Canyonlands National Park

Here I am at the crest of Dead Horse Point in the Island In the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park. The snow capped Manti-LaSal Mountains are in the background. Climbing the sandstone monoliths provided some exhilarating views, but the up-canyon afternoon breezes brought painful quantities of fine dust that clogged a climber’s eyes and his cameras.

I was attracted to the Canyonlands region of eastern Utah by all the geologic oddities and unusual physiography of the area. This photo shows my Jeep in a classic down-dropped graben, formed by the solution of a rising salt diaper beneath the Needles District of southern Canyonlands. This is on the Elephant Hill 4WD trail, on our way to the Joint Trail, a much thinner version of the same phenomenon, formed further south, in Chesler Park. Taken in September 1977.

One of the attractions we sought to explore in 1973 was Castle Rock shown here, located northeast of Moab, Utah. Its summit was commonly used as a site for television commercials showing new cars with pretty models, all transported to the summit via helicopter.

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J. David Rogers, PhD

Graben in Canyonlands

Top of Dead Horse Point 1973

Castle Rock near Moab