Parking
Park at the Visitor Center and take the signed West Rim access from its south side. The park day-use fee applies.
Overview
About Rim Overlook Trail
Why go
- A compact walk to a canyon-facing overlook and the Bighorn formation.
Heads up
- Uneven slickrock and a short ledge step on the final spur.
Rim Overlook Trail is about a 2-mile round trip from the Visitor Center: an out-and-back along the West Rim approach and its short spur to a shelf above Shafer Canyon. It’s a good choice if you want a little more than the paved main overlook without taking on the full West Rim. Allow about 1–1.5 hours; the distance is modest, but the footing makes it more than a stroll.
Parkwolf’s verdictIs this the hike for you?Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Dead Horse Point map
Full mapElevation5,848–5,983 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 Rim Overlook Trail, 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 trailhead
Visitor Center Rim Trails0:00 / 0:24
“You're nearing the visitor center's rim-trail access, where the East and West Rim trails make a half-day loop to Dead Horse Point.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Dead Horse Point Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Visitor Center and Desert View
- Kayenta Campground
- Wingate Campground and Yurts
- Dead Horse Point Overlook
- 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 Rim Overlook Trail
The walk outStart on the Visitor Center’s south side, cross the park road and follow the West Rim trail…
Start on the Visitor Center’s south side, cross the park road and follow the West Rim trail past the campground. Red dirt alternates with uneven ledges and slickrock. Cairns mark the exposed stretches, so look for the next marker when you’re on bare stone. Turn onto the signed Rim Overlook spur and return the same way; continuing along the West Rim makes a much longer walk. The distance here includes the Visitor Center access, the West Rim approach and the overlook spur, plus the return. Dogs are allowed on leash.
At the rimThe spur runs through boulders to a rocky shelf above Shafer Canyon.
The spur runs through boulders to a rocky shelf above Shafer Canyon. One short ledge step is the awkward spot; stones serve as steps, but it still takes care. The Bighorn formation stands to the right of the view. Keep back from the unguarded edge. For a photo, include some of the broken rim in the foreground with the canyon beyond, so the view has a sense of scale.
Read the canyonFrom here, you can see curved amphitheaters and stacked bands cut into the plateau by…
From here, you can see curved amphitheaters and stacked bands cut into the plateau by tributaries of the Colorado River. Those layers record sediment laid down by ancient oceans, lakes, streams and windblown dunes. The canyon makes a good geology stop because the broad shape and the rock bands are both visible from the same rim.
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.
