Upper Slots of Rock Canyon
Utah
2005
Utah
2005
BW66007002
The slot canyons of the American Southwest are some of the most fascinating features of the high-desert landscape. Hidden from sight, these
unique streamways carve narrow and graceful sinuous incisions into rock formations such as the Cedar Mesa Sandstone and the distinctively red
Navajo Sandstone. At times these canyons are more than 100 feet deep, while being too narrow to even enter! I've traveled in areas for years
without knowing of some of these rugged passages existing just a mile or two away.
On hot summer days slot canyons are wonderful places to escape to, places to avoid the harsh heat of the day. But when the summer monsoons
come, these places of shelter can become places of extreme danger. Flash floods pour millions of gallons of water through these narrow
canyons, quickly flooding them and threatening any visitor who is not close to an escape route - refuge on a high bench or a pathway out of the
canyon. Remnants of these floods, in the form of large woody debris lodged tens of feet from the canyon floors, are reminders of how deep and
how fast moving these floods can be.
This photo was taken at the mouth of the upper slots of Rock Canyon. The well-lit slots become progressively narrower as we look into the
distance, up the canyon. Just imagine a flood of water ten or fifteen feet deep passing out of this passage! Note the fine silts and clays of the
canyon floor, with the dried, contracted and peeled veneer of clay adding such a wonderful texture to the photograph. This clay was deposited as
the last of the flood water washed out of the canyon. With the floor undisturbed by any visitors, I had the pleasure of being the first visitor into this
slot since the last rain. Slot canyons are a wilderness within a wilderness.
unique streamways carve narrow and graceful sinuous incisions into rock formations such as the Cedar Mesa Sandstone and the distinctively red
Navajo Sandstone. At times these canyons are more than 100 feet deep, while being too narrow to even enter! I've traveled in areas for years
without knowing of some of these rugged passages existing just a mile or two away.
On hot summer days slot canyons are wonderful places to escape to, places to avoid the harsh heat of the day. But when the summer monsoons
come, these places of shelter can become places of extreme danger. Flash floods pour millions of gallons of water through these narrow
canyons, quickly flooding them and threatening any visitor who is not close to an escape route - refuge on a high bench or a pathway out of the
canyon. Remnants of these floods, in the form of large woody debris lodged tens of feet from the canyon floors, are reminders of how deep and
how fast moving these floods can be.
This photo was taken at the mouth of the upper slots of Rock Canyon. The well-lit slots become progressively narrower as we look into the
distance, up the canyon. Just imagine a flood of water ten or fifteen feet deep passing out of this passage! Note the fine silts and clays of the
canyon floor, with the dried, contracted and peeled veneer of clay adding such a wonderful texture to the photograph. This clay was deposited as
the last of the flood water washed out of the canyon. With the floor undisturbed by any visitors, I had the pleasure of being the first visitor into this
slot since the last rain. Slot canyons are a wilderness within a wilderness.
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