About 11 miles above the Moab bridge is the mouth of Salt Wash ([fig. 1]), as viewed from State Highway 128. (See [fig. 21].) Seventeen miles above the bridge (east of area shown in [fig. 1]), we get an excellent view of the southeast end of the highly faulted Cache Valley anticline, as shown in [figure 22]. The background shown in the photograph formerly was the easternmost part of the former monument, but when the monument graduated to a park on November 16, 1971, this part of Cache Valley along with most of Dry Mesa was withdrawn from the park and put under the supervision of the Bureau of Land Management, also a part of the Department of the Interior.
SOUTHEAST END OF FAULTED CACHE VALLEY ANTICLINE, viewed northwestward across Colorado River from a point on State Highway 128, 17 miles above Moab bridge. High cliff of Wingate Sandstone on left is capped by thin protective layer of the Kayenta Formation. About upper third of slope below base of cliff is the Chinle Formation, below which is the Moenkopi Formation extending to high-water level. Note bent and broken beds on right. (Fig. 22)
As noted on [page 16], part of “Run, Cougar, Run” was filmed just upstream from the irrigated field in the foreground of [figure 22], in a wide part of the valley called Professor Valley ([fig. 7]). This valley and the Richardson Amphitheater on the southeast side of the river were named after a Professor Richardson who settled in the area in the 1880’s. The long abandoned townsite of Richardson was 1¼ miles due east from the point from which [figure 22] was taken.
Headquarters Area
The junction of the park road with U.S. Highway 163 is shown at the lower left of [figure 23], and the entrance station, Visitor Center, parking lot, and several buildings are seen at the lower right. Several residences for park personnel and other buildings are shown in [figure 25]. As shown in the lower part of [figure 23], the geology at the park entrance is rather complex, as the park boundary here is partly along the Moab fault and partly along a branch fault—both in the Seven Mile-Moab Valley anticline ([fig. 7]). The Moab fault extends northwestward from Moab for more than 30 miles (McKnight, 1940, p. 120, 121, pl. 1).
As shown in [figure 23], soon after leaving the checking station the park road begins to ascend the first of several switchbacks, and cuts first into the Slick Rock Member, then the Dewey Bridge Member, and finally the Navajo Sandstone the rest of the way to and beyond the top of the hill.
From points a mile or so up the hill may be seen interesting features in several directions.[5] The view to the southwest is shown in [figure 23], to the west are the Three Penguins ([fig. 24]). A good view of the Moab Valley is had by looking southeastward ([fig. 25]). A well in the Navajo Sandstone at the base of the hill supplies water to all the residences and to the Visitor Center, where a drinking fountain and modern restrooms are available to the public. Storage is provided by a steel tank hidden in a ravine above the buildings shown in [figure 25].
To the north the wall of Entrada Sandstone is cut by a normal fault ([fig. 6]), as shown in [figure 26].
