The Canyonlands lie at the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers, each of which has eroded a deep canyon into the Colorado Plateau, creating a sort of “peninsula in the sky,” which is called Island in the Sky The principal layers of the plateau are beautifully laid bare:

The major stratigraphic layers are shown in this display from the Visitor’s Center and can be observed from multiple viewpoints within the Park.

As indicated, the top level of the Canyons consists primarily of the Kayenta and Wingate sandstone formations:

Then there is a falloff to another layer of harder white rim sandstone before the plunge through the Organ Rock to the canyon floor. Several pinnacle structures, their tops protected by the White Rim sandstone, are evident:

Here is a view of Island in the Sky across the Colorado River from the nearby Dead Horse Point State Park which shows the two-level structure of the canyon. Near the right end of the Island is a prominent outcropping of White Navajo Sandstone called “The Whale.” I happened to be at the top of this feature when I was surprised by a thunderstorm. It occurred to me that being at a local high point in a lightning storm was not particularly clever; this prompted a rapid evacuation over slickrock, which became that much slicker as the rain came down.

In the northwest section of the Island is a somewhat mysterious crater. There is still no consensus as to whether this resulted from a meteor impact or the upheaval and subsequent collapse of a salt dome.

This visit was confined to the Island in the Sky portion of the Park; there are two other major portions: the Needles and The Maze which are a little less accessible but look pretty intriguing, perhaps the focus of another trip. In the meantime, I’m going to forward to another Colorado Plateau Park: Capitol Reef.