[Moab, UT, April 28, 2023]

For our first full day in Moab, we decided to start off with the less obvious choice – Dead Horse Point State Park. It is located at the end of a mesa 5,000 feet above the Colorado River, on the edge of Canyonlands National Park. The views rival those at Canyonlands (if not better) and the park is much less busy. According to legend, the park is so named because of its use as a natural corral by cowboys in the 19th century, where horses often died of exposure. It is one of the best state parks in the US and is definitely worth a visit if you’re in Moab!

We got to the park entrance just after 8:30 am. We took some photos at the sign, then continued to the visitor center, which was also the starting point of the 6.1-mile Dead Horse Point Rim Loop. The trail has very little elevation gain, so it was perfect of us to get acclimated to the altitude.

It was supposed to be warm that day but with the early-ish start, the elevation of the park and the wind, it was actually a chilly 40s. May was cold in her short-sleeve, so we waited for the visitor center to open at 9 am so she can buy an over-priced sweatshirt.

We did the loop clockwise and the first half was definitely better than the second in terms of views. We had the plateau right in front of us for the entire half. The blue you see in the pics is from a potash mine.

At Dead Horse Point, the roughly half-way point, we took a snack break and has some other hikers take pics of us.

The second half was a bit less scenic but still breath-taking!

By the time we were finished, it was almost noon. We headed back to Moab, where we had lunch at Moab Brewery.

After a siesta in our hotel, we decided to use the rest of daylight to do some easily accessible things in Arches National Park. Arches is the flagship park of Utah’s Mighty 5 and as such, is the most visited. Reservations are required from April till October from 7 am till 4 pm, and even with them, a long line to enter the park usually forms. Since we got there 5:30 pm, the line was relatively small and we entered the park in no time.

At La Sal Mountains viewpoint, we got our first views of the rock formations this park is famous for. The numerous arches, balanced rocks, hoodoos and other formations are shaped by many years of erosion of their building block, the Entrada stone.

Our first stop was one of the most iconic formations, Balanced Rock. It stands a staggering 128 feet (39m).

Double Arch was my favorite of the afternoon. We were able to get right under it, and it seemed so much more massive from up-close.

Right across from this arch was the Windows Loop Trail, which took us to a few more arches.

Turret Arch was very interesting, with its side tower guarding it.

North Window was a double arch that looked like a face to me.

South Window was a gorgeous arch. Some of the best views of the park are right underneath it. Sunset was close, too, so the colors kept changing.

Our last stop was Park Avenue overlook. I wish we had more time because the trail into the formations looked really inviting!

Alas, this was a great preview of the park. We were about to get much deeper into it the following day.