My second day in Utah was no less amazing than the first.

Some highlights:

• Incredible sunrise
• Grandiose canyons and valleys
• Arches for days.

Dead Horse Point State Park

The previous day upon arriving in Moab I stopped by the visitor center, where I talked to the nice lady working there. I asked for scenic spot recommendations and she said it was worth seeing the sunrise at Dead Horse Point. I had seen many beautiful sunsets on this road trip, but not a single sunrise. This was the perfect opportunity to change that!

Throughout the entire trip I had been waking up early (compared to my normal existence), usually around 7 or 8am. Today was a new challenge: 5am!

Energized by the anticipation of a beautiful view I had no trouble waking up to scrub the ice off my car. The hour-long drive was a breeze, especially with the help of an EDM mix. I was amped!

The visitor center lady set my expectations quite high, and even so I was blown away.

This place got such a strange name because of an incident involving local ranchers.

The flat-top platform, with cliffs on all sides but the most narrow one, served as a nice enclave for ranchers to trap local wild horses. They would herd the mustangs onto the point, close the gate, and select the best horses for their own use. They would then let the remaining horses escape (usually).

On one occasion, however, the ranchers either forgot to open the gate, or the horses couldn’t find their way out. They all died of thirst, and thus this place became ominously known as Dead Horse Point.

Canyonlands National Park

My next stop was the nearby Canyonlands National Park, where the canyons are so vast that the photos really don’t do it justice.

Apart from their stunning beauty these canyons also have a great personality, by which I mean an interesting geological background.

Rainwater collects in thin cracks in the ground and seeps into the sandstone. In the winter this water freezes and widens the cracks, separating slabs of rock. Thunderstorms provide an external force as they wash away soft clay. The result – these massive rock formations!

The layered shape is a result of the water carving alternating layers of harder and softer rock.

Arches National Park

Having seen a breathtaking sunset here yesterday, I returned to see the rest of Arches. The formations here often resemble real-life objects and usually have corresponding names. Neat!

It’s perhaps unsurprising that this park contains the highest density of natural arches in the world.

Time for another geology lesson.

Arches lies on top of an underground salt bed, the main cause for the beautiful formations. Over millions of years this salt bed was covered in debris, whose weight caused the bed to liquefy and push up layers of rock into salt domes. These salt domes were then shaped by the elements. Just like at Canyonlands, water seeped into surface cracks, forming ice which broke off pieces of the rock. This rock was then shaped by wind and water; only the hardest parts of the rock survived the onslaught, leaving behind the famous arches.

Unfortunately the famous Delicate Arch was closed, so instead I found a broken one.

After an amazing day exploring one state park and two national parks it was time to continue my journey home, which was well within reach. Next up is my final stop on this road trip: Salt Lake City!