Circle Cliffs, Grand Staircase Escalante NM, Utah

Towering Wingate sandstone ramparts of the Circle Cliffs glow in the first rays of morning light in the northeast corner of Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. The Circle Cliffs form a 40-mile long ring of sandstone towers at the western edge of Capitol Reef National Park and surround a basin which serves as the headwaters of several intermittent streams which drain south into the Escalante River. The boulder-strewn slopes and smooth mounds beneath the cliffs occur within the Chinle Formation which was deposited during the Triassic Period approximately 225 million years ago. An approaching storm with thick, dark clouds obscured most of the sky except for a narrow sliver along the eastern horizon. As the sun rose into this narrow slit, it bathed the scene in warm light for several minutes before being swallowed by the thickening clouds.