Dead Horse Point State Park
Personal Notes:
First Visit
This page presents our personal notes on our first visit to Dead Horse Point State Park in Utah.
Thursday, July 4, 2002
We drove down to the park on Thursday morning, July 4th, from Sandy, Utah, pulling our Coleman tent trailer. It took us about four hours. We didn't encounter any difficulties along the way, although there was road construction along Highway 6. They are widening the road, one of the most dangerous roads in the country, to make it safer. Certainly the deadliest in Utah. This is because there is so much traffic from the Provo-Salt Lake City-Ogden metropolitan area heading toward Lake Powell and canyon country. The road is two lane in many areas and drivers get impatient when they can't get around the slower moving RVs and folks pulling their big boats. They pass when they shouldn't, and there are lots of head-on collisions along this highway, and thus, fatalities.
Park Basics
There is an entrance station into the park. Our $14.00 per day camping fee (plus a $7.00 reservation fee … you can reserve a spot via telephone at several of the Utah State Parks) also covered the $7.00 per day park usage fee. We were required to stop into the Visitor Center to register prior to occupying our site. But we already knew what site we would have because of our reservation.
The Visitor Center is a modern facility with maps and books and other souvenir type items. There are also displays concerning the natural history of the area, which are informative for the first time visitor. They sell ice, charcoal, soda, and bottled water. The Visitor Center is open from 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. each day.
Campground
We had reservations for the Kayenta Campground in the park and got Site Number 6, which is a large pull through. It is near the sole rest room in the campground, and the sole source of water. All of the sites are surrounded by juniper and pinyon, but they may or may not provide shade, depending upon the particular site and the time of day. Site 6 has a nice view to the west, overlooking one of the canyons in the park.
The campground is relatively small, with only 21 sites and they are spread out nicely to avoid crowding. For tent campers each site has a large tent pad area with a nice sandy base for relatively soft sleeping.
Each site has a covered area with a concrete pad and secured picnic table and standing grill. Wood fires are not permitted due to the extreme fire danger in the west. Charcoal is the only option for grilling, other than a gas stove. Each camp site has access to electricity, but the outlet is attached to the underside of the picnic table. If you intend to connect a trailer or your vehicle to the power you may need a long all-weather extension cord. At Site 6 the electricity is about 30 feet from where we parked the trailer. A coworker had mentioned this to me and so we came prepared. Otherwise our trailer's electrical cord would not have come close to reaching the source. The covered tables also have electric lights and there is a wind screen around two sides of each pavilion. At Site 6 there is a lockable cupboard where you could store your cooking equipment if you were staying for an extended period. There are kangaroo rats and certain birds that like to collect shiny objects for their nests, so you shouldn't leave anything bright and shiny and light out where they can get to them.
The restrooms are modern, with flush toilets and hot and cold water in the sinks. They are kept clean and have electric lights. Outside of the rest room building is a semi-enclosed area that contains a deep sink where campers are expected to wash their dishes. There is a cold water source. Around the inside of the enclosure is a narrow stainless steel shelf where you can set your dirty and/or clean dishes while you work on others. There are also two large garbage disposal bins and an aluminum can recycling container nearby.
After we set up the trailer we were able to pull out the shade awning. There hasn't been much wind on this trip, although the cloud cover has come and gone and there was some thunder in the evening, but it was mostly to the south. We did get a few sprinkles in the late afternoon.
We also brought along our portable shower tent and battery operated shower pump for the first time. We brought 16 gallons of water from home, in three containers, and reserved the single six gallon container for our showers after our hikes. We set the dark blue container in the sun, and by the time we used it to shower, the water temp was perfect. The air temp today, based on our digital thermometer, was 102. The shower system worked great. The little tent has plenty of room to move around inside without constantly bumping into the walls. There are places to hang your towels and clean clothes without getting them wet. And we placed the tent on the tent pad along one side where the sand is slightly raised, at an angle, so the water, for the most part, drained away into the sand.
