ZION BRYCE CANYON Circular of General Information 1936

CEDAR BREAKS NATIONAL MONUMENT

Twenty miles east of Cedar City, within the Dixie National Forest, where the high plateau breaks away to the west, is a great amphitheater called Cedar Breaks, in the Pink Cliffs formation. The more spectacular part of the formation was created a national monument by the proclamation of President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 22, 1933, and placed under the administration of the National Park Service. The monument embraces an area of 5,836.68 acres.

While Cedar Breaks is cut from the same geological formation as Bryce Canyon, there is a marked difference between these two scenic areas. There are not countless numbers of outstanding temples, spires, and minarets in the Cedar Breaks bowl, but Cedar Breaks is on a more gigantic scale and has a greater variety of tints. The Pink Cliffs here have a thickness of nearly 2,000 feet, and 47 different shades of color have been distinguished.

The heavily forested rim attains an altitude of 10,400 feet. The cliffs are white or orange at the top, breaking into tints of deep rose and coral. The high elevation also affords an excellent distant view of mountains and desert.

Still another interest that the area offers is its alpine flora. Large Engelmann spruce predominate in the forest cover, which also includes white fir or balsam, alpine fir, and bristlecone (foxtail) pine. There is one large bristlecone pine on the rim estimated to be over 2,000 years old. Typical timberline vegetation is to be seen on portions of the rim. In mid-July the flowers begin to bloom and masses of large white columbine, blue bonnets, and larkspur make a fine display.

Back from the rim, hidden in the trees, the Utah Parks Co. has provided a comfortable lodge with an attractive dining room, lobby, and rest rooms. Sleeping accommodations are available in cabins operated in connection with the lodge at the rate of $1.25 for one, and $2 for two persons in a standard cabin room. Housekeeping cabin rooms are $1.50 per day for one or two persons, with additional charge for blankets and linen. Dining service at Cedar Breaks Lodge is a la carte, except for a $1 table d'hote luncheon. Groceries, campers' supplies, gasoline, and oil may be procured. Cedar Breaks Lodge is open from about June 1 to September 20.

A public camp ground is maintained where water, cooking fireplaces, and fuel are furnished.

The season of accessibility varies with weather conditions, but is usually from early June to the first of November. On account of the high altitude, snows persist until late spring. Brian Head, the highest point in this area, elevation 11,315 feet, located in the Dixie National Forest, 4 miles from the North Entrance, is reached over a fair road.

Cedar Breaks is included in the loop tour operated out of Cedar City by Utah Parks Co.

Cedar Breaks.

OTHER NEARBY SCENIC FEATURES

Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks and Cedar Breaks National Monument are but three of the extraordinary scenic attractions of southern Utah and northern Arizona. If a person makes the full standard tour of this section, he will visit 3 national parks, 2 national monuments, 3 national forests, 5 counties, and 2 States. His elevation above sea level will range from 3,000 feet at Toquerville to 10,400 feet at Cedar Breaks. In addition there are many other points of scenic, scientific, historic, or prehistoric significance. Especially interesting is the odd combination of desert land and almost tropical fertility which makes up Utah's "Dixie." The road winds along through sagebrush-covered sand, dotted with piñon pines, and blue-berried junipers, past gently rolling mountains and foothills where sage and juniper thrive.

UTAH'S "DIXIE"

About 20 miles south of Cedar City the Arrowhead Trail, U S 91, crosses the southern lip of the great intermountain basin which once contained the waters of prehistoric Lake Bonneville and enters the great Colorado River Basin.

From this point the road steadily descends into the valley of the Virgin River. The outstanding feature of this part of the ride is the great Hurricane Fault which forms the bold escarpment to the left. Here the land to the west has dropped several thousand feet, leaving the eastern area a great suspended mesa with an edge ragged as a ripsaw and overlooking a stretch of country extending far into Nevada and Arizona. The Virgin River Valley, blessed with rich soil, and accompanied by an abundance of water for irrigation, produces all which characterizes a semitropic America, save citrus fruits. In the early days of Utah's history, before the railroads came, practically all of the cotton used in the State was produced in this valley. As a result, the country came to be known as Utah's "Dixie", and the name is still used.

Formal entry into "Dixie" is made at Andersons Ranch which is 33 miles south of Cedar City, and the point from which the Zion Park Highway branches off from the Arrowhead Trail, or U S 91. From here the route is easterly through the little village of Toquerville, up the face of the great fault, and thence up the Virgin River past the villages of Virgin, Rockville, and Springdale to Zion Park. Small green fields and orchards make contrasting green spots against the barren desert country, as every piece of land which can be reached by irrigation is intensively cultivated. This part of Utah was settled by the Mormons in the sixties, a long time before our general western frontiers had been moved this far toward the Pacific.

