Angels Gate is a -elevation summit located in the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a ...

, in

Coconino County Coconino County is a county in the north-central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. Its population was 145,101 at the 2020 census. The county seat is Flagstaff. The county takes its name from ''Cohonino'', a name applied to the Havasupai p ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. It is situated due north of the Grandview Point overlook on the canyon's South Rim, west of Vishnu Temple, and southeast of

Zoroaster Temple Zoroaster Temple is a summit located in the Grand Canyon, in Coconino County of Arizona, USA. It is situated northeast of the Yavapai Point overlook on the canyon's South Rim, from which it can be seen towering over above the Colorado River an ...

Topographic relief Terrain or relief (also topographical relief) involves the vertical and horizontal dimensions of land surface. The term bathymetry is used to describe underwater relief, while hypsometry studies terrain relative to sea level. The Latin w ...

is significant as it rises over above the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...

in three miles. Angels Gate is the place in

Paiute Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three groups do not form a single set. The term "Pa ...

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

where the gods would return to earth by descending from the shadow world above.

George Wharton James George Wharton James (27 September 1858 – 8 November 1923) was an American popular lecturer, photographer, journalist and editor. Born in Lincolnshire, England, he emigrated to the United States as a young man after being ordained as a Methodi ...

applied the "Angel Gate" name to this geographical feature in his book, ''In & Around the Grand Canyon'', in 1900. This feature's name was officially adopted in 1906 by the

U.S. Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal govern ...

. Angels Gate has four peaks composed of Coconino Sandstone. The main highest summit and three spires are known as "Snoopy and his Doghouse" for a resemblance to

Snoopy Snoopy is an anthropomorphic beagle in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. He can also be found in all of the ''Peanuts'' films and television specials. Since his debut on October 4, 1950, Snoopy has become one of the most recog ...

, and the

first ascent In mountaineering, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books) is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First mountain ascents are notable because they e ...

was made April 1972 by Chuck Graf and Dave Ganci. According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

system, Angels Gate is located in a

cold semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-a ...

zone.

Geology

The summit of Angels Gate is composed of remnant, cliff-forming,

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Pale ...

Coconino Sandstone Coconino Sandstone is a geologic formation named after its exposure in Coconino County, Arizona. This formation spreads across the Colorado Plateau province of the United States, including northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, Nevada, and Utah. ...

. The sandstone, which is the third-youngest of the strata in the Grand Canyon, was deposited 265 million years ago as sand dunes. Below the Coconino Sandstone is slope-forming, Permian

Hermit Formation The Permian Hermit Formation, also known as the Hermit Shale, is a nonresistant unit that is composed of slope-forming reddish brown siltstone, mudstone, and very fine-grained sandstone. Within the Grand Canyon region, the upper part of the H ...

, which in turn overlays the

Pennsylvanian Pennsylvanian may refer to: * A person or thing from Pennsylvania * Pennsylvanian (geology) The Pennsylvanian ( , also known as Upper Carboniferous or Late Carboniferous) is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS geologic timesca ...

-Permian

Supai Group The Supai Group is a slope-forming section of red bed deposits found in the Colorado Plateau. The group was laid down during the Pennsylvanian to Lower Permian. Cliff-forming interbeds of sandstone are noticeable throughout the group. The Supai ...

. Further down are strata of

Mississippian Mississippian may refer to: * Mississippian (geology), a subperiod of the Carboniferous period in the geologic timescale, roughly 360 to 325 million years ago *Mississippian culture, a culture of Native American mound-builders from 900 to 1500 AD ...

Redwall Limestone The Redwall Limestone is a resistant cliff-forming unit of Mississippian age that forms prominent, red-stained cliffs in the Grand Canyon, ranging in height from to . Lithology Redwall Limestone consists predominantly of light-olive-gray to ...

Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million years ag ...

Tonto Group The Tonto Group is a name for an assemblage of related sedimentary strata, collectively known by geologists as a '' Group'', that comprises the basal sequence Paleozoic strata exposed in the sides of the Grand Canyon. As currently defined, the T ...

, and finally

Proterozoic The Proterozoic () is a geological eon spanning the time interval from 2500 to 538.8million years ago. It is the most recent part of the Precambrian "supereon". It is also the longest eon of the Earth's geologic time scale, and it is subdivided ...

Unkar Group The Unkar Group is a sequence of strata of Proterozoic age that are subdivided into five geologic formations and exposed within the Grand Canyon, Arizona, Southwestern United States. The 5-unit Unkar Group is the basal member of the 8-member G ...

at creek level and Granite Gorge.N.H. Darton, ''Story of the Grand Canyon of Arizona'', 1917. Precipitation

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

from Angels Gate drains south to the Colorado River.

Gallery

File:Angels Gate NW.jpg, Northwest aspect File:Angels Gate with Deva Temple.jpg, Angels Gate, with

Deva Temple Deva Temple is a 7,353-foot-elevation (2,241 meter) summit located in the Grand Canyon, in Coconino County of northern Arizona, USA. It is situated three miles south of the North Rim's Bright Angel Point, and towers 3,700 feet (1,130 meters) abov ...

behind File:Angel's gate Grand Canyon.jpg, South aspect File:Angels Gate, Grand Canyon 2011.jpg, From the southeast File:Wotans Throne behind Angels Gate.jpg, Wotans Throne behind Angels Gate File:Grand Canyon at sunset.jpg, Sunset from Desert View, Angels Gate (lower left of center) File:Wotans Throne and Angels Gate.jpg, Wotans Throne (left) and Angels Gate from west on Tonto Trail File:Angels Gate, GCNP.jpg, Angels Gate from Desert View File:Angels Gate 1901.jpg, Angels Gate from south, circa 1901

Hawkins Butte

Hawkins Butte is a -elevation

butte __NOTOC__ In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and table (landform), tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a F ...

attached at the southwest end of Angels Gate. It was officially named in 1932 after William "Billy" Robert Hawkins, the hunter and cook for

John Wesley Powell John Wesley Powell (March 24, 1834 – September 23, 1902) was an American geologist, U.S. Army soldier, explorer of the American West, professor at Illinois Wesleyan University, and director of major scientific and cultural institutions. He ...

's 1869 expedition down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. It is primarily composed of exposed cliffs of Redwall Limestone overlaying Tonto Group.

References

Harvey Butchart John Harvey Butchart (May 10, 1907 – May 29, 2002) was a mathematics professor who was well known for his hiking exploits in and around the Grand Canyon in Arizona, United States. Beginning in 1945, Butchart explored the Grand Canyon's backco ...

{{Geology of the Grand Canyon area, , state=collapsed Grand Canyon Landforms of Coconino County, Arizona Mountains of Arizona Mountains of Coconino County, Arizona North American 2000 m summits Colorado Plateau Grand Canyon National Park

Geology

Gallery

Hawkins Butte

See also

References

External links