MONUMENT CANYON VIEW
19
Another 1⅓ miles takes us to the next parking area at Monument Canyon View, from which one may walk a short distance to the northeast. The photograph shown in [figure 13] was taken from a point northeast of the parking area.
From the head of Fruita Canyon to Monument Canyon View, Rim Rock Drive is on a bench of the Kayenta Formation that separates the two lines of cliffs. We must now leave this bench, however, because from near Coke Ovens Overlook to beyond Artists Point the bench ceases to exist, and the Entrada, Kayenta, and Wingate form virtually a single cliff. Moreover, we must get up into the Morrison Formation in order to cross the divide between Monument and Ute Canyons. For these reasons, in the next three-quarters of a mile south of Monument Canyon View the road cuts upward through the entire Entrada Sandstone. Just beyond the first curve are quarries on the right from which curb and building stones were cut by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930’s for protecting overlooks and narrow stretches of road. At the southwest end of this stretch is another parking area at Coke Ovens Overlook, which provides good views of the north side of the Coke Ovens.
COKE OVENS OVERLOOK
20
The next parking area a quarter of a mile to the southwest is the Monument Canyon Trailhead of the long trail to the mouth of Monument Canyon and of a short trail to the Coke Ovens.
ARTISTS POINT
21
Half a mile to the southeast takes us to a large parking area at Artists Point, which offers a wide variety of scenic views. The best exposure of the Summerville Formation in the entire area that I mapped[38] is on the west side of the road, as shown in [figure 20]. A short trail leads down to a fenced overlook for viewing the Coke Ovens to the north ([fig. 11]) and Monument Canyon to the northeast.