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Kaiparowits

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The 1,600-square-mile Kaiparowits plateau rises thousands of feet from Glen Canyon National Recreation Area's Lake Powell to the south. In aerial imagery it appears as a strip of slight green among the otherwise red rock landscape surrounding Lake Powell and the Colorado river in this region. The green is due to the pinyon-juniper woodland clinging to the high elevation of many portions of the plateau.

The Kaiparowits plateau falls between the Grand Staircase region (to the west) and the Escalante Canyons region (to the northeast). It is separated from the proposed Grand Staircase National Monument by the Paria River.

This area is one of Utah's more scientifically significant landscapes due to its sedimentary rock formations containing an unbroken record of fossils spanning 30 million years of the Late Cretaceous Era. Life forms of all kinds are recorded here, including dinosaurs.

Included in this monument are Grosvenor Arch, the Cottonwood Canyon Narrows, Hackberry Canyon, the Cockscomb and the old Paria townsite.

A small visitor center in Cannonville, Utah, along Scenic Byway can be called at 435-826-5640. This location is closed in the winter. See Escalante Canyons for nearby information.

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