Vermilion Cliffs National Monument
Vermilion Cliffs National Monument is a protected area of the type of a National Monument in Coconino County of the U.S. state of Arizona. It consists of a plateau with desert climate that falls on the eponymous cliffs to the Colorado River, several canyons and other rock formations.
The more than 1000 km ² large reserve was created in 2000 by President Bill Clinton and is under the administration of the Bureau of Land Management, an agency under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of the Interior. The name comes from the Vermillion English name of a mineral, which is referred to in German as cinnabar or vermilion. It is used as a red pigment.
- 2.1 Protected areas in the vicinity
Description
Vermillion Cliffs National Monument is located in the north of the state on the border with Utah, which forms its northern boundary. To the northeast lies the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, the eastern and southern boundary is the U.S. Highway 89A below the eponymous cliffs of the Colorado River. In the southwest of the area adjacent to the Kaibab National Forest, a national forest. The protected area forming the easternmost portion of the so-called Arizona Strip, the almost uninhabited and inaccessible northwestern part of Arizona, which is separated by the Colorado River from the rest of the state.
History
Despite the rugged terrain and the dryness of the area, it was inhabited around 12,000 years ago. Several hundred settlements, mainly Pueblos, the Anasazi Indians have so far been found. In addition, the rock walls are rich in petroglyphs. With the expedition of two Spanish Franciscan Padres, Francisco Antanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, came 1776, the first white men by the current reserve, from 1860 could be followers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints ( " Mormons ") in the region down as settlers. 1869 came the expedition of John Wesley Powell along the Colorado River through the area and in 1871 John D. Lee built with the support of the Mormon Church a ferry across the Colorado below the cliffs. Lee 's Ferry in 1928 replaced by the Navajo Bridge and today forms the border between the Grand Canyon National Park and Glen Canyon upriver National Recreation Area. There, the multi-day rafting trips through the Grand Canyon begin.
Today's National Monument is almost inaccessible and barren, so it was interesting for the economic use. Only after the expulsion of the most striking geological formations as a Wilderness Area in 1984 under the name Paria Canyon - Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness of sporadic tourism became regulated, end 2000, U.S. President Clinton the wilderness area and surrounded by it on three sides plateau under the protection the federal government.
Geological formations
Paria Plateau: Geology is in the cover rocks of the Paria Plateau sedimentary rocks of the Paleozoic. The plateau is inclined from northwest to southeast, flowing rainfall have dug into the rock canyons, have exposed the older layers of the Precambrian. The National Monument includes only the uppermost of these geological formations of the Colorado River, in the open canyons, part of the Grand Canyon National Park, which borders the easternmost foothills almost to the National Monument.
Vermilion Cliffs: The eponymous cliffs consist of reddish Navajo sandstone, which rises 1000 meters above the Colorado River. Among them are formations of softer siltstone and shale, which is eroded by weathering.
Paria Canyon and Buckskin Gulch: The Paria Canyon in the northeast of the reserve is the valley of the lower reaches of the Paria River, which drains the high plateau. Buckskin Gulch is a slot canyon, which opens into the Paria Canyon. Both are enclosed by vertical walls, which can be several hundred meters high. At the narrowest points Buckskin Gulch is wide just under a meter in the lower half of the Paria Canyon walls come apart about 100 m. The full length to be traversed in three to five days.
Coyote Buttes with The Wave: A bizarre formation of petrified sand dunes in the northwest of the monument is one of the most spectacular photo opportunities for nature photographers.
Ecosystem
The reserve is located in the area of arid climate and is defined as desert. The level on the plateau is hardly covered at the foot of the cliffs to keep some grass communities. At the Paria River in the lower half of the canyon of the same name is a softwood. Here also grows the very rare and highly endangered Asclepias welshii, which is only known from a few locations in Arizona and in neighboring Utah.
Twenty birds of prey, including the Peregrine Falcon and the extinct in the wild and back ausgewilderte California condor live in the area. In addition, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, coyotes and cougars.
Tourism
The concept of the reserve depends on the experience of loneliness love the great outdoors. Therefore, only days with Buckskin Gulch Paria Canyon visitors are allowed to enter freely. For multi-day trips such as the crossing of the canyon system up to 20 people a day are allowed. In the other core area of Coyote Buttes North ( The Wave ) and South there is no free access, there are actually only 20 people a day allowed. Half of licenses may be applied for months in advance via the website of the administration, the rest of the places will be awarded daily in the morning early in a raffle. The Paria Plateau and the cliffs are easily accessible.
Protection areas in the vicinity
- Grand Canyon National Park
- Grand Staircase- Escalante National Monument
- Grand Canyon National Monument Parashant
- Pipe Spring National Monument
No formal protected area, but further geological attraction is the Antelope Canyon southeast of Page on the other bank of the Colorado River.