WhatFinger


Southern Utah

Cedar Breaks National Monument



imageHeralded as one of the great natural amphitheaters of the world, Cedar Breaks will take your breath away not simply because of its eroded beauty and exceptional panoramic views, but also because it sits on top of a mountain on the edge of the Markagunt Plateau at 10,300 feet above sea level where clean air is paper thin and often blows very hard and steady like it did when we visited one recent golden autumn. Bobbing and weaving, while my beleaguered heart rumbled in my chest, I leaned into the wind, gasped for air and stood in amazement at Point Supreme and the Sunset View Overlook, two places you don't want to be during a July lightning storm. The sheer size caught me off guard the first time I inched toward the edge where the land falls away abruptly exposing terrain shaped like the folds of a curtain, plunging chutes and exposed ridges and rocky forests of freestanding buttes and fin walls, stone arches and the hoodoo army which quite frankly reminds me of Bryce Canyon; everything painted pink and orange, and shades of purple. It's a slow, methodical process focusing on individual pieces that make up the whole, assimilating the mosaic and assigning it a proper place in your mind.

Support Canada Free Press


The Southern Paiute Indians called Cedar Breaks "u-map-wich," meaning "the place where the rocks are sliding down constantly." At three miles wide and two thousand feet deep, that's a lot of rocks succumbing to earth's gravitational pull helped along by gale-force storms, 15-feet of winter snow, water freezing and popping, and a unique acidic chemical reaction. The combined effect slowly dissolved the earth and turned this ancient uplifted lake bed into a rugged spectacle of shallow caves, crooked cracks and ragged spires. President Roosevelt was sufficiently impressed to designate this serrated bowl of color a national monument in 1933. The Paiute Indians believed the hoodoos down there were people frozen in time for the bad things they did in life, trapped, like Lot's wife who just couldn't keep from looking back at the things behind and consequently morphed into a pillar of sodium chloride. If the Paiute were right I suspect most of us would be standing at rapt attention alongside fellow hoodoos in Jericho Canyon for many years to come. image Southern Utah gets HOT, and though it might have been a long uphill slog, the Paiute had the sense to flee the broiling heat of Cedar Valley and spend their summers among the cool recesses of heavily forested Markagunt Plateau, in the shade of fir, spruce, and gentle, soft-spoken aspen trees. It's not just pretty sand and rocks that attract visitors, but lush meadows carpeted with wildflowers; it helps that summer thundershowers are predictable and generous. Lupine, columbine and scarlet paintbrush in great number are among thirty-four types of common wildflowers one finds on the plateau. There's color everywhere. image While elusive 1,600-year-old bristle cone pine cling to cliff edges and barren slopes - look for them along the spectacular four-mile round-trip Spectra Point/Ramparts Overlook Trail; or better yet, ask a ranger - the monument and surrounding areas are also crowded with aspen trees, or "quakies" as locals prefer. And when they turn to color in the fall it's quite the spectacle. Don't believe me? USA Today rated Cedar Breaks "one of the top ten places to experience fall colors" in the United States. Not to be outdone by print media, NBC's Today Show included Cedar Breaks as one of eight of the greatest fall color regions in the country which the public has overlooked. Raised around aspens in autumn, I agree wholeheartedly. And there are no crowds! image Blessed with one of the darkest night skies in America, Cedar Breaks is popular with star gazers, many coming up for special ranger-led "star-parties." Time it right (clouds get in the way) and you'll be treated to fantastic laser light tours of constellations, with a crash course on constellation mythology thrown in for good measure. image If you have your own telescope, bring it and your lawn chair, kick back, bundle up and get lost in that other world of planets, star clusters a-twinkle, swirling nebulae and galaxies too vast and distant to wrap your mortal head around. Should you be in the neighborhood on August 12, stop by for the annual Perseid Meteor Shower show where as many as 40 meteors an hour at its midnight peak can be seen streaking brightly as planet earth hurls through the comet's orbit . image Even though the rustic log visitors center is closed in winter, understandably, the monument stays open and caters to outdoor enthusiasts who come well prepared for snow and extremely cold weather, and lots of it. image Whether traveling on snowshoes, cross-country Nordic skis or by snowmobile, Cedar Breaks in winter, I'm certain, is a dry powder snow-lovers delight with many photogenic opportunities, all new and constantly changing, as winter blankets the reds and pinks and the orange in white layers of frosty icing. But be forewarned: visitor facilities, including fee booths, restrooms and the campground are closed during the coldest months. image Good news: all winter long, from Fridays through Sundays, the ranger station operates a yurt and serves up hot chocolate, so you won't be all alone. Bad news: a massive landslide took out large sections of Highway 14 out of Cedar City, and according to the monument's official web site all of Highway 14 from Cedar City to Navajo Lake is closed for the time being, which is a major pain in the hoodoo if you're planning to cross over from the I-15, because you can't. image However, until the highway reopens you can get to Brian Head Ski Resort and Cedar Breaks by driving a half hour north of Cedar City to Parowan and drop down Utah Highway 143. Except for the spruce bark beetles that have ravaged the forests through these parts, right up to the edge of the amphitheater for that matter, it's all good country and a pleasant surprise if you're used to Utah desert. Too bad there's not more to go around. image


View Comments

John Treadwell Dunbar -- Bio and Archives

John Treadwell Dunbar is a freelance writer


Sponsored