Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands: A Day Trip From Moab

Dead Horse Point State Park and the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park sit on the same mesa road north of Moab, which makes them a natural pair for one day. The thing to know before you set off is that they charge separately: Dead Horse Point is a Utah state park at $20 per vehicle, and your America the Beautiful pass does not work there. Canyonlands is $30 per vehicle for seven days, with an extra $100 per person for non-US residents. Island in the Sky is 40 minutes from Moab, Dead Horse Point is on the way, and between them they give you two of Utah’s biggest canyon views for very little walking.

Why Moab is worth the drive

Moab is the base for two national parks, a state park and some of the most dramatic red-rock scenery in the southwest of the United States. It has a reputation as an extreme sports town, and it earns it: mountain biking, four-wheel driving and rock climbing are what most people come for.

You do not have to be any of those things to get the value out of it. The red rocks and the La Sal mountains behind them are enough on their own, and a small amount of walking and scrambling gets you to viewpoints that are worth the effort even if you are, as the photographer whose account this page grew out of put it, fundamentally lazy and fond of a good lunch.

What it costs and when to go

Two separate fees and one weather warning shape a Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands day.

Two further points on Canyonlands fees. Non-US residents aged 16 and over pay an additional $100 per person unless they enter on an annual pass. And the Southeast Utah Parks annual pass at $55 admits one vehicle to Arches and Canyonlands plus Natural Bridges and Hovenweep national monuments, which is worth doing the arithmetic on if you are in the area for more than a day. Canyonlands entrance stations take cards only.

Avoid the middle of a summer day

Summer in Moab is genuinely dangerous rather than merely uncomfortable. The National Park Service records temperatures above 85°F (29°C) between April and September, with July and August often exceeding 100°F (38°C), and the combination of that heat, no shade and the elevation puts rangers on hundreds of search and rescue calls a year across Arches and Canyonlands.

The park’s own advice is the advice worth repeating.

1. Plan your activity for early morning or late evening, and avoid 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. when the sun is strongest.
2. Carry 2 to 3 litres of water per person for a front-country walk and 4 litres or more for anything in the backcountry. Water is available at the Island in the Sky and Needles visitor centres. There is no water in the Island in the Sky campground and none in the Maze.
3. Eat salty food, because you lose electrolytes through sweat faster than you notice.
4. Turn back at the halfway mark of your water, not at the halfway point of the trail.
5. Watch for flash floods. Summer monsoon storms bring rain, lightning and hail, and a wash can flood on a sunny day. Six inches of moving water will knock you off your feet.

Spring and autumn are the comfortable seasons. Winter is cold, quiet and often the most striking, with snow on the red rock.

Dead Horse Point State Park

Dead Horse Point is a narrow neck of rock 2,000 feet above a bend in the Colorado River, and the view from the point is the reason to come. It is a Utah state park, not a national park, which is the single most useful thing to know about it: the America the Beautiful pass does not get you in, and the $20 vehicle fee is separate from anything you paid at Canyonlands.

The name comes from the point’s shape. The mesa is almost an island, joined to the rest by a neck only 30 yards wide, which made it a natural corral. Cowboys drove wild mustangs onto the point and closed the neck with branches, leaving the horses penned by sheer cliffs on every other side. They picked the animals they wanted and released the rest. The stories differ on what happened next, and several of them end with horses left behind on the point within sight of the Colorado River far below. They are legends rather than documented history, and the park presents them as such.

What is not in dispute is the view. The overlook takes in the goosenecks of the Colorado, the White Rim below and the La Sal mountains behind. The full curve of the river is hard to fit into a single photograph from the main overlook, so if that is the shot you want, work along the rim rather than standing where everyone else stands.

Mountain biking is the other thing people come for. The Intrepid Trail System on the mesa offers loops of varying difficulty with canyon views throughout, and guided half-day rides run from Moab. Book through a Moab outfitter rather than assuming you can hire on the day in peak season.

Canyonlands National Park

Canyonlands is one park in four pieces, and knowing which piece you are going to is most of the planning. The Green and Colorado rivers split it into three land districts, and the rivers themselves are sometimes counted as a fourth.

• Island in the Sky is the mesa-top district and the one almost everyone visits. It is a paved scenic drive with overlooks, and the easiest part of Canyonlands to see in a short time.
• The Needles is the district of spires in the south, reached by a different road entirely and a long drive from Island in the Sky.
• The Maze is remote, needs serious four-wheel-drive skill and is a backpacking destination rather than a day trip.

The distances are the trap. What you can see across the river from Island in the Sky can take half a day to drive to, because there are no bridges inside the park.

Getting to Island in the Sky

Island in the Sky is about 10 miles (16 km) north of Moab on US 191, then southwest on UT 313 for 22 miles (35 km). The drive from Moab to the visitor centre takes about 40 minutes.

Use a map rather than a navigation app. The park says plainly that a navigation system may send you the wrong way, which on a mesa road with no phone signal is not a small problem.

