Slickrock Foot Trail Provides an Opportunity for Beginners to Orient Themselves Dominating the Rest of the Scene Is the to Trails in Canyonlands National Park
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Viewpoint 3 Viewpoint 4 Lower Little Spring Canyon Big Spring Canyon Slickrock Gifts from the Sea A Monumental Change The gray and purple rock layers visible in Grand View Point and Junction Butte, rising Foot Little Spring Canyon contrast sharply with a thousand feet above Big Spring Canyon, are the red and white rock that dominates most visible to the north. These landmarks show of The Needles district. Both, however, were erosional patterns typical of sedimentary derived from the same source — the ocean. rock. The various layers exhibit different Trail Millions of years ago this area was covered by degrees of resistance to weathering. Softer a shallow sea. Little Spring Canyon is pre- rocks, such as shales and mudstones, crumble TRAIL GUIDE dominately limestone, a hard sedimentary into slopes. Sandstones, limestones and other rock composed mostly of calcium harder rocks maintain vertical bluffs. The carbonate, the hard parts of massive Wingate cliffs, the most prominent tiny marine animals that layer, were once enormous sand dunes. settled to the ocean floor as they died. Fossilized The Canyonlands region re- remains of crinoids, mained near sea level during brachiopods and other the time these rock layers Navajo Ss. Brachiopod marine invertebrates were deposited. Change Kayenta Fm. give testimony came when massive forces to the ocean’s within the earth pushed Wingate Ss. Crinoid presence. these layers upward, forming the Monument The spires of The Needles district display Uplift and causing the Chinle Fm. the red-and-white banding of Cedar Mesa rock layers to fracture. Sandstone, which was formed as sandy Cracks and joints Moenkopi Sh. beaches and dunes repeatedly overlaid red weakened the rocks, White Rim Ss. sediments washed down from the mountainous exposing them to Organ Rock Sh. Uncompahgre Uplift to the northeast. erosion from water and wind. Given Cedar Mesa Ss. time, these forces National Park Service molded the rocks U.S. Department of the Interior into the spires Lower Cutler Beds and mushroom Canyonlands National Park 2282 SW Resource Blvd. shapes of The Moab, UT 84532 Needles. Honaker Trail Fm. Published by Canyonlands Natural History Association Illustrations by Teri Manning RIVER Paradox Fm. Printed on recycled paper 2.4 miles (4 km) roundtrip LEGEND 2.5 to 3 hours 06/19 2.1m Fm. – Formation Sh. – Shale NEEDLES DISTRICT Ss. – Sandstone EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK Viewpoint #4 Viewpoint #3 Viewpoint 1 Little Spring Panorama Canyon Viewpoint #2 A Land Exposed Big Spring Geological landmarks are visible in every Canyon direction. The La Sal Mountains to the north- east and the Abajo Mountains to the southeast are igneous formations created when Viewpoint #1 molten rock (magma) rose from the Earth’s interior and slowly cooled and crystallized underneath layers of sandstone, shale, and Scenic other sedimentary rocks. Eventually the Drive overlying layers eroded, exposing the igneous rock as our present-day mountains. The Slickrock Foot Trail provides an opportunity for beginners to orient themselves Dominating the rest of the scene is the to trails in Canyonlands National Park. The stair-step topography of canyon country: trail is marked with cairns (small rock piles) canyons, buttes, mesas, and needles. Unlike Viewpoint 2 spaced at intervals. Keep an eye out for cairns the fire-born igneous mountains, these older in the distance as you walk the trail and look sedimentary rocks were deposited by wind Upper Little Spring Canyon for four side trails—marked by small signs— and water. Layer upon layer of sand, silt, clay, that lead to viewpoints. Bicycles and pets are and gravel were laid down over geologic time. Sculpting Forces not allowed on the trail. Following deposition of these sediments, water Water has played a vital role in carving gradually eroded them into the formations this canyon. Although precipitation in the Slickrock, a general term for any bare rock visible today. park averages only nine inches per year, surface, dominates much of the landscape in late summer flash flooding is common. The Canyonlands. For millions of years, natural impact of swiftly moving, sediment-laden forces have interacted to create the sweeping Ekker Butte floodwaters as well as water alternately 12 MILES Colorado vistas and landmarks visible along this trail. River Basin freezing and thawing within rock cracks 4 MILES has worked in conjunction with La Sal Mountains Ironically, one of the dominant forces in 37 MILES gravity to become the dominant shaping the landscape is now an intermittent sculpting force. feature of this semi-arid region. Can you Needles Overlook guess what it is? Elaterite Butte 5 MILES 13 MILES Water has also influenced the sparse, open character of this landscape. Juniper trees, cacti, soil crusts, and other North Sixshooter Peak plants with specialized adaptations have 8 MILES managed to survive and thrive in this semi- arid environment. Crevices in rock offer Please report any bighorn sheep Molly's Nipple moisture and protection, and plants often sightings to a park ranger. 11 MILES take advantage of such favorable locations Needles 4.5 MILES to become established. Abajo Mountains 23 MILES.