Navajo Mountain is a singular 10,388 foot (3,166 meter) peak on the Colorado Plateau. Located mostly in Utah with its southernmost flanks extending into Arizona across the border, Navajo Mountain is what is known in geology as a laccolith. Laccoliths are big intrusions of igneous rock (often granite) that form deep beneath the earth’s crust and then rise upwards through overlying layers of stone rather like a large blister. The core of Navajo Mountain is granite, and the base is wrapped in jumbled and sheared layers of sedimentary rock. Other laccolithic mountain ranges in the region include the Abajo and Henry Mountains in Utah and the La Sal Mountains on the Utah/Colorado border.
The labyrinthine canyons at the base of Navajo Mountain drain northern Arizona and southern Utah into Lake Powell, created by Glen Canyon Dam.
Navajo Mountain is on the sovereign Navajo Nation, and is sacred to them and to several other tribes of the region. Access is restricted by the Navajo tribal authorities and climbing the mountain is generally forbidden. A rare plant, the blue-flowered Navajo penstemon (Penstemon navajoa) is found only on the mountain above 7000 feet in the pine forests and glades. This is one of the most prominent and isolated peaks in the US, rising more than 4000 feet above its base and with no nearby neighbors to compete for attention. Beautiful!
A small wildfire sparked by lightning two days before I arrived consumes pine and juniper forest on the western slopes of Navajo Mountain. This photo was taken on Tuesday August 13, 2013. It was still burning and a bit larger by August 15, when I left the region.
These cliffs are located along Navajo Creek, which drains a significant area south of Navajo Mountain and runs into Lake Powell. This canyon was apparently used as a refuge by the Navajo People when the US military was trying to forcibly evict them from their lands and make them migrate to New Mexico on the Trail of Tears. The remote and inaccessible terrain around sacred Navajo Mountain helped many of them evade this fate.
Glowing sunsets on the Colorado Plateau are always memorably beautiful.
Navajo beardtongue (Penstemon navajoa): Photos by Daniela Roth, Navajo Natural Heritage Program.
Known from only five sites, all atop the upper reaches of Navajo Mountain, this narrowly endemic small wildflower has evolved separately from related penstemon species found regionally. This is a function of long-term genetic separation from other members of its genus, and the inability of the plant to tolerate lower, drier elevations that surround the mountain for dozens of miles in all directions. This evolutionary dynamic is part of why many rare species are found in restricted habitats such as isolated mountain ranges, islands in the vast ocean, and small water features surrounded by aridity. The inability of these organisms to outcross with related species tends over time to lead towards the gestation of new types. That is what has happened here on this interesting Colorado Plateau laccolith.