Dead Horse Point State Park

Following a magnificent seven hour journey through countryside which moved from desert and mountains through to vast expanses of frozen wilderness at about 8,000' elevation we arrived at Canyonlands and rushed towards our destination of Dead Horse National Park where we wanted to catch the sunset. We were travelling in my son's TT and for the most scenic part of the journey we had the roof down, hats, coats and gloves on plus I had my daughter-in-law's quilt around me as by this time the temperature had fallen to zero. Although chilly it was totally exhilarating and I wouldn't have missed the experience for the world, but I did smile when I thought that little did I guess when I made the quilt four years ago that I would be enjoying its warmth on such an amazing adventure.

After such a long journey we missed the actual setting of the sun by a frustrating five minutes but there was still some colour in the sky although it was difficult to capture on my camera as the foreground was very dark. However this shot of my son setting up his Canon SLR camera shows the vast expanse of the canyon below us with the mighty Colorado River sweeping round the horseshoe landmass it helped to form over the past however many years. I wonder if you can tell how cold it was from the rather blue image.? Minus 10' and my camera was really struggling to focus in the cold air. The river so far below us was frozen and the canyon encrusted with ice - in parts I felt it looked like an enormous Mille feuille desert with the different lateral layers of snow and sandstone.

According to one legend the Point where we were standing was once used as a corral for wild mustangs roaming the Mesa. Cowboys rounded up the horses, herded them across the narrow neck of land and onto the point where they were able to fence them off with branches and brush creating a natural corral surrounded by precipitous cliffs. The cowboys then chose the horses they wanted and left the others to die of thirst within view of the mighty Colorado river 2,000' below them. Hence the name!

We were absolutely frozen after our camera stakeout but soon warmed up in the car until we noticed the glow of the moon appearing on the horizon, so we stopped for more camera action - at least my son did as I remained in the warmth of the car and simply enjoyed watching the rising orb surrounded by its golden frosty aura. Once we found our hotel we were delighted that the rooms are very cozy and as we have a very early start in the morning to catch the sunrise I am heading for bed. I will be needing all my warm gear on again tomorrow as the high for the day is forecast to be 2', but with very clear skies and almost certainly some sunshine it will be just fine.

I am delighted that the hotel has wi-Fi to enable me to post but I hope you will forgive the lack of comments on your journals - it has been a long and fascinating day.