Bridge over Little Colorado River
When you cross the Little Colorado River at Cameron on Highway 89 North you enter the western edge of the Painted Desert.
Enter The Painted Desert
During the Early Triassic, about 250 million years ago, the mass of all continents known as Pangaea began to drift apart between North America and Africa.
The west coast of North America subsided into a flat plain and when sea levels rose these plains were covered with seawater. When the level dropped the exposed land was covered with a deposit of Kaibab limestone.
Because eastern North America had the highest mountainous land at the time, rivers flowed westward to the low coastal plains. The slow moving waters deposited mostly red mudstone and very fine-grained sandstone.
At the same time tidal flows deposited gray mudstone and tan limestone. All these layers represent the Moenkopi Formation.
During the Middle Triassic deposition stopped and erosion began possibly due to climate change, a drop in sea level or a slight uplift of the Colorado Plateau region.
In the late Triassic, about 215 million years ago, the region again subsided and stream deposits filled valleys and river cuts with sediment of very coarse-grained sandstone and pebble conglomerate known as the Shinarump Member of the Chinle Formation.
As rivers continued to dominate the landscape mudstones in shades of red, gray, brown, purple, tan, orange and pink were deposited as water flooded over the river banks.
In addition, ash from exploding volcanoes fell on the Chinle river plains and eventually decomposed to clay with oxidized iron and manganese that give the rocks more vivid color.
Echo Cliffs on right, note the tip of the hills on left
The Painted Desert is referred to by some Native Americans as a “land of sleeping rainbows.”
Native Americans sell arts & crafts along the road
Much of the Painted Desert region is located within the Navajo Nation. The Navajo and the Hopi people have lived in the region for at least one thousand years, however the modern name for the desert comes from the Spaniards who named it "el Desierto Pintado" due to its brightly colored landscape.
Vermilion Cliffs in distance & Echo Cliffs on right
From the flat plain of the Painted Desert I continued up Echo Cliffs towards Page and the Glen Canyon Dam. Hope you’ll come back for more of the journey.