Tower Butte is a 5,287-foot (1,611 meter) elevation sandstone

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

located south of

Lake Powell Lake Powell is a reservoir on the Colorado River in Utah and Arizona, United States. It is a major vacation destination visited by approximately two million people every year. It holds of water when full, second in the United States to only the ...

, in northern

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. Tower Butte is a

butte 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 table (landform), tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from the French l ...

composed of Romana and

Entrada Sandstone The Entrada Sandstone is a formation (geology), 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 deposi ...

s with a

Morrison Formation The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock found in the western United States which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltston ...

caprock Caprock or cap rock is a hard, resistant, and impermeable layer of rock that overlies and protects a reservoir of softer organic material, similar to the crust on a pie where the crust (caprock) prevents leakage of the soft filling (softer materia ...

. It is situated northeast of the town of

Page Page most commonly refers to: * Page (paper), one side of a leaf of paper, as in a book Page, PAGE, pages, or paging may also refer to: Roles * Page (assistance occupation), a professional occupation * Page (servant), traditionally a young m ...

, and 7.5 miles (12.1 km) north of LeChee Rock, on

Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation (), also known as Navajoland, is an Indian reservation of Navajo people in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah. The seat of government is located in ...

land, towering over 1,000 feet above the surrounding terrain as an iconic landmark of the area. Precipitation runoff from this feature drains into Lake Powell, which is part of the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

. The

first ascent In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in climbing guidebook, guide books), is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-century mountaineers a ...

of Tower Butte was made October 23, 1994, by Jason Keith and David Insley.1995 American Alpine Journal, page 165
/ref> However, they were not the first to visit the summit as they reported finding litter from prior helicopter landings. An outfit operating out of Page flies helicopter sightseeing flights which land on the flat top of the butte where tourists have panoramic views of the

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (shortened to Glen Canyon NRA or GCNRA) is a national recreation area and conservation unit of the United States National Park Service that encompasses the area around Lake Powell and lower Cataract Canyo ...

, Lake Powell, and

Navajo Mountain Navajo Mountain ( meaning "Earth Head") is a peak in San Juan County, Utah, with its southern flank extending into Coconino County, Arizona, in the United States. It holds an important place in the traditions of three local Native American tri ...

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Tower Butte is located in an

arid climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

zone with hot, very dry summers, and chilly winters with very little snow. It is located in the southern edge of the

Great Basin Desert The Great Basin Desert is part of the Great Basin between the Sierra Nevada and the Wasatch Range in the western United States. The desert is a geographical region that largely overlaps the Great Basin shrub steppe defined by the World Wildlife ...

on the

Colorado Plateau The Colorado Plateau is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the Southwestern United States. This plateau covers an area of 336,700 km2 (130,000 mi2) within w ...

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

Gallery

File:10b - Romano Mesa - 01 evening (9604013686).jpg, From the northwest at

Alstrom Point Alstrom Point is a 4,685-foot (1,428 meter) elevation landmark located in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, in Kane County of southern Utah. It is situated northeast of the town of Page. This iconic landmark of the Lake Powell area is a ca ...

File:Tower Butte aerial.jpg File:Lac Powell 2016 Aerial view on Tower Butte.jpg, Aerial view from northwest File:Tower Butte, north aspect.jpg, From the north File:Lake Powell aerial.jpg, Tower Butte in upper right corner File:Tower Butte.jpg

References

External links

{{commons category, Tower Butte (Navajo Nation) * Weather forecast
Tower Butte
* Tower Butte Rock Climbing
Mountainproject.com
* Tower Butte helicopter tour
YouTube
Colorado Plateau Landforms of Coconino County, Arizona Geography of the Navajo Nation One-thousanders of the United States Rock formations of Arizona Sandstone formations of the United States

Climate

Gallery

See also

References

External links