Capitol Reef
Capitol Reef
Across the South West sandstone formations of bedrock dating back to the Permian (250 million years ago) at the edge of what was once the western shores of North America were deposited. Beaches, sand dunes were sorted then deposited in massive layers. Then, tilted up into a giant monocline (a singular up dipping strata) to let time erode the canyons. But not all was equal in its resistance to nature. Harder better cemented rocks capped softer sediments. Hoodoo formations left standing tall against the cliff sides. Huge angular cliffs formed eroding out to talus cones of jumbled rock.
The iron richness of the source rock trapped in the grains creates a pallet of deep rust red. The tilted edge stands against the arid climate as a monolith, only to collapse as the exposed strata fails and gives way to new hewn stone. Still, water found its way across the monocline known simply as the water pocket fold. The Fremont river carved a canyon through the formation to allow for a human habitation with the archaeological remains of Archaic, Basket makers, Pueblos and finally the settlers of Western civilization.
Capitol Reef is a National Park that shares its lithostratigraphic legacy across Utah, Colorado, Nevada and Arizona. The same facies found visiting the Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion, Grand Staircase Escalante, Canyon de Cheley and Mesa Verde. But here the stillness and simplicity are what you find striking. Standing, looking up at the massive chunks of sheer walled cliffs, wandering along Chimney Rock Trail, Hickman bridge arch, the Cohab Canyon Trail, and out to the Goosenecks, there is a solitude to be savored, taken in, and finally swallowed whole to be digested by your soul.
Read MoreAcross the South West sandstone formations of bedrock dating back to the Permian (250 million years ago) at the edge of what was once the western shores of North America were deposited. Beaches, sand dunes were sorted then deposited in massive layers. Then, tilted up into a giant monocline (a singular up dipping strata) to let time erode the canyons. But not all was equal in its resistance to nature. Harder better cemented rocks capped softer sediments. Hoodoo formations left standing tall against the cliff sides. Huge angular cliffs formed eroding out to talus cones of jumbled rock.
The iron richness of the source rock trapped in the grains creates a pallet of deep rust red. The tilted edge stands against the arid climate as a monolith, only to collapse as the exposed strata fails and gives way to new hewn stone. Still, water found its way across the monocline known simply as the water pocket fold. The Fremont river carved a canyon through the formation to allow for a human habitation with the archaeological remains of Archaic, Basket makers, Pueblos and finally the settlers of Western civilization.
Capitol Reef is a National Park that shares its lithostratigraphic legacy across Utah, Colorado, Nevada and Arizona. The same facies found visiting the Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion, Grand Staircase Escalante, Canyon de Cheley and Mesa Verde. But here the stillness and simplicity are what you find striking. Standing, looking up at the massive chunks of sheer walled cliffs, wandering along Chimney Rock Trail, Hickman bridge arch, the Cohab Canyon Trail, and out to the Goosenecks, there is a solitude to be savored, taken in, and finally swallowed whole to be digested by your soul.
