Castle Rock 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 San Juan 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

Castle Rock is situated north-northeast of the Monument Valley Tribal Park Visitor Center, on

Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation (), also known as Navajoland, is an Indian reservation of Navajo people in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah. The seat of government is located in ...

land. It is an iconic landform of

Monument Valley Monument Valley (, , meaning "valley of the rocks") is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone buttes, with the largest reaching above the valley floor. The most famous butte formations are located in northeas ...

and can be seen from Highway 163. Precipitation runoff from this landform's slopes drains into the San Juan River

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

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 above the surrounding terrain in 0.25 mile (0.4 km). This landform's toponym has been officially adopted by the

United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a Federal government of the United States, federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geogr ...

. It is so named because the butte resembles the silhouette of a castle. The

first ascent In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in climbing guidebook, guide books), is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-century mountaineers a ...

of the summit was made on May 8, 1960, by Harvey T. Carter,

Layton Kor Layton Kor (June 11, 1938 – April 21, 2013) was an American rock climber active in the 1960s, whose first ascents and drive for climbing are well known in the climbing world. His routes included many climbs in Eldorado Canyon, near Boulder ...

, and John Auld.

Geology

Castle Rock is composed of three principal strata. The bottom layer is slope-forming

Organ Rock Shale The Organ Rock Formation or Organ Rock Shale is a formation within the late Pennsylvanian to early Permian Cutler Group and is deposited across southeastern Utah, northwestern New Mexico, and northeastern Arizona. This formation notably outcrops ar ...

, the next stratum is cliff-forming

De Chelly Sandstone The Yeso Group is a group of geologic formations in New Mexico. It contains fossils characteristic of the Kungurian Age of the early Permian Period. Description The Yeso Group is lithologically complex, ranging from marine shelf carbonate ...

, and the upper layer is

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 ...

. The rock ranges in age from

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), 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 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...

at the bottom to

Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...

at the top. The buttes and mesas of Monument Valley are the result of the Organ Rock Shale being more easily eroded than the overlaying sandstone.

Climate

Spring and fall are the most favorable seasons to visit Castle Rock. 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

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 se ...

zone with cold winters and hot summers. Summers average 54 days above annually, and highs rarely exceed . Summer nights are comfortably cool, and temperatures drop quickly after sunset. Winters are cold, but daytime highs are usually above freezing. Winter temperatures below are uncommon, though possible. This desert climate receives less than of annual rainfall, and snowfall is generally light during the winter.Climate Summary for Kayenta, Arizona
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Gallery

File:RF-8G Crusaders of VFP-206 in Monument Valley 1985.jpg, West aspect of Castle Rock File:Monument Valley 17.jpg, Southwest aspect File:Monument Valley (14001960020).jpg, L→R: King-on-his-Throne, Stagecoach, Bear and Rabbit, Castle Rock File:Monument Valley (14001932809).jpg, L→R: Brighams Tomb, King-on-his-Throne, Stagecoach, Bear and Rabbit, Castle Rock File:Forrest Gump Point Monument Valley November 2018 003.jpg, Castle Rock left, Brighams Tomb to right, view southwest from Highway 163.

Forrest Gump ''Forrest Gump'' is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis. An adaptation of the Forrest Gump (novel), 1986 novel by Winston Groom, the screenplay of the film is written by Eric Roth. It stars Tom Hanks in the title rol ...

was here. (culmination of cross-country running scene) File:Long Road to Monument Valley U.S. Route 163.jpg, Castle Rock left, Brighams Tomb to right File:Monument Valley, Utah, US - panoramio.jpg, Castle Rock left, Brighams Tomb to right File:Brighams Tomb and Castle Rock.jpg, South aspect of Brighams Tomb (centered) and Castle Rock (right) viewed from North Window Overlook File:Outside Monument Valley (50172888653).jpg, Brighams Tomb (left), Castle Rock (center), Big Indian (right) File:Monument Valley, AZ (48566079876).jpg, L→R: Brighams Tomb, King-on-his-Throne, Stagecoach, Bear and Rabbit, Castle Rock File:Over Monument Valley, Navajo Nation - 3814237949.jpg, Aerial view File:Monument Valley, Az Hwy 163N (5946972439).jpg File:Stagecoach - Monument Valley.jpg, Stagecoach, Bear and Rabbit, Castle Rock (right)

References

External links