NORTH RIM OF THE GRAND CANYON

An excellent highway leads from Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks and Cedar Breaks National Monument to the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. U S 89, which goes to the canyon, is reached from Bryce via Red Canyon; from Cedar Breaks via the Cedar-Long Valley Highway; and from Zion via the spectacular Zion-Mount Carmel Highway. On arriving at U S 89 from any of these points, one follows the route south through Kanab, Fredonia, the Kaibab Forest, past the Jacob Lake Station, and on to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Many interesting features are found along the way, including the White Cliffs, Three Lakes Canyon, the Prismatic Plains and painted cliffs between Fredonia and Kaibab Plateau, the beautiful stands of yellow pine, spruce, fir, and aspen in the Kaibab National Forest, as well as the deer and rare white-tail squirrel of that region.

The road ends on Bright Angel Point at Grand Canyon Lodge. The visitor at the North Rim overlooks Bright Angel Creek, where the Kaibab Trail winds its tortuous way into the depths of the mighty gorge to the new suspension bridge across the river, which provides tourists on foot or horseback a means of crossing the canyon. It is 11 miles in an airline across to the South Rim, where the dim outlines of El Tovar Hotel can be faintly seen. The views from the North Rim and from the South Rim are entirely different. On the North Rim one sees close at hand the vast temples that form the background of the South Rim view, looking down upon them and beyond them to the distant canyon floor and its gaping gorge which hides the river. Beyond these the South Rim rises like a great streaked flat wall, and still farther beyond, miles away, the dim blue San Francisco Peaks and Bill Williams Mountains mark the main line of the Santa Fe Railway which gives access to the South Rim. It is a spectacle of sublimity and charm.

From Grand Canyon Lodge many delightful side trips may be made to points of vantage in the national park for wonderful vistas of the canyon. Among the most interesting are those to Point Imperial and Cape Royal on the Walhalla Plateau overlooking the Marble Canyon, where to the east stretches the Painted Desert. Another great North Rim viewpoint is Point Sublime. Saddle horses may be rented at Grand Canyon Lodge for the various trips over a number of bridle paths recently completed. Automobile trips are available to Cape Royal, Point Imperial, and other points of interest. At Grand Canyon Lodge arrangements may also be made for trips by muleback into the Grand Canyon, including Roaring Springs, Ribbon Falls, and Phantom Ranch, and to El Tovar Hotel on the South Rim.

The post-office address on the North Rim is Kaibab Forest, Ariz.

PIPE SPRING NATIONAL MONUMENT

Pipe Spring is famous in Utah and Arizona history. It was first settled in 1863 and later was purchased by President Brigham Young, of the Mormon Church, and made ranch headquarters for the ranger in charge of a herd of cattle belonging to the church. In the spring of 1870 a stone building known as "Windsor Castle", with portholes in its walls, was erected as a refuge against the Indians. At present two of the old stone buildings are standing. Here, too, was a station of the Desert Telegraph, the first in Arizona.

The best route to Pipe Spring National Monument is by a side trip from Fredonia. However, in going south, tourists under favorable conditions can use the unimproved Rockville-Pipe Spring road, thence on to Fredonia. Pipe Spring is 18 miles west of Fredonia.

KOLOB CANYONS

About 2 miles off the main highway between Cedar City and Andersons Ranch, 44 miles from the entrance to Zion National Park, and not accessible by automobile, are located the marvelous Kolob Canyons. Although practically unknown to the general public, these canyons constitute one of the most unusual attractions of southern Utah. The general area recently was withdrawn from entry under Executive order so that it might be carefully studied with a view to possible national-monument status.

Here the edge of the Vermilion Cliff breaks out sharply from underneath later rock formations, as a result of the great Hurricane Fault, forming a sheer cliff 1,500 to 2,000 feet high. Into the edge of this cliff has been cut a series of eight canyons, some of them exceptionally narrow and with walls rising perpendicularly for 1,000 feet or more. Mountains of magnificent architecture, similar to those of Zion, separate the gorges.

Most easterly of these canyons is that of La Verkin Creek. In some respects it is considered almost equal to Zion Canyon in majesty. From its flank rises Timber Top, a great mesa-shaped peak, which reaches a height of 2,500 feet above its base. On its forested summit no one has ever stood.