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27-427: Padre Canyon is in southwest Utah, roughly 50 miles west of Zion National Park with a valley elevation of 3,100 feet above sea level. Padre Canyon is a three sided canyon oriented north to south. To the east is steep sloping hillside that gradually merges upward into vertical Kayenta and Navajo Sandstone cliffs at 4,000 feet elevation. The east side of the canyon descends southward to 3,500 feet and abruptly terminates in

54-405: A cabin at the base of the cliffs. He described the canyon, saying There before me lay a scene of indescribable beauty: wild, primitive, unspoiled, largely unknown, waiting to be enjoyed, waiting to inspire folks In 1993, local playwright Douglass Stewart raised funds to convert the natural amphitheater at the base of the cliffs to what would eventually become Tuacahn Amphitheatre and Center for

81-849: Is also well known among rockhounds for its hundreds of thousands of iron oxide concretions . Informally, they are called "Moqui marbles" and are believed to represent an extension of Hopi Native American traditions regarding ancestor worship ("moqui" translates to "the dead" in the Hopi language). Thousands of these concretions weather out of outcrops of the Navajo Sandstone within south-central and southeastern Utah within an area extending from Zion National Park eastward to Arches and Canyonland national parks. They are quite abundant within Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument. The iron oxide concretions found in

108-765: Is bordered and protected by Snow Canyon State Park , the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area (managed by the Bureau of Land Management), and the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve. The canyon is adjacent to the Red Mountain Wilderness. The Tuacahn Center for the Arts is located in the mouth of the canyon. Padre Canyon is accessible by car from Tuacahn Drive, with parking available at a pull-over just south of

135-595: Is generally hot during the day and warm at night, with an average daily high of 101 °F (38 °C) and low of 74 °F (23 °C) recorded for the nearby town of Ivins in the month July. In fall and winter months it is generally temperate during the day and cold at night, with an average daily high of 52 °F (11 °C) and low of 32 °F (0 °C) in Ivins in December. The area sees regular light precipitation of around 0.7 inches (1.8 cm) each month with

162-451: Is not recommended for those without some backcountry experience. Red Mountain Route - 10.8 miles (17.4 km). Strenuous. Primitive route is remote and faint in places, great panoramic views, extreme caution is recommended. Toe Trail – 2.8 miles (4.5 km). Easy trail. Follows Ivins flood control dike. Snow Canyon State Park Too Many Requests If you report this error to

189-705: Is within Washington County, which lies on the Hurricane Fault. The fault bisects the county, and is visible at the Hurricane Cliffs, which run south to the Grand Canyon . The fault has exposed colorful layers of rocks dating back to the age of the dinosaurs and older. Most of the scenic red rock is known as Navajo Sandstone . Navajo sandstone was created from layers of cemented sand that blew into Utah nearly 200 million years ago. In

216-708: The 'Navajo Country' of the southwestern United States . The two major subunits of the Navajo are the Lamb Point Tongue (Kanab area) and the Shurtz Sandstone Tongue (Cedar City area). The Navajo Sandstone was originally named as the uppermost formation of the La Plata Group by Gregory and Stone in 1917. Baker reassigned it as the upper formation of Glen Canyon Group in 1936. Its age was modified by Lewis and others in 1961. The name

243-621: The Colorado Plateau province of the United States . The Navajo Sandstone is particularly prominent in southern Utah, where it forms the main attractions of a number of national parks and monuments including Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area , Zion National Park , Capitol Reef National Park , Glen Canyon National Recreation Area , Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument , and Canyonlands National Park . Navajo Sandstone frequently overlies and interfingers with

270-720: The Kayenta Formation of the Glen Canyon Group. Together, these formations can result in immense vertical cliffs of up to 2,200 feet (670 m). Atop the cliffs, Navajo Sandstone often appears as massive rounded domes and bluffs that are generally white in color. Navajo Sandstone frequently occurs as spectacular cliffs, cuestas , domes, and bluffs rising from the desert floor. It can be distinguished from adjacent Jurassic sandstones by its white to light pink color, meter-scale cross-bedding , and distinctive rounded weathering. The wide range of colors exhibited by

297-477: The Arts . Padre Canyon has views of Snow Canyon State Park backcountry. During the springtime this area shows desert wildflowers of desert baileya, banana and soap tree yucca , brittle brush, creosote bush , indigo bush , purple sage , range ratany , palmers penstemon , hedgehog and prickly pear . Wash areas host tamarisk. Wildlife includes the Gila monster , peregrine falcon and desert tortoise . In 1990,

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324-480: The Navajo Sandstone a brilliant white. Reducing fluids transported the iron in solution until they mixed with oxidizing groundwater. Where the oxidizing and reducing fluids mixed, the iron precipitated within the Navajo Sandstone. Depending on local variations within the permeability, porosity, fracturing, and other inherent rock properties of the sandstone, varying mixtures of hematite, goethite, and limonite precipitated within spaces between quartz grains. Variations in

351-466: The Navajo Sandstone exhibit a wide variety of sizes and shapes. Their shape ranges from spheres to discs; buttons; spiked balls; cylindrical hollow pipe-like forms; and other odd shapes. Although many of these concretions are fused together like soap bubbles, many more also occur as isolated concretions, which range in diameter from the size of peas to baseballs. The surface of these spherical concretions can range from being very rough to quite smooth. Some of

