We spend our day at Dead Horse Point State Park, and, unlike its terrible name, we enjoy yet more magnificent scenery!

Starting from snowmelt over 9,000 feet above sea level in the Rock Mountains of Colorado, the Colorado River flows over level terrain taking on a winding and ever-changing course referred to as meandering. Uplift of the Colorado Plateau nearly 10 million years ago sped up the flow of the river and triggered rapid downward erosion of the river channel. Eventually the river had down-cut to a depth that would not allow a change of course known as an entrenched meander.

As water seeps into the rocks, it dissolves the cementing minerals that bind the sand grains, allowing them to be carried away. The sand grains then enter the flow of the Colorado River and turn the water into an abrasive solution like liquid sandpaper. The fast current of the gritty river carves through the rock, deepening the canyon. Today, the river is 2,000 feet below from where we are standing.

The Colorado River below us. According to legend, Dead Horse Point State Park is named for a ghost horse which can be seen imprinted, in white, on the rocks behind, and to the left of my shoulder. 

The bright blues on the desert floor are solar evaporation ponds for a potash mine. Potash is a potassium chloride, a salt deposited from ancient seas that was buried by other sediments. Water is pumped into the formation to dissolve the salt. The salt water is then deposited into shallow, vinyl-lined ponds where a blue dye is added to speed up evaporation. Once the dry salt is harvested, a local refinery transforms it into plant fertilizer!