Parking
Use the north end of the Dead Horse Point Visitor Center parking lot; the Intrepid route begins there. A park day-use fee is charged per vehicle.
Overview
About Big Chief Loop
Why go
- Big Chief Overlook pairs the namesake butte with La Sal views.
- A signed cutoff offers a real four-mile alternative.
Heads up
- Eight miles of uneven rock and scattered sand.
- Shared trail means watching for mountain bikes.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Dead Horse Point map
Full mapElevation5,889–6,017 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Dead Horse Point Tour Guide
Your drive to Big Chief Loop, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Dead Horse Point State Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this area
Visitor Center and Desert View0:00 / 0:29
“Up ahead is the visitor center, with geology exhibits, an art gallery, and a canyon view just outside.”
Plays on the road 0.1 mi from the trailhead in the Parkwolf Dead Horse Point Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Kayenta Campground
- Visitor Center Rim Trails
- Wingate Campground and Yurts
- Intrepid Trailhead and Cable Line
- 11 audio storiesacross Dead Horse Point’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Raven, Whiptail Lizard, Fence Lizard, and 1 more
- Works offlinemaps, 21 trails, 22 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Big Chief Loop
The full loopBig Chief Loop is an 8-mile circuit through the eastern Intrepid Trail System, starting and…
Big Chief Loop is an 8-mile circuit through the eastern Intrepid Trail System, starting and ending at the north end of Visitor Center parking. It follows the mesa past the Colorado River and Great Pyramid overlooks, reaches the northern Big Chief Overlook, then returns on Raven Roll and the Intrepid connector. The Big Chief view earns the extra miles; if you mainly want one short canyon outing, take the Great Pyramid Loop instead. Allow about four hours on foot, plus time for stops.
Take the full routeFollow the signed counterclockwise line from the parking lot. At about 0.
Follow the signed counterclockwise line from the parking lot. At about 0.6 mile, keep right for Big Chief; the left branch returns earlier on the short Intrepid Loop. Stay with the signed route when the Great Pyramid connector joins on the way back. The 8-mile figure covers the circuit itself; short walks out to the viewpoints add distance.
What the tread is likeMost of the route is broad, packed dirt with short sandy or loose sections and a few low rock…
Most of the route is broad, packed dirt with short sandy or loose sections and a few low rock ledges. There are some brief steeper rises, but the main commitment is the distance rather than sustained climbing. This is a shared-use trail, so expect mountain bikers and give them room at junctions and on the smoother stretches.
The overlooksThe Colorado River Overlook is about 0.6 mile from the start.
The Colorado River Overlook is about 0.6 mile from the start. From there, the view runs past red Moenkopi mudstone to the evaporation ponds where potash is recovered. Great Pyramid Overlook comes around mile 1.5. Near mile 5.2, Big Chief Overlook opens toward the namesake butte, canyon country and the La Sal Mountains. For a photo, frame the low butte with the mountain range behind it.
A shorter versionThe signed Great Pyramid Loop cuts across the middle of this route and comes to about 4 miles.
The signed Great Pyramid Loop cuts across the middle of this route and comes to about 4 miles. It still reaches Great Pyramid Overlook, but skips the northern Big Chief section and the longer Raven Roll return. Choose it if you want the main canyon views without giving up most of a day.
A little trail historyMoab Trail Mix completed the Intrepid Trail System in 2014 with a donation from Intrepid Potash.
Moab Trail Mix completed the Intrepid Trail System in 2014 with a donation from Intrepid Potash. The overlook also puts the region's potash landscape in view: the red mudstone, canyon country and evaporation ponds are all part of the same stretch of the Colorado Plateau.
Start, dogs and waterUse the north end of the Visitor Center parking lot, where the Intrepid route begins.
Use the north end of the Visitor Center parking lot, where the Intrepid route begins. The park charges a day-use fee per vehicle. Leashed dogs are allowed on these mixed-use trails. Carry enough water for the whole circuit; a trail-side refill has not been confirmed.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Dead Horse Point
33 sightingsRavenMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
16 sightingsWhiptail LizardMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
34 sightingsFence LizardMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
42 sightingsSide-blotched LizardMost seen around 9 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Dead Horse Point. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
