Day 5 of 2020 Utah Trip, Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands Parks

Fifth day of my Utah trip. I would be spending the day between Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands National Park. The two parks were located close to each other, both offered views of magnificent landscapes combined with short hiking trails.

Colorado River from Dead Horse Point

Unlike the previous two days, today I wouldn’t be driving back to Moab for a midday nap on my hotel bed (the return trip took 2 hours), and that I only got back to the hotel after dark the previous night, I stayed in bed late this morning and left the hotel at almost 11am.

Roadside Overlooks

On my way from Canyonlands back to the hotel the previous day, I passed by a few view areas / rest stops with views of various buttes and mesas. So I stopped at some of them today.

US191 & UT313

This is a roadside rest area just off the junction of US191 and UT313. That being said, it’s just a parking lot with an information board, not even a pit toilet as the basic amenities of a “rest stop”.

 
Road in Canyon

The rest stop was located at the mouth of a canyon. The country road to Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point Parks found an opening through this canyon and ascended through a series of switchbacks.

 
Mesa

And here’s footage from my drone.

 
Railway

Grounds above Mesa

Rocks

 
Mesa

Merrimac and Monitor Butte

This rest stop was just after the series of switchbacks. Merrimac and Monitor Buttes were named after two civil war ironclad ships.

 

Merrimac and Monitor Butte

Dead Horse Point State Park

The park featured a dramatic overlook of the Colorado River, that, if not for a few boulders standing in the way, had a view that could dwarf the famous Horseshoe Bend. The park only covered a tiny footprint on the map, overshadowed by the nearby Canyonlands National Park. I guessed that, NPS started off designating the most scenic lands as national parks, then Utah State Park picked the leftover as Dead Horse Point State Park, then BLM got left with the remnants (Corona Arch).

As for the ominous name, some say it’s because it’s used as a natural corral by cowboys in the 19th century, where horses often died of exposure (source). Others point to some horse-shaped rocks (below) just next to the Colorado River.

Horse Shaped Rocks

The Neck

I made a brief stop at a place called “The Neck”. It’s close to the southern tip of the park, where the mesa that the park sat on narrowed down to not much wider than the road itself. Meander and Shafer Canyon trails also started from there.

Colorado River among Canyons

Colorado River and Canyons from The Neck

 
Colorado River among Canyons

Photo on the left was taken from “The Neck”, while the right from Dead Horse Point. Since the two places were close to each other, the views were not too different for this section of Colorado River.

 
Roads in Shafer Canyon

Dead Horse Point

The southern end of the park with spectacular views of the winding Colorado River and surrounding canyons.

 
Dead Horse Point

This is arguably the most-developed natural area near Moab. North of parking lot (left) there were lots of picnic tables under pavilions. South of parking lot (right), the short trail to Dead Horse Point was paved (!), equipped with a giant roof to keep people from the elements, with benches for rest and developed overlooks for photos. There’s also a flush toilet nearby, all the amenities of modern life.

It might sound unbelievable, but with so many amenities, I spent an hour at Dead Horse Point, between taking photos (while fighting off bugs, of course), enjoying my packed lunch, or just taking a nap under its huge roof.

Solar Evaporation Ponds

The bright blues on the desert floor are solar evaporation ponds for a mine by Intrepid Potash, Inc. Water is pumped down into the earth to dissolve Potash, a potassium chloride deposited from ancient seas. The salt water is then pumped into the vinyl-line ponds with a blue dye added to speed up evaporation. After evaporation, the dry salt was harvested and concentrated into plant fertilizer.

Distant La Sal Mountains

 
Colorado River among Canyons

Butte
Like a castle standing not too far from Dead Horse Point.

Colorado River from Dead Horse Point

Canyons from Dead Horse Point

Landscape

Meander and Shafer Canyon Overlook Trail

The park also offered many (short and unchallenging) hiking trails, so I opted to hike to Shafer Canyon Overlook. It’s just under 3km round trip, starting from “The Neck” and passing Meander Overlook along the way. Two birds with one stone.
Here’s GPS tracking:

 
Trail

A few gravels on what’s otherwise a mostly dirt trail. Since one would be walking next to a cliff, there’s not much elevation change.

It took me less than 15 minutes to reach “Meander Overlook”.

 

Colorado River from Meander Overlook

Winding Colorado River
This scene probably gave the overlook its name of “meander”.

Cliff
Or, less likely, it’s named after these curving cliffs.

After that, I moved on to Shafer Canyon Overlook, which was a short 10-minute stroll away.

 
Dead Tree

Colorado River

 
Butte

The opposite side of the canyon belonged to Canyonlands National Park, where I would be visiting later in the day.

Overlooking Shafer Canyon

Canyon

It didn’t seem that the hiking trails of Dead Horse Point State Park were popular among visitors, I only bumped into two other groups during my hike.
An hour later, I was back at “The Neck”. After warding off the bugs that were circling my car, I headed North to Visitor Center for some refreshments.

Visitor Center Overlook

Unlike the national parks near Moab, the daunting Utahn people thought it’s already safe to open visitor centers, despite that precautions were still taken as part of the visitor center which seemed to be a former dining room was cleared out. Combined with a patio, they were perfect for viewing canyons and mountains to the east.

Distant La Sal Mountains

 
Layered Rocks

Butte

Landscape

 
Colorado River

Canyons from Dead Horse Point Visitor Center

After that, I drove out of Dead Horse Point Park, and headed for the nearby Canyonlands National Park.

