Needle Mountain is a elevation summit located in Capitol Reef National Park, in Wayne County of

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. This remote erosional remnant is situated north-northwest of the park's visitor center, and east of Cathedral Mountain, in the Middle Desert of the park's North (Cathedral Valley) District. Cathedral Valley was so named in 1945 by Charles Kelly, first superintendent of Capitol Reef National Monument, because the valley's sandstone monoliths reminded early explorers of ornate, Gothic cathedrals, with fluted walls, alcoves, and pinnacles.North (Cathedral Valley) District, National Park Service
/ref> The free-standing Needle Mountain towers above its surrounding terrain, which is within the

Fremont River The Fremont River is a long river in southeastern Utah, United States that flows from the Johnson Valley Reservoir, which is located on the Wasatch Plateau near Fish Lake, southeast through Capitol Reef National Park to the Muddy Creek near Ha ...

drainage basin.

John C. Frémont John Charles Frémont or Fremont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was an American explorer, military officer, and politician. He was a U.S. Senator from California and was the first Republican nominee for president of the United States in 1856 ...

's 1853 expedition passed through Cathedral Valley.

Geology

Needle Mountain is composed of unfractured

Entrada Sandstone The Entrada Sandstone is a formation in the San Rafael Group found in the U.S. states of Wyoming, Colorado, northwest New Mexico, northeast Arizona, and southeast Utah. Part of the Colorado Plateau, this formation was deposited during the Jur ...

which was originally deposited as sandy mud on a tidal flat and is believed to have formed about 160 million years ago during the

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

period as a giant sand sea, the largest in Earth's history.

Stratum In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ei ...

in Cathedral Valley have a gentle inclination of three to five degrees to the east, and appear nearly horizontal. Long after these sedimentary rocks were deposited, the

Colorado Plateau The Colorado Plateau, also known as the Colorado Plateau Province, is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. This province covers an area of ...

was uplifted relatively evenly, keeping the layers roughly horizontal, but Capitol Reef is an exception because of the

Waterpocket Fold The Waterpocket Fold is a geologic landform that extends from southern Wayne through Garfield and ending in northern Kane counties of southern Utah, United States.''Utah Atlas & Gazeteer,'' DeLorme, 9th ed., 2014, pp. 44, 52, 60-1 The geol ...

, a classic

monocline A monocline (or, rarely, a monoform) is a step-like fold in rock strata consisting of a zone of steeper dip within an otherwise horizontal or gently-dipping sequence. Formation Monoclines may be formed in several different ways (see diagram) * ...

, which formed between 50 and 70 million years ago during the

Laramide Orogeny The Laramide orogeny was a time period of mountain building in western North America, which started in the Late Cretaceous, 70 to 80 million years ago, and ended 35 to 55 million years ago. The exact duration and ages of beginning and end of the o ...

.Capitol Reef Geology, NPS.gov
/ref>

Gallery

File:Needle Mountain, Cathedral Valley.jpg, Cathedral Mountain (left), Needle Mountain (right), from the southeast File:Temples in Cathedral Valley.jpg, Cathedral Mountain (left), Needle Mountain (right) File:Capitol Reef - Cathedral Valley.jpg, "The Cathedrals" with Needle Mountain to right File:Upper Cathedral Valley (3723680622).jpg, Needle Mountain left of center File:Cathedral Valley Panorama - Flickr - snowpeak.jpg, Cathedral Valley sunset, with Needle Mountain left of center

Climate

Spring and fall are the most favorable seasons to visit Needle Mountain. 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 during the winter.

References

{{reflist

External links

Capitol Reef National Park
National Park Service * Weather Forecast
Needle Mountain
Capitol Reef National Park Landforms of Wayne County, Utah Sandstone formations of the United States Colorado Plateau North American 2000 m summits

Geology

Gallery

Climate

See also

References

External links