Cedar Breaks National Monument, Natural amphitheater and International Dark Sky Park in Iron County, United States

Cedar Breaks is a natural amphitheater about 3 miles (4.8 km) across and over 2,000 feet (610 m) deep, cut into the west side of the Markagunt Plateau. Its rim sits above 10,000 feet (3,000 m). Below a flat upper rim, pink and white ledges step down into rust-red spires, fins and gullies, with conifers along the top.

Cedar Breaks National Monument was established in 1933. Its amphitheater erodes about 2 inches every five years from shale, limestone and sandstone laid down in Lake Claron some 60 million years ago. A tuff layer from eruptions around 35 million years ago caps much of the plateau. The small Cedar Breaks Lodge, designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood, was razed in 1972; protests over its demolition led the Park Service to review lodge policies elsewhere.

The name comes from early settlers who mistook the local juniper trees for cedars and called the steep slopes "breaks." The Paiute called the amphitheater the Circle of Painted Cliffs, referring to iron and manganese oxides that color the rock red, orange, yellow and purple.

The only road runs along the plateau rim, with several overlooks and short footpaths to viewpoints. The park is open to vehicles only from June through October; snow closes it the rest of the year. A small visitor center and a campground near the rim serve those months. Trails range from 0.6 to 5 miles.

Some bristlecone pines in the high country are known to be more than 1,600 years old. The monument also holds the headwaters of Mammoth Creek, a tributary of the Sevier River, and its rim meadows at Alpine Pond are reached by an easy trail from the road.