June 11, 2018: Canyonlands (Islands in the Sky) and Dead Horse Point State Park

Canyonlands National Park - Islands in the Sky Canyonlands National Park offers some of the most rugged landscape anywhere. The area is basically the confluence of two large rivers, the famous Colorado River and the historic Green River. The pictures are from the most accessible and subsequently most visited district is the Island in the Sky District. It is so named because the area features a high plateau the looms over the surrounding canyons below. The Island in the Sky mesa rests on sheer sandstone cliffs over 1,000 feet above the surrounding terrain. Every overlook offers a different perspective on Canyonlands' spectacular landscape. DEAD HORSE POINT STATE PARK We also visited the nice companion to Island in the Sky: Dead Horse Point State Park. It overlooks the Colorado River and portions of Canyonlands National Park and other areas that are public lands.

Candlestick Tower

EKKER BUTTE

Green River with Tyrks Head to the very right

Ekker Butte in the middle upper part of the picture. ELATERITE BUTTE to the left. ELATERITE BUTTE is a large butte on the east side of Elaterite Basin named after the dark-brown mineral found in this area

UPHEAVAL DOME Geologists still debate over what caused this strange feature, with opinions ranging from a volcano to a meteor strike. It is clearly different from the eroded landscape about and appears as more of a wound.

DEAD HORSE POINT STATE PARK

DEAD HORSE POINT STATE PARK

DEAD HORSE POINT STATE PARK The high, grassy plateau between the Green and Colorado rivers has a long history of ranching and cattle grazing, and one melancholy episode is remembered by the name given to a narrow promontory that overlooks a large area of eroded red rock cliffs and canyons on the east side. The story goes that local stockmen rounded up a group of wild horses and corralled them by building a fence across the narrowest part, leaving the herd trapped at the far side. The animals were left too long without water and all died of thirst, so the area became known as Dead Horse Point, and because of its far reaching views over the Colorado valley 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. Today, the majority visitors see only Canyonlands which has many more trails and viewpoints, but the state park (2018 price $15) is still spectacular and has overlooks of tributary canyons in the northeast that are not visible from the national park.

DEAD HORSE POINT STATE PARK

Just outside the parks