378-401: The Navajo Sandstone reflect a long history of alteration by groundwater and other subsurface fluids over the last 190 million years. The different colors, except for white, are caused by the presence of varying mixtures and amounts of hematite , goethite , and limonite filling the pore space within the quartz sand comprising the Navajo Sandstone. The iron in these strata originally arrived via

405-439: The Navajo Sandstone while deeply buried, reducing fluids , likely hydrocarbons , dissolved these coatings. When the reducing fluids containing dissolved iron mixed with oxidizing groundwater , they and the dissolved iron were oxidized. This caused the iron to precipitate out as hematite and goethite to form the innumerable concretions found in the Navajo Sandstone. Evidence suggests that microbial metabolism may have contributed to

432-642: The North Black Rocks lava field. The north end of the canyon is a saddle with a trail peak elevation of 3,740 feet in altitude. The west side of the canyon is Red Mountain at 4,500 feet in altitude. To the south of the canyon is the low lying basin of the Mohave Desert with vistas of the Utah Range, the first in a long series of ranges of the Basin and Range Physiographic province. The area

459-486: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Mojave Desert tortoise as a "threatened" species. Small fences to keep the ground dwelling creatures from accidentally wandering onto roads border the roadway into the canyon. Other notable wildlife include the giant desert hairy scorpion , coyote , Mojave sidewinder , red-spotted toad , Utah banded gecko, and the side-blotched lizard , among many others. Padre Canyon

486-970: The Western portion of the Supercontinent Pangaea . This region was affected by annual monsoons that came about each winter when cooler winds and wind reversal occurred. Navajo Sandstone outcrops are found in these geologic locations: The formation is also found in these parklands (incomplete list): Indeterminate theropod remains geographically located in Arizona, USA. Theropod tracks are geographically located in Arizona, Colorado, and Utah, USA. Ornithischian tracks located in Arizona, USA. Ammosaurus Ammosaurus cf. major Dilophosaurus D. wetherilli Attributed trackways at Red Fleet State Park . Pteraichnus Segisaurus S. halli "Partial postcranial skeleton." Seitaad S. ruessi The Navajo Sandstone

513-625: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.132 via cp1112 cp1112, Varnish XID 946334501 Upstream caches: cp1112 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 08:42:31 GMT Navajo Sandstone The Navajo Sandstone is a geological formation in the Glen Canyon Group that is spread across the U.S. states of southern Nevada , northern Arizona , northwest Colorado , and Utah as part of

540-411: The concretions are grooved spheres with ridges around their circumference. The abundant concretions found in the Navajo Sandstone consist of sandstone cemented together by hematite (Fe 2 O 3 ), and goethite (FeOOH). The iron forming these concretions came from the breakdown of iron-bearing silicate minerals by weathering to form iron oxide coatings on other grains. During later diagenesis of

567-418: The erosion of iron-bearing silicate minerals . Initially, this iron accumulated as iron-oxide coatings, which formed slowly after the sand had been deposited. Later, after having been deeply buried, reducing fluids composed of water and hydrocarbons flowed through the thick red sand which once comprised the Navajo Sandstone. The dissolution of the iron coatings by the reducing fluids bleached large volumes of

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594-508: The exception of May and June when precipitation reduces to around 0.2 inches (0.51 cm). The area around Padre and Snow Canyons has had human activity since the 5th century BC . From AD 200 to 1250, Ancestral Puebloans inhabited the nearby region, utilizing the canyon for hunting and gathering. Southern Paiute used the canyon from AD 1200 to the mid-19th century. Orval Hafen purchased 80 acres in Padre Canyon in 1957, and built

621-543: The ironstone weathered out as ledges, walls, fins, "flags", towers, and other minor features, which stick out and above the local landscape in unusual shapes. The age of the Navajo Sandstone is somewhat controversial. It may originate from the Late Triassic but is at least as young as the Early Jurassic stages Pliensbachian and Toarcian . There is no type locality of the name. It was simply named for

648-523: The main gate for the Tuacahn Center for the Arts. The Padre Canyon hiking trail can be accessed using a small trail east of the canyon wash, or from a small connector at the northeast portion of the Tuacahn facility. No bathrooms, picnic areas or campgrounds are available. There is no trailer parking. Padre Canyon, like much of the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, has a dry and arid climate. In summer it

675-484: The past million years, eruptions of several cinder cones and lava flows scattered the ground with black basaltic rocks. Padre Canyon Trail – 4.7 miles (7.6 km). Medium to hard, maneuvering through slots, off ledges, and through holes on your knees, and may involve some wading, especially in the winter and spring. Highlights include slickrock hiking, arched alcoves, the Doll House and an undisturbed ecosystem. It

702-402: The type and proportions of precipitated iron oxides resulted in the different black, brown, crimson, vermillion, orange, salmon, peach, pink, gold, and yellow colors of the Navajo Sandstone. The precipitation of iron oxides also formed laminae, corrugated layers, columns, and pipes of ironstone within the Navajo Sandstone. Being harder and more resistant to erosion than the surrounding sandstone,

729-526: Was originally not used in northwest Colorado and northeast Utah, where the name 'Glen Canyon Sandstone' was preferred. Its age was modified again by Padian in 1989. A 2019 radioisotopic analysis suggests that the Navajo Sandstone formation is entirely Jurassic, extending for about 5.5 million years from the Hettangian age to the Sinemurian age . The sandstone was deposited in an arid erg on

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