The Sixshooter Peaks are two iconic sandstone summits 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. The larger and higher North Sixshooter Peak rises to an elevation of , whereas South Sixshooter Peak rises to 6,154 feet, with approximately separation between the two. These

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 ...

s tower nearly above the surrounding terrain, and are historic landmarks 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. They are situated 1.5 mile outside the boundary of the park, and four miles northwest of Bridger Jack Butte. Variant names for the peaks include "North Six-Shooter Peak", "South Six-shooter Peak", "Six Shooter Peaks", and "Six-shooter Peak". They are so named because of their resemblance to a pair of

revolver A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...

s pointing skyward.S.W. Lohman, ''The Geologic Story of Canyonlands National Park'', US Government Printing Office, 1974, page 61.

Geology

Sixshooter Peaks are 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 ...

, which is the 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 which formed conical mounds beneath the Wingate towers. The layer below this is

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 ...

. In the early 1980s, land surrounding South Sixshooter Peak was considered for the nation's first high-level nuclear waste repository, because thick salt beds 3,000 feet below the surface were potential host rocks for storing radioactive materials. 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

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 North Sixshooter Peak was made April 14, 1962, by Maurice Horn, Huntley Ingalls, and Steve Komito via ''Southwest Chimney''. South Sixshooter Peak was first climbed in September 1969 by Billy Roos, Burnham Arndt, and Denver Collins. The popular south peak is a good climb for beginners and has one of the easiest tower routes in the Indian Creek climbing area.

North Sixshooter Peak climbing routes

* ''Talk Dusty To Me'' North Six Shooter Peak Rock Climbing, Mountainproject.com
/ref> * ''Southeast Chimney Route'' class 5.10 A1 * ''Liquid Sky'' class 5.11+ * ''Shadows Route'' class 5.10 * ''Gunsmoke'' class 5.11+ * ''Lightning Bolt Cracks'' class 5.11- * ''Perfect Hands All the Way'' class 5.11+ * ''Pratt's Crack'' class 5.10

South Sixshooter Peak climbing routes

* ''South Face'' routes class 5.6 to 5.11

Climate

Spring and fall are the most favorable seasons to visit the Sixshooter Peaks. 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, they are 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.

Gallery

File:Bears Ears National Monument, North Six-shooter Peak.jpg, North Sixshooter Peak, northeast aspect File:South Sixshooter Peak.jpg, South Sixshooter Peak File:Six-shooter Peaks.jpg, South Sixshooter (left), and North Peak to right File:Gorgeous scenery on the way to The Needles (8227777201).jpg, North Sixshooter Peak, northeast aspect File:Six Shooter Peak. Needles District of the Canyonlands. UT (9542310666).jpg, North Sixshooter Peak File:North Sixshooter Peak sunrise.jpg, North Sixshooter Peak at sunrise File:Sixshooter Peaks from State Route 211.jpg, Sixshooter Peaks from State Route 211 File:Indian Creek Sixshooters.jpg

Geology

Climbing

North Sixshooter Peak climbing routes

South Sixshooter Peak climbing routes

Climate

Gallery

See also

References

External links