Bridger Jack Butte is a sandstone

butte __NOTOC__ In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word mea ...

located in

Bears Ears National Monument Bears Ears National Monument is a United States national monument located in San Juan County in southeastern Utah, established by President Barack Obama by presidential proclamation on December 28, 2016. The monument protects of public land su ...

, in San Juan County,

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, United States. Set at the northern tip of Bridger Jack Mesa and above the confluence of Indian and Lavender Creeks, the summit rises to an elevation of , and towers over above the surrounding terrain and floor of Lavender Canyon to its west. This landmark is situated four miles southeast of the

Sixshooter Peaks The Sixshooter Peaks are two iconic sandstone summits located in Bears Ears National Monument in San Juan County, Utah, United States. The larger and higher North Sixshooter Peak rises to an elevation of , whereas South Sixshooter Peak rises to 6 ...

, and is visible from State Route 211 between

Newspaper Rock Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument is a Utah state monument featuring a rock panel carved with one of the largest known collections of petroglyphs. It is located in San Juan County, along Utah State Route 211, northwest of Monticello and ...

and the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. "Bridger Jack" was a

Paiute Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three groups do not form a single set. The term "Pai ...

medicine man A medicine man or medicine woman is a traditional healer and spiritual leader who serves a community of Indigenous people of the Americas. Individual cultures have their own names, in their respective languages, for spiritual healers and ceremo ...

Geology

Bridger Jack Butte is composed of hard, fine-grained

Wingate Sandstone The Wingate Sandstone is a geologic formation in the Glen Canyon Group of the Colorado Plateau province of the United States which crops out in northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, Nevada, and Utah. Geology Wingate Sandstone is particularly ...

, the petrified remains of wind-borne sand dunes deposited approximately 200 million years ago in the

Late Triassic The Late Triassic is the third and final epoch (geology), epoch of the Triassic geologic time scale, Period in the geologic time scale, spanning the time between annum, Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Middle Triassic Epoch ...

. This Wingate Sandstone forms steep cliffs as it overlays softer layers of the Chinle Formation. The next layer below this is the

Moenkopi Formation The Moenkopi Formation is a geological formation that is spread across the U.S. states of New Mexico, northern Arizona, Nevada, southeastern California, eastern Utah and western Colorado. This unit is considered to be a group in Arizona. Part ...

. Precipitation

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

drains into nearby Indian Creek, which is part of the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...

drainage basin.

Climbing

Bridger Jack Butte is set in the popular Indian Creek climbing area. The

first ascent In mountaineering, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books) is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First mountain ascents are notable because they en ...

of Bridger Jack Butte was made June 12, 1983, by Ed Webster, Leonard Coyne, and Ellen Figi, via the ''Wild Flower'' route. The "Bridger Jacks" are towers on the connecting ridge between the mesa and the butte. They have names such as "King of Pain", "Hummingbird Spire", "Sunflower Tower", "Easter Island", and "Thumbelina". Climbing routes on Bridger Jack Butte: * ''Wild Flower'' – (3 pitches) * ''Sparkling Touch'' – class 5.11 * ''The Kokanee Corner'' – class 5.13+ * ''Hydrophobic coyote'' – class 5.10- * ''Rites of Passage'' – class 5.11+

Climate

Spring and fall are the most favorable seasons to visit Bridger Jack Butte. According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, it is located in a

cold semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

zone, which is defined by the coldest month having an average mean temperature below , and at least 50% of the total annual precipitation being received during the spring and summer. This desert climate receives less than of annual rainfall, and snowfall is generally light and transient during the winter.

Gallery

File:Majestic scenery close to The Canyons (8227777831).jpg, Bridger Jacks and Butte, from east File:Leaving Canyonlands - Flickr - brewbooks (4).jpg, Bridger Jacks and Butte, from east File:Bridger Jack, Indian Creek.jpg, Northwest aspect File:Bridger Jack Butte north aspect.jpg, Bridger Jack Butte, north aspect File:Leaving Canyonlands - Flickr - brewbooks (5).jpg, Bridger Jack Mesa and Butte (right) File:Indian-creek and Cliffside.jpg, Bridger Jack Butte (left) with

(right) File:Bridger Jack Butte.jpg

References

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External links