall and children in school, Mary and I both wondered how crowded these parks must be in the summer when attendance is at its highest. People must be shoulder to shoulder at the most popular sites!
Looking deeper into the canyons, you can see many smaller canyons (middle left and bottom pictures) near the river, and as you can see from the middle right picture, many of those had formations inside them.
All in all it was a very impressive place and I can clearly see why this was named a national park in 1964, 5 years after Arches became a national park.
Tomorrow we will either see The Needles section of Canyonlands or the Black Canyon of the Gunnison as we leave Utah and head into western Colorado.
3 comments:
Wow - those are amazing views! You are seeing a lot of impressive sites. I've heard that area is called Canyon Country and its easy to see why! Have a great day - safe travels to Colorado!
Gail
Amazing , Great photos , what a great holiday you both are having . Colorado soon and all the JD music , Enjoy . Thinking of you both . Pat
Glad you made to Dead Horse Point. The whole area, Arches and Canyonlands are unbelievable. When you were 3 years old we were at Dead Horse Point when a man in Moab told Dad about it. Did you see the sheets of plastic there were they are harvesting potash? It is amazing how huge Canyonlands is and so inaccessible it is.
Jean
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