The park is so vast that it is divided into three districts – The Maze (the most remote section – no paved roads), The Needles (which we passed up yesterday – not enough time to do it all on this trip, unfortunately), and the aptly named Island in the Sky. This is the most accessible area of the park, with plenty of pull outs for viewing and hiking.
It’s called the Island in the Sky because this part of the park is on a broad mesa that is bordered by the Colorado River on one side, and the Green River on the other. Both rivers have whittled away at the sandstone layers leaving the mesa standing alone – like an island. In the sky.
We did a couple of nice easy hikes: the Mesa Arch loop and the Grand View Point overlook. From the Grand View Overlook you can see the nearly-pristine wilderness spread out before you. For the most part, people seem to respect the natural state of the park, but at least one artist has left his mark on the sandstone near the end of the Grand View trail.
On the way back to Moab, there is a turnoff for Dead Horse Point State Park, which has some fantastic views of the Colorado River as it winds its way through the canyons below. The brochure we were given says this about how the park got it’s name:
“The point was once used as a corral for wild mustangs roaming the mesa. 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, creating a natural corral surrounded by precipitous cliffs. Cowboys then chose the horses they wanted and for reasons unknown, left the other horses corralled on the waterless point where they died of thirst within view of the Colorado River, 2,000 feet below.”It’s a heartbreaking story, but what a view!
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