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
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- Search LEARN NC for cliffs, Escalante, Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, Lower Calf Creek, national parks, sandstone, and Utah.
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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 and scrubby trees grow in the valley. The cliffs arc in a wide curve and rise to two shrub-dotted knobs. The rocks are striped and patched with what is called “desert varnish,” a hard, dark covering formed by the flow and evaporation of water containing minerals such as clay, manganese, and iron on the cliff walls. The sky above is filled with heavy, looming, slate-colored clouds. Lower Calf Creek is part of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.
