Color photos of the Escalante and the Paria river canyons and the adjacent plateau into which these rivers, with the help of rain & wind, have sculpted surreal, brightly colored galleries. The text by Charles Bowden deals with Mormon heroes, the Hole-in-the-Rock migration, and with John D. Lee, infamous for his part in the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

An overview of the Colorado Plateau's fossil remains of organisms that lived millions of years ago, featuring numerous illustrations and photographs.

In the deep and colorful sandstone canyons west of the Rockies, along river corridors of northern Colorado, and inscribed on rock outcroppings of the Colorado Plateau, the rock art of ancient and historic inhabitants of the West is an enduring record of past ideas and practices. This first integrated analysis of rock art styles throughout the western Colorado region, dating from pre-A.D. 1 to the middle of the twentieth century, bring together information from earlier studies and presents new information to shed light on how various cultures developed and interacted over time and in diverse geographical settings. Sally Cole traces connections between art on canyon walls, rock shelters, and bolders and designs on pottery, basketry, and other artificts, placing the art in cultural context. This book surveys the cultural history and rock art traditions of Archaic hunters and gatherers, Anasazi, Fremont, Navajo, Eastern Shoshoni, and Ute peoples. regions of special interest include Mesa Verde and the Four Corners area, the Uncompahgre Plateau, Dinosaur National Monument and the canyons of the Green and Yampa rivers, and the Canyonlands of Utah and Colorado. An abundance of drawings, photographs, and maps illustrate the text and reveal the diversity of rock art forms and settings in the West.

PLATEAU LIGHT focuses on the heart and soul of America's Redrock Country, expressing the beauty and wilderness of areas ranging from the Grand Canyon to Paria. These landscapes once inspired the Anasazi, Fremont and Archaic peoples and serve as the perfect background for the petroglyphs and ruins they left behind. For the first time in softbound edition, these spectacular photos will inspire, delight and amaze, both readers and photographers alike. The Colorado Plateau is a land rich in red sands, chocolate crags, eternally translucent skies, and stunning canyons. The region inscribes the deserts, mountains, rivers, and high mesas of the four corners of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. David Muench has walked this land---the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Canyon de Chelly, Bryce Canyon National Park, Mesa Verde, Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness, Grand Staircase / Escalanate National Monument --- and has retruend wit the unforgetable images that are presented in this book.

Integrating personal narrative and natural history, Singing Stone is ideal for curious visitors to the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument as well as students of environmental studies.

Sunrise illuminates Colorado Plateau’s canyon country. In the early morning light, cliffs radiate a rich red glow, and a sculptured panorama of sandstone is revealed in a rich palette of crimson, vermilion, orange, salmon, peach, pink, gold, yellow, and white. Nearby are black, spherical rock marbles (iron concretions) collecting in small depressions, like puddles of ball bearings. These natural spherical balls have been called various names such as iron nodules, iron sandstone balls, or moki marbles. However, we use the name “iron concretion” to describe both the composition (iron oxide that is the dark mineral which cements the sandstone grains) and the formed shape (concretion). What paints the sandstone such rich colors? Why is red a dominant color? Where do the black marbles come from? How did the black marbles form? Is there a relationship between sandstone colors and the marbles? This booklet explores the answers to these questions and poses other questions yet unanswered.

The stunning vistas of the Grand Canyon came alive through the photography of Pulitzer Prize winner Jack Dykinga. complementing the photography, award-winning Charles bowden and Wayne Ranney offer unique prospectives on the Canyon's magnificent beauty and the theories surring its fascination formation.

From Delicate Arch to the Zion Narrows, Utah's five national parks and eight national monuments are home to some of America's most amazing scenic treasures, created over long expanses of geologic time. In Wonders of Sand and Stone, Frederick H. Swanson traces the recent human story behind the creation of these places as part of a protected mini-empire of public lands. Drawing on extensive historical research, Swanson presents little-known accounts of people who saw in these sculptured landscapes something worth protecting. Readers are introduced to the region's early explorers, scientists, artists, and travelers as well as the local residents and tourism promoters who worked with the National Park Service to build the system of parks and monuments we know today, when Utah's national parks and monuments face multiple challenges from increased human use and from development outside their borders. As scientists continue to uncover the astonishing diversity of life in these desert and mountain landscapes, and archaeologists and Native Americans document their rich cultural resources, the management of these federal lands remains critically important. Swanson provides us with a detailed and timely background to advance and inform discussions about what form that management should take.

For half a century, beginning in the early 1960s, Vaughn Short walked, horse-packed, and floated the canyons and mesas of the Southwest. Along the way, stories and poems grew in his mind. Around evening campfires, he shared these pearls with those lucky enough to be in his company. Vaughn Short was our Robert Service, the Poet Lauriat of canyon country. Although Vaughn has moved on, his books of poetry connect us to an earlier time before passage through these areas became common.