Saturday, September 22, 2012

Dead Horse Point State Park- September 22, 2012

This morning we went into Moab for breakfast at the Jailhouse Cafe, good food but a little pricey.  After all our activities yesterday we were in no hurry to get moving today.  We had read about a farmer's market in Moab that is held on Saturday mornings so we made a stop there.  There were a few stands selling produce but most were selling jewelry, baskets and handcraft items.  Talking with one vendor he asked if we had gone to the Dead Horse Point Park and suggested that we should go as it was his favorite park in the area.
After returning to the campground and doing a few things around the motorhome we set off for Dead Horse Point State Park north of Moab and near the Island in the Sky part of Canyonlands.  Like most Park visits our first stop was at the Visitor's Center but before going inside we walked around the outside taking in the views along a pathway.  And the views were spectacular looking into a red stoned canyon that is half as deep and half as wide as the Grand Canyon and also like the "Grand" has the Colorado River flowing through it.  Island in the Sky also has views into this canyon but none with the Colorado River and, I do not believe, are as breathtaking as the views here.  We drove to the Dead Horse Point- this according to legend was where abandon mustangs had died after being corraled on this point- and admired the views.  We were pleased that this park was highly suggested to us for it would have a mistake to have not visited it. 
We had seen large evaporation ponds from the viewing areas in the state park that were part of a potash processing plant.  The ponds were evaporation pools.  We had seen signs just prior to Moab to a road that stated "Potash".  So as we took the road on our return.  The road traveled along sheer rock wall on one side and the Colorado River on the other for 16 miles.  Petroglyphs were on the rocks 12-15 feet high making us ponder how this was accomplished.  The maintained road ended at the potash plant where we u-turned and returned to the campground.