Canyonlands National Park

Shafer Canyon Overlook

My first stop in Canyonlands was Shafer Canyon Overlook. Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point were on opposite sides of the canyon.

Shafer Canyon Overlook

Unlike Dead Horse Point where it took some hiking to reach the overlook, here the overlook was a short walk from parking lot to a mesa overlooking surrounding valleys.

Shafer Canyon

 
Road up Shafer Canyon

The road used to provide access to Colorado River from the mesa. In the early 1900s, rancher drove livestock on what was back than a much narrower and rugged route, and animals sometimes fell to their death. The trail was upgraded to handle vehicular traffic during the uranium boom in the 1950s. Mining came to a close after the establishment of national park.

La Sal Mountains beyond Shafer Canyon

Overlooking Shafer Canyon

At the fork of roads, I took the southern route to Grand View Point the previous day, so today I took the western route and headed for Upheaval Dome.

Butte
From a random roadside turnout.

Upheaval Dome Trail

This was a 2.8km roundtrip trail to two overlooks of Upheaval Dome, with only mild elevation gain. It also shared the start with the 13.3km Syncline Loop Trail, which NPS kindly reminded people was strenuous, difficult to follow, and had no crater view.

As for Upheaval Dome, it’s a crater-like structure where rocks in the center were pushed up into a dome-like structure. The rocks in the center were also noticeable in whiter color than the surrounding brownish landscape. It’s believed that the dome was either formed by dried sea salt flowing up the rock layers as they were less dense, or by meteorite impact exposing deep underground rock layers.
Here’s GPS tracking:

 
 
Landscape
Terrain that Upheaval Dome Trail travelled through.

 
 
Trail

At the first overlook, there was an information board displaying two possible formations of the magnificent dome in front of me.
I also found that one could descend beyond the information board for about 20 meters for much less obstructed views.

Upheaval Dome

Upheaval Dome from First Overlook

 
Cliffs Surrounding Upheaval Dome

15 minutes from the first overlook, I was at the second overlook. Truthfully, the views weren’t any more (or less) stunning than the first, it’s just that one got to view it from a different angle.
Oh, if one was visiting in the afternoon like me, then there would be some shade, which was certainly a plus.

Upheaval Dome

Upheaval Dome from Second Overlook

So overall, I spent an hour and 10 minutes with Upheaval Dome Trail. The trailhead was also a picnic area with a dozen tables, ideal for people looking for some rest after hiking.

Whale Rock Trail

After that, I decided to hike Whale Rock Trail, which was not far down the road.
It was a 1.6km roundtrip trail to a series of rocks that’s presumably called Whale Rock, for their long and rounded shape. Well, I thought the shape was best appreciated from satellite images than at the scene.
From satellite images one could also found that Whale Rock was part of the outer rim of Upheaval Dome.

Lizard
One that wasn’t camera shy.

 
Rocks

The second part of the trail was traversing on rocks like this. The surfaces were smooth and the trail wasn’t technical. It’s just that I was having a hard time associating these rocks to the shape of a whale.

 
Park Road
The road leading from junction (left) to Upheaval Dome (right).

And once on top of the rocks, one would find the sceneries well worth the short hike.

 

Buttes

 
Canyons

Cairn
This fitted into the background perfectly.

Aztec Butte Trail

On my way back, I made another stop to hike Aztec Butte Trail. The 2.4km roundtrip trail took one on top of Aztec Butte, with views of a nearby canyon made of twisted cliffs and convoluted rocks.

Aztec Butte

Not the most imposing structure when looked from below. Yet the views on top belonged to a different world.

 
Trail

While not on the buttes, the trail was made of loose sand in bushes, not the most pleasant for my shoes.

 
Trail

Then the trail continued on solid rocks of the butte. There was some incline, but not that one would have difficulties coping with.

Brick Walls
On top of Aztec Butte, I didn’t know what these bricks were for.

Once on top of Aztec Butte, one was rewarded with views of distant buttes, beyond the plateau that one drove through.

 
 
Distant Buttes

Even better, the north side of the Butte was directly overlooking a series of winding canyons, the scenery unlike anywhere else in the park.

 

Canyons from Aztec Butte

 

Canyons

Landscape from Aztec Butte

Landscape

Field
Overlooking from Aztec Butte, with a faint trail among bushes.

Between trailhead and Aztec Butte there was another smaller butte, where one could find an ancient granary/pantry/storage room tucked underneath one of the rocks.

Ancestral Puebloan Pantry

These granaries once stored water, sees and food, perhaps for a family living nearby or a storehouse of gathered provisions for desert travelers.

 
Rocks

Sunset

It’s past 8pm by the time I left Aztec Butte Trailhead. On my way out of the park, I was paying attention to find a good spot to watch the sunset. And I found one just South of “The Neck”, with fields and canyons and buttes.

 
Setting Sun over Fields

Sunset

Capturing Sunset
It’s a wonderful experience working with such beautiful scenes. That is, if not for the constantly annoying bugs it would be perfect.

And even after the sun had tuck behind the horizon, the fiery colors of the clouds were still spectacular.

 
Distant Mountains

Canyons under Sunset

Sunset

Fiery Clouds

And this shall conclude a fruitful day in Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands Parks.
END

Day 5 of 2020 Utah Trip, Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands Parks by Huang's Site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.