Pleasant Creek, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

The nearly 100-mile long uplift known as the Waterpocket Fold forms the backbone of Capitol Reef National Park. Here on the eastern side of the uplift, autumn-hued cottonwood trees line the banks of Pleasant Creek several miles upstream from its confluence with the Fremont River. Created by an underground fault which did not break the surface, thick layers of Navajo, Kayenta, and Wingate Sandstone have been pushed up from the earths crust and folded to create a rugged barrier here in south-central Utah. Several perennial streams cut through this serrated sandstone ridge as they drain the high alpine regions of the Aquarius Plateau to the west.