Owl Rock is a 6,547-foot (1,996 m) elevation sandstone

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used ...

located south of

Monument Valley Monument Valley ( nv, Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii, , meaning ''valley of the rocks'') is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone buttes, the largest reaching above the valley floor. It is located on the Utah-Arizona s ...

, in northeast

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. It is situated north of

Kayenta Kayenta ( nv, ) is a U.S. town which is part of the Navajo Nation and is in Navajo County, Arizona, United States. Established November 13, 1986, the Kayenta Township is the only "township" existing under the laws of the Navajo Nation, making it u ...

Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation ( nv, Naabeehó Bináhásdzo), also known as Navajoland, is a Native American reservation in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah; at roughly , the ...

land, and can be seen from Highway 163 perched on the east edge of Tyende Mesa, where it towers 1,000 feet (300 meters) above the surrounding terrain. Its nearest higher neighbor is Agathla Peak, to the east-northeast, on the opposite side of this highway. 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 ...

from this feature drains into El Capitan Wash, which is part of the San Juan River drainage basin. 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 Owl Rock was made in April 1966 by

Fred Beckey Friedrich Wolfgang Beckey (14 January 1923 – 30 October 2017), known as Fred Beckey, was an American rock climber, mountaineer and book author, who in seven decades of climbing achieved hundreds of first ascents of the tallest peaks and best ro ...

and Harvey Carter by climbing cracks on the west face, and then bolting up a smooth south nose to the summit. They employed 20

piton A piton (; also called ''pin'' or ''peg'') in climbing is a metal spike (usually steel) that is driven into a crack or seam in the climbing surface using a climbing hammer, and which acts as an anchor for protecting the climber against the ...

s and 14 bolts on this route called ''Warpath''. The descriptive name stems from its uncanny resemblance to an owl when viewed from the east. This feature is known as ''Bee 'Adizí'' in

Navajo language Navajo or Navaho (; Navajo: or ) is a Southern Athabaskan language of the Na-Dené family, through which it is related to languages spoken across the western areas of North America. Navajo is spoken primarily in the Southwestern United States ...

meaning "spindle", and this sacred place is considered to be a spindle left behind by the Holy People. A newer name for it is ''Tsé Ts'óózí'', meaning "Slim Rock". This Owl Rock is not to be confused with another located in Arches National Park in Utah.

Geology

Owl Rock is a red spire composed of

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 ...

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 pro ...

which is a hard, fine-grained rock which is great for rock climbing, in contrast to the towers and buttes in nearby Monument Valley which have a different composition, ''de Chelly sandstone''. Owl Rock stands atop Tyende Mesa which is formed of the

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

Chinle Formation The Chinle Formation is an Upper Triassic continental geological formation of fluvial, lacustrine, and palustrine to eolian deposits spread across the U.S. states of Nevada, Utah, northern Arizona, western New Mexico, and western Colorado. In Ne ...

. The Owl Rock Member of the Chinle Formation, composed of cherty limestone and limestone conglomerate beds alternating with claystone, mudstone, and siltstone beds, forms the upper half of the mesa, and it overlays the Petrified Forest Member of the lower half. The Owl Rock Member is best exposed at its type locality near the base of Owl Rock. Here the member crops out and the resistant limestone beds form a series of jutting ledges that serve partly in protecting the underlying strata. The limestone beds are very resistant to erosion, forming thin ledges interrupting the slopes weathered from the dominant siltstone interbeds. The Owl Rock Member ranges in thickness from approximately 120 to 166 feet, and at Owl Rock the member is 166 feet thick.

Climate

Spring and fall are the most favorable seasons to visit Owl Rock. 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

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 with cold winters and hot summers. Summers average 54 days above annually, and highs rarely exceed . Summer nights are comfortably cool, and temperatures drop quickly after sunset. Winters are cold, but daytime highs are usually above freezing. Winter temperatures below are uncommon, though possible. This desert climate receives less than of annual rainfall, and snowfall is generally light during the winter.Climate Summary for Kayenta, Arizona
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Gallery

File:Owl Rock profile.jpg, Profile view, from southeast File:Owl Rock on Tyende Mesa, and Agathla Peak - crop.jpg, Owl Rock (left), Highway 163, Agathla Peak from the south File:Owl Rock from northeast.jpg, Northeast aspect File:Owl Rock AZ.jpg File:Owl and Agathla.jpg, Looking north with Owl Rock on left File:Agathla and Owl.jpg, Looking south with Owl Rock on right File:Owl Rock Navajo Land.jpg File:Owl Rock and sky.jpg File:Owl Rock clouds.jpg File:Owl Rock.jpg File:Owl Rock red sky.jpg

References

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External links

* Weather forecast
Owl Rock
Colorado Plateau Landforms of Navajo County, Arizona Geography of the Navajo Nation Geography of Navajo County, Arizona Rock formations of Arizona Sandstone formations of the United States Religious places of the indigenous peoples of North America

Geology

Climate

Gallery

See also

References

External links