This vast area was once covered by extensive sand dunes. Some 200 million years ago, winds from the northwest carried tons of fine-grained sand into this area, creating an immense desert.
Over time, the sand drifts were covered by other layers . . . — — Map (db m160002) HM
The forces of erosion are sculpting more than just arches. Balanced Rock clearly shows the various layers responsible for this amazing defiance of gravity.
The caprock of the hard Slick Rock Member of the Entrada Sandstone is perched upon a . . . — — Map (db m52002) HM
The third largest arch in the park, Double Arch's larger span is 144 feet wide by 112 feet high (44 by 34 meters). The smaller opening is 67 feet wide by 86 feet high (20 by 26 meters).
For a closer look at Double Arch, walk this easy trail . . . — — Map (db m131861) HM
Height: flower stalk 1'-3'
Flower: greenish-yellow to cream
Bloom: spring
Each yucca species is pollinated only by one specific yucca moth; neither could survive without the other. A yucca blooms most years, with showy, bell-like . . . — — Map (db m159954) HM
In the Windows area, you can see many stages of arch formation. Look closely. Some arches are hard to see because of rock walls behind them.
Entrada Sandstone — the rocks in which arches are formed — was deposited here as sand more . . . — — Map (db m160003) HM
Height: 2'-7'
Flower: small, in showy yellow clusters
Bloom: late summer-autumn
This common shrub has green photosynthetic stems. In autumn, it is covered by gold blooms. The flowers provide a late-season source of nectar for . . . — — Map (db m159955) HM
John Wesley Wolfe settled here in the late 1800s with his oldest son Fred. A nagging leg injury from the Civil War prompted John to move west from Ohio, looking for a drier climate. He chose this tract of more than 100 acres along Salt Wash for . . . — — Map (db m132029) HM
The Copper Ridge Dinosaur Tracksite preserves the peculiar tracks of a long-necked herbivorous dinosaur (sauropod), along with two different sizes of meat-eating dinosaur (theropod) tracks. This site stands out for being the first place in Utah . . . — — Map (db m134105) HM
This illustration was created to match the view from where you are standing right now, and several of the animals pictured are placed according to actual trackways that can be seen from this vantage point. Can you see where they left their prints? . . . — — Map (db m271496) HM
The dinosaurs and other animals here walked on a mat of algae that formed in a shallow lake. The animals left tracks after the lake water receded, but before the mat dried up. The mat was then buried by layers of sand and mud. The buried mat . . . — — Map (db m271487) HM
Delicate Arch has become a powerful and lasting symbol.
It is an emblem of Arches National Park and the city of Moab. You'll also find it serving as an icon for the State of Utah, the American West, and, sometimes, the entire National Park Service. . . . — — Map (db m271483) HM
Author Edward Abbey (1927-1989) spent most of his life in his beloved American southwest, working various jobs with the National Park Service and United States Forest Service while
honing his craft of writing. His best known book, Desert . . . — — Map (db m276359) HM
Moab is a prime destination for base jumpers from all over the world. The high density of sheer, easily accessible cliffs make it an extremely desirable base landscape.
Can you control where your parachute goes? Where do you land?