Evening Ranger Talk
In the evening we went to the Ranger Talk in the amphitheater along the eastern edge of the Visitor Center, with great views of the canyons below. The talk was on "What's In a Name." It was interesting, especially for those in the audience that had never been to this area. We walked a .25 mile trail from the campground to the Visitor Center and back for the talk, taking flashlights for the return trip through the desert after dark.
Friday, July 5, 2002
Campground
This morning when I emptied the bucket that collects the wash water from the trailer I found a dead kangaroo rat in it. I feel bad. I should have emptied the bucket last night before turning in, but got lazy. I could have saved the little creatures life.
On this day we hiked the Alcove Spring Trail, in Canyonlands National Park. This was one of the few trails in the Island in the Sky district that we hadn't hiked.
After the hike we drove back to camp, had a little to eat, downed a couple of cold Ruby Red Squirts, then took a nap until some clouds came over and cooled things down a bit. We then took advantage of our shower setup and enjoyed a refreshing shower.
There are a few gnats around, but not as many as in some years. Mostly because it is so dry this year. There are forest fires all over the state. We saw the smoldering remains of the Helper Fire, near Helper and Price, on our way down.
It's a pretty quiet campground, except when campers come and go, setting up and taking down. On Friday night there was a clan of foreigners who made a bit of noise past 10:00 p.m., but they weren't too bad. There was also this fellow who came into camp late, and there was the sound of his setting up, but, again, he wasn't too bad. There was also a dog barking somewhere in the campground. Maybe when someone walked by its camp site. But it at least quieted down after dark.
We have a large campsite near the restrooms. It is amazing to us just how many people will cut through our site to shorten their walk by just a few feet. No apology. And even at night, with their flashlights glaring, shining into our open trailer windows.
Evening Ranger Talk
We went to the evening talk. This time the Ranger talked about surviving in the desert. He demonstrated how to make a fire without matches. It was very interesting. This time we drove over to the Visitor Center because of my sore knee. It has become very stiff. We will not be doing any more hiking on this trip. We'll probably drive out to the points and take some panoramic photos with the digital cameras.
Saturday, July 6, 2002
We didn't do any hiking on Saturday because of my left knee. It has swollen some and is stiff and sore after our Alcove Springs hike. I'll have to let it rest a few days and then see how it feels. I'm hoping I won't have to go in to see the doctor.
So we slept in, then Anne made pancakes for breakfast. She used the outside stove for the first time, and we ate on the collapsible table. We then visited Dead Horse Point and took some panoramic photos with the digital camera, then drove into the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands and took more photos from Grandview Point and the Green River Overlook and in the 21 site campground there.
Sunday, July 7, 2002
Campground
Last night it didn't cool down as much as the previous nights. At one point it did get windy and a cool gust would roll through now and then. It was pleasant sleeping, and Anne had pulled up the covers by morning, but it wasn't as pleasant as the two previous nights.
At some point, late, well after the camp had gone quiet, something happened to someone's dog. It must have been a small critter, because all of a sudden there was this piercing yelping sound that cut through the night. Either they had left the dog outside and it got bit or stung or scared by some wild animal, or they had it in their tent with them and someone rolled over on it. They were able to get it calmed down in just a few seconds, but it woke up the entire camp. After that I could hear voices all around, zippers zipping up or down, little sounds of movement, and a couple of people headed up to the rest rooms, including the guy who walked through out campsite with his flashlight shining into our trailer.
The folks with the van that have been here for our entire stay, that just sit at their site and never go anywhere, were up late last night watching TV. They also have a small refrigerator plugged in at their camp site, and the woman was cooking yesterday, using an electric appliance.
Critters
Over this weekend we've seen several critters. I photographed two collard lizards down along the Alcove Spring Trail on Friday. We saw several long (6 to 12 inches) whiptail lizards on Saturday morning, several Hopi Chipmunks, a ground squirrel, a Juniper Titmouse here in camp, flitting from tree to tree, many small gray-brown lizards, ravens, blue jays, and, in the evening, of course, there are the ubiquitous fruit bats fluttering around devouring insects.
There are gnats here that can be very annoying if you sit in one place for long, as well as a large reddish or rusty colored species of ant. They don't seem to bite, but they are everywhere and seemed to find their way into the trailer, as did several moths.
