The Vermilion Cliffs National Monument is located west of Page, in northern Arizona. Elevations within the monument range from about 3,100 feet to about 7,300 feet above sea level. The outer boundary of the area encompasses approximately 293,000 acres of land, approximately 280,000 acres of which are owned by the federal government and managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Amid the sandstone slickrock, brilliant cliffs and rolling sandy plateaus of the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument lie outstanding objects of scientific and historic interest. Despite its arid climate and rugged isolation, the monument contains a wide variety of biological objects and has a long and rich human history. Full of natural splendor and a sense of solitude, this area remains remote and unspoiled, qualities that are essential to the protection of the scientific and historic objects it contains.
The Vermilion Cliffs National Monument is a geological treasure. Its centerpiece is the majestic Paria Plateau, a grand terrace lying between two great geologic structures, the East Kaibab and the Echo Cliffs monoclines. The Vermilion Cliffs, which lie along the southern edge of the Paria Plateau, rise 3,000 feet in a spectacular escarpment capped with sandstone underlain by multicolored, actively eroding, dissected layers of shale and sandstone. The stunning Paria River Canyon winds along the east side of the plateau to the Colorado River. Erosion of the sedimentary rocks in this 2,500 foot deep canyon has produced a variety of geologic objects and associated landscape features such as amphitheaters, arches and massive sandstone walls.
In the northwest portion of the monument lies Coyote Buttes, a geologically spectacular area where crossbeds of the Navajo Sandstone exhibit colorful banding in surreal hues of yellow, orange, pink and red caused by the precipitation of manganese, iron and other oxides. Thin veins or fins of calcite cut across the sandstone adding another dimension to the landscape.
History & Culture
Humans have explored and lived on the plateau and surrounding canyons for thousands of years, since the earliest known hunters and gatherers crossed the area 12,000 or more years ago. Some of the earliest rock art in the Southwest occurs in the monument. High densities of Ancestral Puebloan sites occur, including remnants of large and small villages, some with intact standing walls, fieldhouses, trails, granaries, burials and camps. The monument was a crossroad for many historic expeditions. In 1776, the Dominguez-Escalante expedition of Spanish explorers traversed the monument in search of a safe crossing of the Colorado River. after a first attempt at crossing the Colorado near the mouth of the Paria River failed, the explorers traveled up the Paria Canyon in the monument until finding a steep hillside they could negotiate with horses. This took them out of the Paria Canyon to the east and up into the Ferry Swale area, after which they achieved their goal at the Crossing of the Fathers east of the monument. Antonio Armijo’s 1829 Mexican trading expedition followed the Dominguez route on the way from Santa Fe to Los Angeles.
Later, Mormon exploring parties led by Jacob Hamblin crossed south of the Vermilion Cliffs on missionary expeditions to the Hopi villages. Mormon pioneer John D. Lee established Lee’s Ferry on the Colorado River just south of the monument in 1871. This paved the way for homesteads in the monument, still visible in remnants of historic ranch structures and associated objects that tell the stories of early settlement. The route taken by the Mormon explorers along the base of the Paria Plateau would later become known as the Old Arizona Road or Honeymoon Trail. after the temple in St. George, Utah was completed in 1877, the Honeymoon Trail was used by Mormon couples who had already been married by civil authorities in the Arizona settlements, but made the arduous trip to St. George to have their marriages solemnized in the temple. The settlement of the monument area by Mormon pioneers overlapped with another historic exploration by John Wesley Powell, who passed through the monument during his scientific surveys of 1871.
The area has been evaluated for its wilderness characteristics under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. Approximately 89,000 acres within the monument, known as the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness Area, were designated as wilderness by Congress in 1984. The Paria Plateau was given the administrative designation of a Resource Conservation Area in BLM’s 1992 Arizona Strip Resource Management Plan.
Nature & Science
Geology
The Vermilion Cliffs National Monument is a geological treasure. Its centerpiece is the majestic Paria Plateau, a grand terrace lying between two great geologic structures, the East Kaibab and the Echo Cliffs monoclines. The Vermilion Cliffs, which lie along the southern edge of the Paria Plateau, rise 3,000 feet in a spectacular escarpment capped with sandstone underlain by multicolored, actively eroding, dissected layers of shale and sandstone. The stunning Paria River Canyon winds along the east side of the plateau to the Colorado River. Erosion of the sedimentary rocks in this 2,500 foot deep canyon has produced a variety of geologic objects and associated landscape features such as amphitheaters, arches and massive sandstone walls. In the northwest portion of the monument lies Coyote Buttes, a geologically spectacular area where crossbeds of the Navajo Sandstone exhibit colorful banding in surreal hues of yellow, orange, pink and red caused by the precipitation of manganese, iron and other oxides. Thin veins or fins of calcite cut across the sandstone adding another dimension to the landscape.
Ecology
The Vermilion Cliffs National Monument contains outstanding biological objects which have been preserved by remoteness and limited travel corridors. The monument’s vegetation is a unique combination of cold desert flora and warm desert grassland and includes one threatened species, Welsh’s milkweed. This unusual plant, known only in Utah and Arizona, colonizes and stabilizes shifting sand dunes, but is crowded out once other vegetation encroaches.
Despite sporadic rainfall and widely scattered ephemeral water sources, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument supports a variety of wildlife species. At least twenty species of raptors have been documented in the monument, as well as a variety of reptiles and amphibians. California Condors have been reintroduced into the monument in an effort to establish another wild population of this highly endangered species. Desert bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, mountain lion and other mammals roam the canyons and plateaus. The Paria River supports sensitive native fish, including the flannelmouth sucker and the speckled dace.
Recreation
Visitors will enjoy scenic views of towering cliffs and deep canyons. Paria Canyon offers an outstanding five day wilderness backpacking experience. There are also opportunities to view wildlife, including big horn sheep and California Condors.
Traveler Facts
Contact Information
Vermilion Cliffs National Monument
BLM Arizona Strip Field Office
345 East Riverside Drive
St. George, UT 84790-9000
Phone: 435-688-3200
Location
Located on the Colorado Plateau in northern Arizona, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument includes the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness. The monument borders Kaibab National Forest to the west and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area to the east. From Flagstaff, travel north on U. S. Highway 89. From Kanab, Utah take U. S. Highway 89 to the east or 89A to the south. There are no paved roads within the monument.
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