Cedar Breaks National Monument, Natural amphitheater and International Dark Sky Park in Iron County, United States
Cedar Breaks features a three-mile-wide natural amphitheater with red and orange limestone formations descending 2,000 feet from the 10,000-foot elevation rim.
The National Park Service began managing Cedar Breaks in August 1933, protecting geological formations that took shape over 60 million years through uplift and erosion.
Native American tribes named this location the Circle of Painted Cliffs due to the mineral-rich sedimentary rocks displaying red, orange, yellow, and purple hues.
The monument remains inaccessible from October through May due to heavy snowfall, with summer offering the primary window for exploring hiking trails and viewpoints.
The monument contains bristlecone pines exceeding 1,600 years in age, which grow alongside meadows filled with wildflowers during the brief alpine growing season.
Location: Iron County
Inception: August 22, 1933
Elevation above the sea: 2,845 m
Operator: National Park Service
Shares border with: Ashdown Gorge Wilderness
Website: https://nps.gov/cebr
GPS coordinates: 37.64250,-112.84900
Latest update: May 27, 2025 08:46
The southwestern United States encompasses desert landscapes, sandstone formations and archaeological sites from several pre-Columbian cultures. The region spans Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, featuring geological structures shaped over millions of years by wind and water erosion. National parks such as Canyonlands and Capitol Reef display canyons, mesas and rock spires in shades of red, orange and ochre. The area preserves evidence of the Ancestral Puebloans, who built cliff dwellings and communal structures between the 12th and 14th centuries. Sites like Bandelier National Monument and Gila Cliff Dwellings provide access to these habitations. Chaco Culture National Historical Park documents a pre-Hispanic trading center with multistory stone complexes. Petroglyphs at locations such as Three Rivers and the petrified trees of Petrified Forest National Park offer additional historical records. The Navajo Nation administers Monument Valley and the Navajo Zoo, while Hubbell Trading Post operates as a functioning 19th-century trading post. Volcanic features mark Sunset Crater and El Malpais, while White Sands covers more than 275 square miles (700 square kilometers) of gypsum dunes. Glen Canyon and the man-made Lake Cochiti provide water access in this largely arid region. Elevation differences range from the Organ Pipe Cactus Desert to Great Basin National Park with its ridges above 13,000 feet (3,900 meters).
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