The Watchman, Zion National Park, Utah

The towering Navajo Sandstone formation known as The Watchman looms above a grove of bright autumn-hued cottonwood trees lining the banks of the Virgin River. Located near the south entrance to Zion Canyon, The Watchman is representative of the massive Navajo Sandstone formations which line both sides of this deep canyon. Approximately 190 million years ago, a vast sea of windblown sand similar to today’s Sahara covered much of Utah, Arizona and northwest New Mexico. As these dunes were subsequently buried beneath additional layers of sediment, dissolved minerals in groundwater percolated down through the sand and cemented the grains together into what we now call the Navajo Sandstone. Massive tectonic forces have since pushed this layer high into the Utah sky where the relentless forces of erosion have sculpted the landscape we see today.