The Island in the Sky Visitor Center is open year-round, seven days a week, with some closed days in winter and hours that vary by season. It has exhibits, maps, backcountry permits, a picnic area and rangers on duty, and water is available all year. There are no electrical outlets.

The best short walks at Island in the Sky

Five short walks give you most of Island in the Sky without committing to a descent off the mesa. Distances are the park’s own, round trip.

Mesa Arch is the one to prioritise if you only do one. It is short, it is close to the road, and it is beautiful at any time of day even though sunrise is when the photographers arrive.

Climbing, scrambling, walking or standing on any arch is prohibited in Canyonlands, Mesa Arch included.

The White Rim Road and the Shafer Trail

The White Rim Road is a 100-mile loop below the mesa rim, and it is a multi-day trip rather than an afternoon. It runs around and beneath Island in the Sky with continuous views, and it needs a high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle, a permit, and proper supplies: food, water, spare tyres and a plan that someone else knows about.

The Shafer Trail is the dramatic way off the mesa, a dirt switchback road that drops into the canyon and connects to the scenic byway along the Colorado River. It is the alternative to driving back the way you came, and it is a genuine four-wheel-drive road rather than a rough track any car can manage. Check conditions at the visitor centre before committing to it, because weather closes it.

For either, check the current permit requirements at the Island in the Sky Visitor Center. Backcountry permit rules and reservation windows change, and the visitor centre issues them.

Tours from Moab

Guided four-wheel-drive and rafting tours are the practical way to reach the parts of Canyonlands a hire car cannot, and Moab has a deep bench of operators running them. The routes that are usually guided are the White Rim Road, the Needles district four-wheel-drive tracks including Elephant Hill and the Joint Trail, and combined rafting and canyon trips on the Colorado.

Booking a guide solves three problems at once: the vehicle, the permit and the route-finding. It also means somebody else is watching the weather.

Getting to Moab and getting around

Moab needs a car. The nearest large airports are Salt Lake City, about four hours north, and Grand Junction in Colorado, about two hours east, and there is no useful public transport to the parks from town.

Almost everything on this page is a drive: 40 minutes to Island in the Sky, slightly less to Dead Horse Point, and the two share the same road out of town. If you are comparing rental prices, DiscoverCars searches the Salt Lake City and Grand Junction suppliers together, which is the quickest way to see which airport works out cheaper once the drive is priced in.

An RV is the other option people choose here, and it suits a park visit well as long as you use designated campgrounds. Island in the Sky has a campground with no water at all, so you carry everything you need in.

Frequently asked questions

Does the America the Beautiful pass work at Dead Horse Point?

No. Dead Horse Point is a Utah state park, not a national park, and it charges its own $20 vehicle fee separately from anything you paid at Canyonlands or Arches.

How far is Canyonlands from Moab?

Island in the Sky is about 32 miles (51 km) from Moab by road, which is roughly a 40-minute drive: 10 miles (16 km) north on US 191 and then 22 miles (35 km) southwest on UT 313.

How long do you need at Island in the Sky?

Half a day covers the scenic drive and two or three short walks. A full day lets you add Murphy Point or wait for the light at Grand View Point. The Needles and the Maze are separate trips, not extensions of this one.

What is the best short hike in Canyonlands?

Mesa Arch, at 0.6 miles (1 km) round trip and about 30 minutes. It reaches a cliff-edge arch with the La Sal mountains behind it and is the most photographed spot in the park.

Can you drive the Shafer Trail in a normal car?

No. The Shafer Trail is an unpaved switchback road that needs a high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle, and conditions change with the weather. Ask at the Island in the Sky Visitor Center before you attempt it.

When is the best time to visit Moab?

Spring and autumn. July and August regularly exceed 100°F (38°C) with no shade, and the park service treats summer heat as the main safety risk in the area. Winter is cold and quiet, with snow on red rock that photographs beautifully.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

Four tips come out of this trip and out of checking the page against the parks’ current information.

1. Budget for two separate entry fees on the same day. Dead Horse Point is a state park at $20 a vehicle and your national parks pass does not cover it. The pairing surprises people at the gate, and Canyonlands takes cards only.
2. Do not trust the GPS on the way to Island in the Sky. The park’s own guidance is to use a map, because navigation systems send drivers the wrong way on UT 313, and there is no signal up there to correct the mistake.
3. Research the exact location before you hunt for a landmark, and ask at the visitor centre. The photographer whose trip this page came from spent a day looking for False Kiva, working from GPS coordinates that turned out to be 200 to 300 metres above the real site, and never found the path down. The rangers would have told him in a minute.
4. Go for White Rim Overlook late in the afternoon and Mesa Arch early. They face opposite ways, they are both under 2 miles round trip, and White Rim Overlook has very limited trailhead parking, so arriving late in the day helps twice.

About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and this guide grew out of her father Hans Couwenbergh’s photography trips to Moab, Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands, including two visits to Island in the Sky. The team covers the United States for independent travellers, including the national parks, the car rental and the guided trips worth booking, and updates this page when park fees, permits and road conditions change.