ISLAND IN THE SKY

20 May 2013: Day 6 of 43 – Canyonlands National Park UTAH.
Overnight in Moab UTAH. 
Today 550km, Total 1,794km. 

Our journey to Canyonlands National Park was impressive. We experienced three major changes of scenery over the four hour drive from Tropic ascending and descending valleys and mountain passes. Canyonlands  itself comprises the huge Buck Canyon which was carved out by the Colorado River (river flows at its base) over 15 million years ago, same as the Grand Canyon. The Colorado flows over 1,450 miles (2,334km) and Canyonlands covers 527 sq miles (1,365 sq km) about the size of metro Brisbane! Many locals consider Buck Canyon to be the entrée and Grand Canyon to be the main meal – I must say when we first laid eyes on Buck we could not believe how huge and open it was – you can see the Colorado River twisting for many miles into the horizon. In fact, Canyonlands consists of two main “chunks” or areas: Island in the Sky and Needles. 

We visited the former but before our arrival there, we turned off and travelled about 12 miles (20km) to a place called Dead Horse Point State Park. This place is literally an eroded precipice that is connected to the mainland by a narrow neck about 50m wide. The top of it is at an elevation of 7,000ft (2,133m) and the Colorado is at 5,500ft (1,676m) below. So if you accidentally slip you will fall 1,500ft (457m) into the Colorado below. A bunch of cowboys used Dead Horse Point  as a natural corral for Mustang horses – quite appropriate considering our beloved motor vehicle! These cowboys simply blocked off the 50m neck. The cowboys wanted to break-in all the horses but some refused so they left them there to die of thirst hence the name – Dead Horse Point. 

Since that time Dead Horse Point became famous because this is where the opening scene of Mission Impossible II and the closing scene of Thelma & Louise was filmed (when they drove their convertible off the cliff). How fitting. That’s the main reason we went. We decided not to drive our convertible off this cliff, opting for a photo of our Thelma and Louise (in this post).  After our visit here we proceeded another 10 miles (16km) down the road to the Island in the Sky which is actually a much larger precipice sticking out into the Buck Canyon. From here the view of the canyon is even better and you can walk 1.2 miles (2km) around the precipice hence the name Grand View Overlook. 

By this time the temperature hit 25C so I decided to run back through the park for 10km. What a run – Canyon precipices on one side and the distant snow-capped La Sal mountains on the other. Our stay in Moab was memorable – the town is surrounded by the red cliffs of Arches National Park (which we visited the next morning) and Gump and Thelma scoffed down the town’s famous JAX Burger - why? because they are fall of fresh town-grown ingredients covered in chillies... you should have seen the Queen's throne the very next day....