The Kaiparowits Plateau is a large, elevated landform located in southern Utah, in the southwestern United States. Along with the Grand Staircase and the Canyons of the Escalante, it makes up a significant portion of the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument. Its extension to the southeast, Fiftymile Mountain, runs nearly to the Colorado River and Lake Powell, and is a prominent part of the northern skyline from the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.
The Straight Cliffs, looking northwest from the eastern end of Fiftymile Mountain.
The Kaiparowits Plateau (green area in center), as seen from space (NASA)
Fossilized skeleton of a young hadrosaur displayed at the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument
The Canyons of the Escalante is a collective name for the erosional landforms created by the Escalante River and its tributaries—the Escalante River Basin. Located in southern Utah in the western United States, these sandstone features include high vertical canyon walls, numerous slot canyons, waterpockets, domes, hoodoos, natural arches and bridges. This area—extending over 1,500 square miles (3,885 km2) and rising in elevation from 3,600 ft (1,097 m) to over 11,000 ft (3,353 m)—is one of the three main sections of the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, and also a part of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, with Capitol Reef National Park being adjacent to the east.
Calf Creek Canyon
Zebra Canyon
Stevens Arch, near the mouth of Coyote Gulch
Canyon walls and stream-bed in Coyote Gulch