Out Exploring

This portion of the Colorado Plateau is known as the "High Plateaus" region, with Bryce Canyon forming from headward erosion of one of those plateaus, the Paunsaugunt. The Sevier Plateau lies to the north and its highest point, Mount Dutton, is over 11,000 feet (3,365 m) high. There's a forest service road that climbs up to Dutton and we took a ride up there yesterday. While most of the rock you'll find in southern Utah is sedimentary, this area is volcanic, and several million years younger in age than, for example, Bryce. One of the interesting aspects of the drive is some of the interesting forms that are created as the basaltic rocks erode.

The sad part is that, unfortunately, a few years ago an Rx fire got out of control and burned thousands of acres. We drove past several miles of burned out Aspens like these (with some conifers in the mix, too). While there are signs of the forest beginning to regenerate, it looks like it will be many years before it returns to what was probably an incredible drive in the Fall. We never did make all the way to the top, it was too depressing seeing all that dead forest.