Highway 313: Moab to Dead Horse Point Scenic Drive

Legends & Landmarks of Highway 313

Every turn on Highway 313 comes with a story. Some are legends, some are science, and a few are still up for debate. Why do they call such a breathtaking overlook Dead Horse Point? Who named two arches after the stars of Gemini? What in the geologic heck happened at Upheaval Dome?

Dead Horse Point: The Mirage of Water

Picture the early cowboys of the Old West rounding up wild mustangs across the mesa. They corralled the herd at the narrow neck of what’s now Dead Horse Point, fenced it off... and never came back. With no food or water, the horses perished within sight of the Colorado River glittering 2,000 feet below, so close, yet impossibly out of reach. Today, that haunting legend gives the overlook its name, a story that’s part tragedy, part cautionary tale, and all Moab myth.

Gemini Bridges: The Twin Bridges of Bull Canyon

Back in the 1950s, Moab rockhound and local legend Lin Ottinger discovered two graceful natural bridges perched high above Bull Canyon. They stood side by side like perfect twins, so he named them Gemini, after the celestial pair Castor and Pollux. You can walk right across the top of these “twin bridges”, one for each star, with the canyon yawning below and the desert sky stretching above. It’s like crossing a piece of the cosmos, Moab-style.

Monitor & Merrimac Buttes: The Stone Warships

Rising boldly from the desert north of Moab, Monitor and Merrimac Buttes look like two stone warships eternally locked in battle on a sea of red sand. Early settlers and cowboys named them after the famous ironclad ships of the Civil War—the USS Monitor and the CSS Merrimac—whose epic duel in 1862 changed naval history. The resemblance is uncanny: the flat-topped buttes face each other like rival vessels, their cliffs gleaming in the sun as if armored for another round. Out here, the war is long over, but the sandstone ships still stand their ground.

Upheaval Dome: Canyonlands Cosmic Mystery

High above the twisting canyons of Canyonlands lies Upheaval Dome, a mystery crater that’s puzzled geologists for decades. Early explorers thought it was an ancient volcano; others swore it was the remnant of a cataclysmic explosion. Modern science leans toward a meteor impact, but the jury’s still out — and the name fits either way. With rock layers bent, broken, and tossed upward like a cosmic splash, Upheaval Dome looks every bit the part of Earth’s own red-rock bullseye — nature’s unsolved riddle in the heart of Canyonlands.