Yes, . . . — — Map (db m271204) HM
As a visitor to the "Birthing Rock," you have the opportunity to view a variety of rock art styles dating from the Archaic to the historic Ute period, including the Abajo-La Sal style that is unique to the Canyonlands region. The Abajo-La Sal style . . . — — Map (db m271221) HM
Take in this expansive scene and use the silhouettes ahead to help you imagine mules and muleteers moving through the landscape on the Old Spanish Trail in the mid-1800s. Travelers used this location, marked by Courthouse Rock on your left, as a . . . — — Map (db m271550) HM
Data show that we have already changed our climate. Temperatures over the last 150 years have dramatically increased here, as in much of the southwestern United States. Precipitation patterns are also changing; some places are wetter or drier now . . . — — Map (db m271484) HM
The odd-shaped trace before you may be an impression made by a crocodile sliding on its belly into shallow water, leaving at least one footprint, and possibly belly and tail slide marks behind. Such traces are also found just south of Moab in the . . . — — Map (db m271485) HM
This cultural site is commonly referred to as "Intestine Man and TV Sheep". The collection of styles and types of rock images found throughout Sevenmile Canyon indicate that as early as 7,000 years ago, multiple groups of people used these canyons . . . — — Map (db m271224) HM
Civilian Conservation Corps
Camp DG-32 (Co. 234)
1935-1942
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, CCC Camps were scattered all over the USA. They provided gainful employment to youth of the nation with work on public service . . . — — Map (db m131990) HM
The tracks in front of you are the first dromaeosaur tracks that have been found in North America! This short trackway was made by a dromaeosaurid theropod, probably a large Deinonychus. Notice that there are only two toes preserved in each track; . . . — — Map (db m271486) HM
One room of this building, formerly the L.D.S. Church, was erected in 1888. Two years later a second room was added. The bishop was Randolph Stewart; building committee: O.W. Warner, who donated the land, Henry Holyoak, and O.D. Allen; supervisors . . . — — Map (db m95092) HM
In April 1855, forty one men under the leadership of Alfred N. Billings were called to establish a mission in the Elk Mountains. They left Salt Lake City May 7, 1855, arrived at Grand River June 11, and selected the site for a settlement. By July . . . — — Map (db m95090) HM
You are currently standing on the Cedar Mountain Formation, which consists of sandstones and mudstones. It is split into three members (or subsections) in this region: Yellow Cat, Poison Strip, and Ruby Ranch. The rocks at the Mill Canyon Dinosaur . . . — — Map (db m271493) HM
Rock features in the park are always changing. Many take form slowly, but they can disappear quickly. Such was the fate of Balanced Rock's former sidekick, called "Chip off the Ol' Block." Made of softer rock than its towering neighbor, Chip . . . — — Map (db m271481) HM
This property
has been placed on the
National Register
of Historic Places
By the United States
Department of the Interior
Plaque above: Built 1896 — — Map (db m95084) HM
Esther Stanley and her family moved into this cabin in 1906. They joined Esther's grandfather, civil war veteran John Wesley Wolfe, who had arrived ten years earlier. The family raised more than 1,000 head of cattle on the native grasses that once . . . — — Map (db m271573) HM
Sweeping vistas like this can inspire powerful feelings and ideas about our place in time and space. From here you can glimpse some of the park's famous rock features and see beyond the park boundary to the mountains.
Ute and Paiute people . . . — — Map (db m271257) HM
In May 1869, Major John Wesley Powell set out on a remarkable mission: to explore the uncharted canyons and waters of the Green and Colorado rivers. Powell, a geology professor and one-armed Civil War veteran, began the journey with nine novice . . . — — Map (db m156085) HM
The large, well-preserved tracks in front of you are the beginning of a 17-step track-way of a very large, carnivorous dinosaur. Tracks of a similar dinosaur have also been found in central Texas. The tracks here are about 16-20 inches long and are . . . — — Map (db m271547) HM
The trackway in front of you is that of a medium-sized carnivorous dinosaur. Similar tracks have also been found in Wyoming. The tracks here are about 7-14 inches long and are from a dinosaur that was about 6 feet tall at the hip. We do not know . . . — — Map (db m271548) HM
Constructed of adobe in 1889, the Moab L.D.S. Church was built nine years after the establishment of Moab in 1880. Angus Stocks supervised the laying of the foundation and adobes. Within a few years of original construction an addition was made to . . . — — Map (db m95093) HM
Moab Mill
The Moab mill was constructed in 1956 by Uranium Reduction Company, which operated the mill until 1962 when the assets were sold to the Atlas Minerals Corporation (Atlas). Uranium concentrate, the milling product, was sold to the . . . — — Map (db m95083) HM
From here, you have an excellent view of the Monitor and Merrimac Buttes to the northeast. These prominent land forms tower 600 feet above their Navajo sandstone base. They can be seen from many points as you travel along the highway.
