Dead Horse Point
Dead Horse Point State Park, UT - August 1999

Dead Horse Point State Park is just outside Canyonlands National Park near Moab. Bad luck with the muddy water but it is a remarkable sight nonetheless. For the history of the name I'll quote from the Dead Horse Point State Park web site:

"Before the turn of the century, mustang herds ran wild on the mesas near Dead Horse Point. The unique promontory provided a natural corral into which the horses were driven by cowboys. The only escape was through a narrow, 30-yard neck of land controlled by fencing. Mustangs were then roped and broken, with the better ones being kept for personal use or sold to eastern markets. Unwanted culls of "broomtails" were left behind to find their way off the Point. 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. For some unknown reason, the mustangs remained on the Point. There they died of thirst within sight of the Colorado River, 2,000 feet below."

The park's visitor's center, by the way, had some of the nicest little souvenirs we came accross on this trip. We bought a handful of items made to look like individual rocks with petroglyphs on them.