DEAD HORSE PIONT STATE PARK

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The Legend of Dead Horse Point

Dead Horse Point is a peninsula of rock atop sheer sandstone cliffs. The peninsula is connected to the mesa by a narrow strip of land called the neck. There are many stories about how this high promontory of land received its name.

According to one legend, around the turn of the century the point was used as a corral for wild mustangs roaming the mesa top. Cowboys rounded up these horses, herded them across the narrow neck of land and onto the point. The neck, which is only 30-yards-wide, was then fenced off with branches and brush. This created a natural corral surrounded by precipitous cliffs straight down on all sides, affording no escape. Cowboys then chose the horses they wanted and let the culls or broomtails go free. One time, for some unknown reason, horses were left corralled on the waterless point where they died of thirst within view of the Colorado River, 2,000 feet below.

The views from the point are fantastic, and are a great reminder of how small we are in the presence of God's great creative work.

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Photos

Dead Horse Point
Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon makes a horseshoe turn at this point

Dead Horse Point
Dwain going over the edge.
Only 2,000ft. to the bottom!

Dead Horse Point
Having fun on the rocks

Dead Horse Point
Part of the fence that closed the gap