Cottontail Tower is a

pillar A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

in Grand 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

Cottontail Tower is located northeast of

Moab, Utah Moab () is the largest city in and the county seat of Grand County in eastern Utah in the western United States, known for its dramatic scenery. The population was 5,366 at the 2020 census. Moab attracts many tourists annually, mostly visitor ...

, in the Fisher Towers, on land 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 ...

. Cottontail ranks as the second-steepest peak in the United States, second only to nearby The Titan.

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 tower's base.Stewart M. Green, ''Best Easy Day Hikes Moab'', Rowman & Littlefield, 2020, , p. 48. Precipitation runoff from the tower drains to Onion Creek which empties into the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

, approximately three miles to the west. Access is via Fisher Towers Road from

Route 128 The following highways are numbered 128: Canada * New Brunswick Route 128 * Ontario Highway 128 (former) * Prince Edward Island Route 128 Costa Rica * National Route 128 (Costa Rica), National Route 128 India * National Highway 128 (India) Ja ...

, and hiking one mile on the Fisher Towers Trail. This landform's descriptive toponym refers to the summit rock resembling the tail of a

Cottontail rabbit Cottontail rabbits are in the ''Sylvilagus'' genus, which is in the family Leporidae. They are found in the Americas. Most ''Sylvilagus'' species have stub tails with white undersides that show when they retreat, giving them their characterist ...

. Cottontail Tower is briefly shown (as a parachute flies by) in the opening scene of the film ''

Austin Powers in Goldmember ''Austin Powers in Goldmember'' is a 2002 American spy comedy film directed by Jay Roach. It is the third and final installment in the ''Austin Powers'' film series and stars Mike Myers in four different roles: Austin Powers, Dr. Evil, Goldme ...

''.

Climbing

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 June 11, 1967, by Harvey T. Carter, Art Howells, Mike Dudley, Don Doucette, Morgan Gadd, and Herbie Hendricks via the ''West Side Story'' route on the northwest side of the tower. Other rock-climbing routes on Cottontail Tower: * ''Brer Rabbit'' - - Ed Webster (1978) * ''Road Kill'' - class 5.9 - Earl Wiggins, Art Wiggins, Katy Cassidy (1987)''North America, United States, Utah, Utah Desert Climbing''
Eric Bjørnstad, 1988, americanalpineclub.org. * ''Intifada'' - class 5.10 - Jim Beyer (1988)''The American Alpine Journal 1991''
James Beyer, The Mountaineers Books, 1991, p. 172. * ''Not So Soft'' - class 5.8 - Shawn MacRoe, Chris Van Leuven (1999)''Fisher Towers''
Eric Bjørnstad, American Alpine Journal, 1999, p. 230. * ''Trick of the Tail'' - class 5.10+ - Paul Gagner, Jeremy Aslaksen (2011) * ''Free Gaza'' - Jim Beyer (2014) * ''Line in the Sand'' - Richard Jensen, Scott Peterson (2017)

Geology

Cottontail Tower is set on a

fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. F ...

and is composed of two principal strata of sandstone and mudstone:

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 ...

Cutler Formation The Cutler Formation or Cutler Group is a stratigraphic unit exposed across the U.S. states of Arizona, northwest New Mexico, southeast Utah and southwest Colorado. It was laid down in the Early Permian during the Wolfcampian epoch. Desc ...

capped by

Early Triassic The Early Triassic is the first of three epochs of the Triassic Period of the geologic timescale. It spans the time between 251.9 Ma and Ma (million years ago). Rocks from this epoch are collectively known as the Lower Triassic Series, which ...

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 ...

. There is an

unconformity An unconformity is a buried erosional or non-depositional surface separating two rock masses or strata of different ages, indicating that sediment deposition was not continuous. In general, the older layer was exposed to erosion for an interval ...

between the Cutler and the Moenkopi layers. The reddish coloration of the rock is a result of varying amounts of

hematite Hematite (), also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils. Hematite crystals belong to the rhombohedral lattice system which is designated the alpha polymorph of . ...

.''GeoSights: Fisher Towers – The towering red rock sculptures of Grand County, Utah''
Carl Ege, Utah Geological Survey, Retrieved 2024-09-12.

Climate

Spring and fall are the most favorable seasons to visit Cottontail Tower. 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 with cold winters and hot summers. Summers 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.

Gallery

File:Cottontail and Echo Towers.jpg, South aspect of Cottontail Tower (left),

Echo Tower Echo Tower is a Pillar (landform), pillar in Grand County, Utah, Grand County, Utah, United States. Description Echo Tower is located northeast of Moab, Utah, in the Fisher Towers, on land administered by the Bureau of Land Management. Echo ra ...

to right File:Fisher Towers - Moab (52673028836).jpg, Cottontail, with

to left File:Fisher Towers - Cottontail.jpg, South aspect File:Fisher Towers (52672531977).jpg, Kingfisher/

Ancient Art Ancient art refers to the many types of art produced by the Advanced culture, advanced cultures of History of society, ancient societies with different Writing system, forms of writing, such as those of Ancient China, China, Ancient India, India ...

to left, Cottontail to right File:Fisher Towers - Utah.jpg, Fisher Towers L→R: Kingfisher, Ancient Art, Cottontail, Titan. File:Fisher Towers August 2016.jpg, South aspect of Cottontail Tower centered, Echo Tower to right, and Kingfisher fills in the V-gap between. File:Cottontail Tower.jpg, South aspect File:Cottontail summit.jpg, Summit detail, south aspect.

References

External links

* Weather forecast
Fisher Towers
* Cottontail Tower Climbing
Mountainproject.com
{{Portal bar, Geography, Geology, Utah Buttes of Utah Landforms of Grand County, Utah Sandstone formations of the United States One-thousanders of the United States Colorado Plateau Climbing areas of Utah