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Dead Horse Point State Park is about 28 miles (driving distance) southwest of Moab. With a few stops along the way at viewpoints, the drive takes about an hour. From downtown Moab one drives north on US 191 for a few miles, then turns left onto State Highway 313. Pay attention because the turn is easy to miss. The route enters Sevenmile Canyon, where some switchbacks lead the driver to the top of a vast plateau. Just past the top of the switchbacks one can pull over at a viewpoint to savor the view of nearby Merrimac Butte and Monitor Butte, which lie to the north.

This plateau is not particularly inspiring except for the occasional rock formation. Along the way you might see signs of drilling for oil or gas. Miles down the road is a paved intersection. Straight ahead is the Island in the Sky portion of Canyonlands National Park. Here SR 313 goes left and so do you.

The scenery hardly improves at all, genrally flat grassland punctuated by the occasional bush or short tree. One enters the park at a fence out in the middle of nowhere, but it takes a while for the scenery to get more interesting. As one gets closer to the visitor center there are hints of the beauty to come.

At the visitor center one pays a park-entrance fee and gets the first look at the spectacular scenery, but the view is just a warm-up for what can be seen at the overlooks at the end of the road. About two miles beyond the visitor's center the road ends at a parking lot. After getting out of one’s car and walking a short distance to the overlooks the visitor is treated to something unbelievable.