Hikes between 03 and 07 April, 2015

This past weekend I got to share my favorite hiking vistas with some friends, and tried out some new areas. While I frequently go up the C Trail to meditate, there are linking areas between it and other trails barely north of it. The landscape undulates and varies in mineral content. Based on data from UtahGeology.com, it looks like Cedar City is surrounded by the Navajo layer of sandstone, and peppered with tertiary rhyolites, but there are some technical difficulties with that site. I found an incredibly descriptive PDF by Chris Eisinger of the Utah Geological Survey here. In it he details geological characteristics and hydrogeological aspects of the valley, such as aquifers, fault lines, and more. Here's some of the good stuff:

The Cedar Valley drainage basin includes rocks of Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic age, having an aggregate thickness of more than 16,000 feet (4,877 m) (table 1). The oldest exposed unit, the Kaibab Limestone, is found locally at the base of the Hurricane Cliffs, and is overlain by Triassic and Early Jurassic rocks. These include the red and brown sandstones, siltstones, and mudstones of the Moenkopi, Chinle, Moenave, Kayenta, and Navajo Formations. Their combined thickness is over 6,000 feet (1,829 m). The Carmel Formation, a thin-bedded fossiliferous, gray limestone of Late Jurassic age, is the next unit in the sequence. It has a maximum thickness of nearly 1,300 feet (396 m), but exhibits an east-west variability in thickness and facies types (Averitt, 1962; Hintze, 1988).

Lying unconformably above the Jurassic units are the Cretaceous Iron Springs, Dakota,
Tropic, Straight Cliffs-Wahweap, and the Kaiparowits Formations. These units show a marked variation in composition and texture, and their origin is linked to the Sevier orogeny which occurred approximately 70 million years ago. This sequence, excluding the Iron Springs Formation, “crops out boldly along the crest of the Hurricane Cliffs,” having a drab grayish-yellow color and a gentle dip (Averitt, 1962).

So identifying the specific rock layers I'm looking at becomes a little easier with this information.

Hike 03 APR 2015
I went with my buddy Pierce up the C-Trail for a meditation. It was not quiet, but quite fun. I sat at the Monolith, and found myself restless. Some fellows were having a good time parasailing over us, and cajoled us. When I became more still, I found my silence disturbed by skittering lizards, chirping and frolicking birds, a noisome and meddling squirrel, and a few flies. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Some fellows were having a good time parasailing over us.

Hike 04 APR 2015
I went with a buddy up a bike trail that starts steeply just a few feet to the north of the C-Trail. We traversed that hillock, and proceeded northward across a stream.

Brian, right proper valiant.

The ridged spines along the hills are soft and entertainingly hazardous in the wind.

Sheets of badly-formed gypsum form all down the ravines.

Scenic Drive, 05 APR 2015
The top of the C-Trail meets a hilltop road, so one of my amigas grabbed her guitar and scaled down the rocky face.

Hike 07 APR 2015.
Today I went straight up the steep, gravelly hillside next to the tan water tower, and went down the valley towards the stream nearby.

The stream bed was mostly dry.

Navajo-layer sandstone?

Large calcium deposits throughout the bed. Not sure if this is limestone or not.

Shale and gypsum pancake together in the swirling layers.

This stone's softer bits were worn away, leaving only this lattice of  harder material. Lovely.

Finally some water! This went on for a few hundred yards until it was blocked by a fallen tree and inconvenient brambles.

Heading up the hill, I found these fallen stones, which look rather like a lion's den, in my imagination.

Beautiful orange and green lichens!

Carefully note the angle of the tree on the left. This is about a 45° view upwards.

I scrambled up the steep stones, pausing to take photos.

Interesting nooks in the stones from weather, and possibly from hands.

Looking up towards the "C".

At the very apex, a comfortable little hollow is found. People have been here before.

Overlooking the valley below, and tracing the line of the river bed.

This is just by the "mini Kolob" found along the Hurricane Cliffs of Cedar.

The north side of that climbed hill is much more hirsute.

Many colorful stones are found. The camera doesn't quite capture the purple of the stone on the left.

On the road back. I'm determined to next go all the way up that stream instead of cutting across.