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Cliffs near Lower Calf Creek Falls in Escalante, Utah
About this photograph
- Creator
- Margery H. Freeman
- Date created
- Unknown
- Location
- Escalante, Utah
- License
- This photograph copyright ©2008. All Rights Reserved
Related media
Learn more
- Search LEARN NC for Escalante, Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, Lower Calf Creek, national parks, sandstone, and Utah.
In the classroom
- See our collection of articles on visual literacy for ideas on using photographs meaningfully in the classroom.
These are rock cliffs near Lower Calf Creek in Escalante, Utah. They are composed of pink, gray, and tan Navajo sandstone, which over time is eroding into the valley below. Brushy vegetation grows in the valley and dots the cliff walls. The cliffs are lumpy, notched, and striated, the victims of thousands of years of weathering. The rocks are striped with what is called “desert varnish,” a hard, dark covering formed by the flow of water containing minerals such as clay, manganese, and iron down the cliff walls. The sky above is indigo blue with bright, scattered cumulus clouds. Lower Calf Creek is part of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.
