Arches, Bryce Canyon, Moab & Zion National Park - Utah

Devils Garden Area Of Arches National Park

Banded red rock walls form a narrow corridor in the Devils Garden area of Arches National Park near Moab, Utah, opening onto a slender, freestanding spire, with juniper and desert shrubs filling the sandy wash along the trail. Key Features: The Rock Formations: Devils Garden is known for its series of sandstone fins and arches carved by erosion. The Trail: The Devils Garden Trail, with its primitive sections and spurs, winds 7.2 miles through the area. The Terrain: Past the early sections, hikers scramble up and over long, narrow sandstone fins through rugged backcountry. The Geology: The fins are slowly eroding sandstone walls that narrow over time and sometimes break through to form the park's famous arches.

Slickrock Trail In Arches National Park

A large block of Entrada Sandstone sits beside a slickrock trail at the foot of a towering canyon wall in Arches National Park near Moab, Utah, dark streaks of desert varnish running down its face as sagebrush and juniper cling to the sandy slope and the path winds on past boulders toward the fins and cliffs. Key Features: The Rock: Entrada Sandstone, laid down about 150 million years ago, forms the fins, walls and arches across the park. The Varnish: The dark streaks are desert varnish, a coating of manganese and iron oxides left as rainwater runs down the rock. The Park: Arches holds the densest concentration of natural stone arches in the world, carved from this red rock by wind and water.

Corridor Of Deep Orange Sand Winds

A narrow corridor of deep orange sand winds between towering sandstone fins in Arches National Park near Moab, Utah, the two walls leaning close overhead with only a thin strip of blue sky between them and soft sand worn smooth by countless footsteps underfoot. Key Features: The Fins: Thin, parallel walls of Entrada Sandstone, carved by wind and water into this shaded passage. The Sand Floor: Fine, wind-blown sand fills the bottom, as on the park's short slot trails such as the route to Sand Dune Arch. The Park: Arches holds the world's largest concentration of natural stone arches, many reached through fins and slots like this one. The Scale: The tight gap and high walls show how deeply the rock has worn away, leaving only a sliver of path and sky.

Arches National Park

Weathered boulders and a sage and grass wash lead toward low sandstone hills in Arches National Park, just north of Moab, Utah, where a pale greenish ridge of older clay rises against darker sandstone under a heavy, gathering storm. Key Features: Entrada Sandstone: The starring rock of Arches, and one of the most important layers in the Moab area. The Green Hill: The pale blue-green slope among the red rock is Morrison Formation claystone, whose bentonite layers weather to this muted color. The Park: Five miles north of Moab, Arches protects more than 2,000 natural sandstone arches, the highest concentration on Earth. The Landscape: Water, wind and shifting salt underground have carved this red rock wilderness over millions of years.

Arches National Park Across High Desert

A massive boulder coated in dark desert varnish fills the foreground in the high desert of Arches National Park, just north of Moab, Utah, its streaked, blackened face set against ruddy slickrock hills, juniper and red sandstone rubble as a heavy monsoon sky gathers over the valley. Key Features: The Varnish: The dark coating builds up over centuries as minerals settle onto the rock face. The Origins: The park was once a sprawling desert of towering sand dunes, now turned to sandstone and shaped by long erosion. The Backcountry: Arches protects more than 2,000 natural arches, the most on Earth, but quieter country like this lies beyond the famous spans. The Weather: Summer storms like this one bring brief, dramatic downpours to the otherwise dry red rock.

Delicate Arch In Arches National Park

Delicate Arch stands at the far left of a long, scalloped sandstone fin, seen from across a canyon in Arches National Park, Utah, its crest rising in weathered humps and pinnacles under storm clouds breaking to blue, with desert varnish streaking the cliff below and juniper and sagebrush on the slickrock in front. Key Features: The Arch: Delicate Arch stands about 52 feet tall at the edge of a natural sandstone bowl, carved from Entrada Sandstone over millions of years. The Landscape: The surrounding fins and domes are the same sandstone, shaped by frost and water that slowly freed the arch from the rock around it. The Icon: It is the most recognized arch in the park and a symbol of Utah itself. The Weather: Sudden storms over warm red rock are part of this high desert's drama.

Arches National Park Near Moab, Utah

Smooth, rounded slickrock mounds and a tall sandstone wall lead out to clusters of weathered fins above a high desert floor of juniper and blackbrush in Arches National Park near Moab, Utah, across the stretch known as the Petrified Dunes, with a hazy plateau on the horizon under a wide blue sky. Key Features: Petrified Dunes: The rounded humps are ancient sand dunes turned to stone and later bared by erosion, along the park's scenic drive. Rock Strata: The park's colorful layers come mainly from Entrada and Navajo Sandstone, sculpted into fins, domes and arches. Desert Plants: Hardy juniper and blackbrush grow in the sandy washes between the rocks. The Park: Arches protects the densest concentration of natural stone arches on Earth, along with thousands of fins, spires and balanced rocks across its 76,000 acres.

