Assembly Hall Peak is a
summit
A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous.
The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...
in
Emery County,
Utah
Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...
, United States.
Description
Assembly Hall Peak is part of the
San Rafael Swell
The San Rafael Swell is a large geologic feature located in south-central Utah, United States about west of Green River. Measuring approximately , the swell consists of a giant dome-shaped anticline of sandstone, shale, and limestone that wa ...
and is located in the Mexican Mountain Wilderness Study Area which is administered by the
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...
.
Towering nearly 1,300 feet above the surrounding terrain, it is situated east-northeast of
Bottleneck Peak and north of
Window Blind Peak, which is the nearest higher neighbor.
Precipitation
runoff from the peak drains into the nearby
San Rafael River
The San Rafael River is a tributary of the Green River, approximately long, in east central Utah, United States. The river flows across a sparsely populated arid region of the Colorado Plateau, and is known for the isolated, scenic gorge through ...
.
Topographic relief
Terrain (), alternatively relief or topographical relief, is the dimension and shape of a given surface of land. In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientati ...
is significant as the summit rises nearly above the river in 0.75 mile (1.2 km). Access to the mountain is via the Buckhorn Draw Road at Buckhorn Draw Campground. This mountain's toponym has been officially adopted by the
U.S. Board on Geographic Names.
Geology
This erosional remnant along the San Rafael River is composed of
Wingate Sandstone
The Wingate Sandstone is a geologic formation in the Glen Canyon Group of the Colorado Plateau province of the United States which crops out in northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, Nevada, and Utah.
Geology
Wingate Sandstone is particularly ...
, which is the remains of wind-borne sand dunes deposited approximately 200 million years ago in the
Late Triassic
The Late Triassic is the third and final epoch (geology), epoch of the Triassic geologic time scale, Period in the geologic time scale, spanning the time between annum, Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Middle Triassic Epoch a ...
. The Wingate overlays lightly colored
Chinle Formation
The Chinle Formation is an Upper Triassic continental geological formation of fluvial, lacustrine, and palustrine to eolian deposits spread across the U.S. states of Nevada, Utah, northern Arizona, western New Mexico, and western Colorado. In ...
around the lower slopes of the peak and the surrounding area is composed of
Moenkopi Formation
The Moenkopi Formation is a geological formation that is spread across the U.S. states of New Mexico, northern Arizona, Nevada, southeastern California, eastern Utah and western Colorado. This unit is considered to be a Geological unit, group ...
.
Climate
According to the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
system, it is located in a
Cold semi-arid climate
Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...
zone, which is defined by the coldest month having an average mean temperature below 32 °F (0 °C), and at least 50% of the total annual precipitation being received during the spring and summer.
This desert climate receives less than of annual rainfall, and snowfall is generally light during the winter. Spring and fall are the most favorable seasons to visit Assembly Hall Peak.
Climbing
Established climbing routes:
* ''Postcard of the Hanging'' –
[Cameron Burns, ''Selected Climbs in the Desert Southwest: Colorado and Utah'', The Mountaineers Books (1999), , p. 167.]
* ''Heavy Metal'' – class 5.10
[1995 American Alpine Journal, Mountaineers Books, p. 162.]
/ref>
* ''Leaning Pillar'' – class 5.10[
* ''Lactic Stackidosis'' – class 5.10+][
]
See also
* Colorado Plateau
The Colorado Plateau is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the Southwestern United States. This plateau covers an area of 336,700 km2 (130,000 mi2) within w ...
*
Gallery
File:Assembly Hall Peak in Utah.jpg
File:Assembly Hall Peak and 5740'.jpg, Northwest aspect of Assembly Hall Peak (left) and Peak 5740 (right)
File:Buckhorn Wash.jpg, Northwest aspect of Assembly Hall Peak (center) viewed with San Rafael River
File:Assembly Hall Peak UT.jpg, Southwest aspect
File:Assembly Hall Peak (4055580727).jpg, Southwest aspect
References
{{reflist
External links
* Weather forecast
Assembly Hall Peak
* Assembly Hall Peak rock climbing
Mountainproject.com
* Assembly Hall Peak (photo)
Flickr
* Assembly Hall Peak and Window Blind Peak
Flickr (photo)
Mountains of Utah
Landforms of Emery County, Utah
San Rafael Swell
Geology of Utah
Colorado Plateau
Bureau of Land Management areas in Utah
One-thousanders of the United States
Sandstone formations of the United States