Wednesday, October 1

Stay in Moab UT, Dead Horse Point State Park, Canyonlands (Island In the Sky District)
Weather:
  Lows: Moab (airport): 45; Moab: 49
  Highs: Canyonlands-the Neck: 80; Moab (airport): 86; Moab: 90
Hikes/Walks: 1.4 miles
0.2 mi one-way                      : Dead Horse Point State Park Overlook
0.3 mi one-way, ~150 feet elevation : Mesa Arch
0.2 mi one-way                      : The Neck
We initially planned to start in Arches National Park on our first full day in Moab. But we ran into a road paving crew on Monday in Natural Bridges National Monument who said they would be paving the road in Arches today, so we decided to start in the area southwest of Moab today - Dead Horse Point State Park and the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park. Both of these are at the top of a plateau with views down onto the canyons and the Colorado River below.

Dead Horse Point is an interesting area where a "finger" of the plateau narrows to around 30 yards or so before opening back up to a wider area including the overlook onto the Colorado River. For an interesting look at the topography (including the narrow neck of land), click here. Driving on the park road, it is easy to not notice this narrow neck, but when you make a point to look and see how there is not much land on either side of the road here, it is quite bizarre.

Next we drove west to the Island In The Sky District of Canyonlands National Park. Canyonlands National Park is divided into three districts separated by confluence of the Green River and the Colorado River that are inaccessible to each other within the park. The Island In The Sky District is the northern section, between the rivers before the confluence (the Needles District is the eastern section east of the Colorado and the confluence.)