Red Rock High Desert Of Southeastern Utah

A wide, smooth caprock balances on a narrower, deeply sculpted pedestal of sandstone near Moab, Utah, seen straight up from below against a cloudless blue sky, with scrubby desert brush at its base in the red rock country of southeastern Utah. Key Features: The Rock: Balanced rocks like this are Entrada Sandstone, a hard Slick Rock Member cap on a softer Dewey Bridge Member pedestal that wears away faster, until one day the cap falls. The Moab Region: The country around Moab is famous for fins, towers and hoodoos carved from layered sandstone over millions of years. The Setting: Sparse high desert plants and bare red rock surround it, the slickrock country near Arches and Canyonlands. The Process: Wind and water wear the soft rock beneath the hard cap, leaving this precarious balance.

Courthouse Towers Arches National Park

The Organ, a massive sandstone monolith, rises more than 200 feet above the sagebrush flats in the Courthouse Towers section of Arches National Park near Moab, Utah, its sheer vertical face in full midday sun against a deep blue sky. Key Features: The Formation: Water and wind carved these Entrada Sandstone fins and towers from a once-continuous layer of rock over millions of years. The Location: The Organ stands along Park Avenue, one of the first great landmarks inside the park, near the Tower of Babel and the Three Gossips. The Setting: Red soil and scattered blackbrush cover the high desert about four miles from the park entrance outside Moab.

Arches National Park

A towering sandstone monolith rises close in front, with the layered Courthouse Towers group standing farther off across open high desert scrub under a wide blue sky, along the scenic drive of Arches National Park near Moab, Utah. Key Features: Rock Formations: The Courthouse Towers hold some of the park's largest monoliths, including the Three Gossips, Sheep Rock, the Tower of Babel and the Organ. The Geology: The towers are Entrada Sandstone, left standing as erosion wore away the rock around them. The Drive: They stand beside the Arches Scenic Drive, one of the most visited areas of the park. The Desert: Sparse shrubs and red sandy soil fill the high desert around Moab.

Kolob Canyons

A massive wall of red and orange Navajo sandstone rises above layered cliffs and forested slopes in the Kolob Canyons section of Zion National Park, southwestern Utah, a great natural alcove carved into its face as storm clouds gather overhead, seen from an overlook on Kolob Canyons Road. Key Features: The Finger Canyons: Just off Interstate 15, Kolob Canyons holds parallel finger canyons with soaring cliffs of red Navajo sandstone and deep pocket canyons. The Quiet Corner: Far from the crowds of Zion Canyon, this northwestern section is known for the deep pink and orange glow of its sandstone. The Geology: The road crosses the Hurricane Fault, where the edge of the Markagunt Plateau is laid open like a giant cutaway. The Drive: Kolob Canyons Road is a five-mile scenic drive to viewpoints like this one.

Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, Border Of Wyoming And Montana

Bighorn Lake winds between the high canyon walls of the northern Bighorn Mountains, where layered sedimentary rock reflects in the deep blue water of the reservoir. Key Features: The Reservoir: Bighorn Lake formed behind the Yellowtail Dam, built on the Bighorn River in the 1960s. It stretches more than 71 miles, cutting straight through the rock formations. The Geology: The exposed limestone cliffs hold millions of years of geological history, and the stark, arid canyons draw researchers and outdoor lovers alike. Recreation: The lake sits within Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, known for boating, fishing, wild horses and steep trails along the canyon rims.

Long Horn Zion National Park Utah

At dusk, a wide bend of the Yellowstone River sweeps past Hayden Valley's sagebrush meadows and stands of lodgepole pine, some scarred by past fires, toward hazy blue ridgelines under a glowing, cloud-streaked sky. Key Features: The Valley Floor: The meadows along the river are an ancient lake bed from a time when Yellowstone Lake was much larger. Wildlife: The valley, nine miles long and six wide, is year-round home to nearly a thousand bison. The Name: It is named for Ferdinand V. Hayden, who led the 1871 survey that helped create the park. The Overlooks: Turnouts above the winding river give sweeping views of the meadows and peaks, best at sunrise and sunset.

Long Horn Zion National Park Utah

A pair of desert bighorn sheep rest and stand on ledges of layered red Navajo sandstone along the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway on the east side of Zion National Park, Utah, near Checkerboard Mesa, with a pale cross-bedded sandstone dome rising against a deep blue sky. Key Features: The Rock: Weathering and erosion in the upper Navajo Formation carved the checkerboard pattern that gives the nearby mesa its name. The Terrain: Checkerboard Mesa towers above the highway in this slickrock country on the park's east side. The Wildlife: Desert bighorn frequent this eastern plateau, drawn to seasonal water pockets in the canyons and using the ledges as lookouts. The Colors: The white sandstone dome and striped red rock below show the varied mineral staining found throughout this part of the park.

Zion National Park Utah

A sweeping slope of pale orange Navajo Sandstone rises toward a rounded, wind-sculpted dome on the east side of Zion National Park in southern Utah, its surface etched with fine cross-bedded lines, with pinyon pine and juniper clinging to the cracks under a deep, cloudless sky. Key Features: The Rock Layers: The wavy stripes are cross-bedding, the fossil traces of ancient sand dunes preserved in the Navajo Sandstone. The Formation: Navajo Sandstone is one of Zion's most prominent formations, forming its towering cliffs and monoliths. The Desert Origin: The rock records a time when wind-driven dunes covered a vast area, later cemented into stone. The Setting: Hardy pines and shrubs root right in the slickrock of the high desert plateau around Zion.