The Monitor . . . — — Map (db m159799) HM
This view area is underlain by Navajo sandstone, which is found throughout the Colorado Plateau. Navajo sandstone creates some of the most dramatic scenery in the area, often forming cliffs and rounded domes. From here, you can see a large number . . . — — Map (db m160005) HM
The ornithopod tracks in front of you are likely attributed to a dinosaur similar to Iguanodon. These herbivorous dinosaurs often walked on two feet, but had the ability to use their front feet for walking, as well. The tracks in this series have a . . . — — Map (db m271490) HM
The Poison Spider Dinosaur Tracksite preserves the tracks of small to large theropod (meat-eating) dinosaurs. These unique tracks provide a glimpse into the past. Tracks help paleontologists understand the approximate size of the animal, the speed . . . — — Map (db m271555) HM
The Poison Spider petroglyphs represent some of the most unique rock art found in this region. Moab and the Canyonlands area are some of the only places where you can find rock art that illustrates influences from Barrier Canyon (about 2,500-6,000 . . . — — Map (db m271566) HM
Wilderness is a word of many meanings. From a place to be feared to a place to be revered, wilderness evokes images of wild animals, jagged mountains, vast prairies or deserts. For some, wilderness offers physical challenges, solitude or a respite . . . — — Map (db m95082) HM
Tracks of theropod dinosaurs are relatively common in the Early Jurassic rocks of the Navajo Sandstone and occur in several places around the Moab area. The tracks from this site represent up to 10 different individual animals. The rocks containing . . . — — Map (db m271569) HM
Sauropods, or long-necked, plant-eating dinosaurs, are also known from this site. These four-legged herbivores had front footprints that are slightly smaller than those of their back feet. The front feet leave behind lima bean-shaped tracks that are . . . — — Map (db m271488) HM
The impressions in front of you represent the trackway of a four-legged or quadrupedal dinosaur that is walking away from you toward the hillside. These particular tracks belong to a relatively small dinosaur about 11 feet long - leaving behind a . . . — — Map (db m271492) HM
(There are two markers mounted on the kiosk)
Dedication
In June 1991, the Nature Conservancy dedicated this preserve in honor of one of Utah's leading environmental advocates: Scott M. Matheson.
As Utah's governor, Matheson . . . — — Map (db m95089) HM
Constructed from 1905 to 1906 by local craftsmen, Star Hall is architecturally significant as a fine local example of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture and is historically significant for the role it has played in the community over the years as . . . — — Map (db m95120) HM
Star Hall is the oldest public building in Moab that is still in use. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it was constructed in 1905-1906 by the local Mormon community to serve as a social and cultural center.
The exterior of the . . . — — Map (db m160044) HM
American Indians treasure rock markings like these because they were carved by their ancestors hundreds to thousands of years ago. Different tribes interpret the images in their own ways, according to their traditional teachings.
Can you spot . . . — — Map (db m271574) HM
You are standing at “the neck,” about to cross out onto the high promontory called “Dead Horse Point.” Before you do though, take a few moments to ponder the horses. What happened here? How did such a beautiful place get such a grim name? As you . . . — — Map (db m92541) HM
Moab was once known as "The Uranium Capital of the World." As the price and demand for the ore declined in the 1970s, the city was left searching for the next big industry to keep Moab a household name. Around the same time, local resident and . . . — — Map (db m271115) HM
In front of you the park road crosses a strip of land only 40 feet wide called the Neck. Beyond this point lies an isolated, 43-square mile mesa known as the Island in the Sky. On all sides the Island is bounded by yawning canyons, and cliffs that . . . — — Map (db m92540) HM
Log cabins used to be common in Moab. I am the oldest one left. I was built, most likely, by the first bishop of Moab, Randolph Stewart, for his third plural wife, Marietta, about 1881. The Stanley's, a family of four lived here in 1908 after they . . . — — Map (db m95091) HM
You are standing at the point where legends begin. This narrow neck of land is small in size but plays a giant role in the origins of the name Dead Horse Point. For decades, legends and myths about ghostly horses, cruel cowboys, and leaps of fate . . . — — Map (db m150038) HM
The tracks you can see along this short trail, and from the parking lot, were made by three-toed meat-eating dinosaurs. These tracks were formed along the edge of a lake that would have been found between dunes, in a vast sand dune sea, known as an . . . — — Map (db m271565) HM
This large track slab was first documented in 1965. The block had fallen from the hillside directly in front of you and tilted outward, reveling these dinosaur tracks that had been hidden from view for 190 million years. Most of the tracks preserved . . . — — Map (db m271570) HM
Human activities have changed the face of Canyonlands. Livestock grazing in the late 19th century altered plant communities. The roads and seismic lines you see below were constructed in the 1950s in a search for uranium and oil. Mining and grazing . . . — — Map (db m95081) HM
General Info
Prehistoric Native American rock art is found along the Colorado River and its tributary rivers, streams, and side canyons. The rock art is depicted in either pictograph (painted) or petroglyph (pecked, incised, chiseled) images. . . . — — Map (db m271552) HM
