Cedar Breaks National Monument
Personal Notes
This page contains our personal notes on our visits to Cedar Breaks National Monument in Utah.
Monday, September 6, 2004
2004 Canyon Country Tour
10:08 a.m.
We stopped at the Zion Canyon Overlook, east of Cedar City, along Highway 14. It was cool. There are no clouds. We got great views of the top of Zion National Park and the surrounding area. Shortly after this stop we turned north on Highway 148.
Visitor Center
10:15 a.m.
We entered Cedar Breaks National Monument, put on our boots, used the restrooms, and went into the small Visitor Center and looked through the large windows at the amazing view below. It was 60 degrees F. at the Visitor Center.
Point Supreme Overlook
Then we all looked over the edge from the Point Supreme Overlook (elevation 10,350 feet, or 3,155 meters).
Spectra Point
After that we hiked two miles round trip to Spectra Point (elevation 10,285 feet, or 3,135 meters) along the south edge of the amphitheater, out to where the old bristlecone pines grow. There were a few people out on the trail, but not too many. Most of the time we had the trail to ourselves. On the way back we saw several varieties of flowers and a frisky chipmunk.
12:00 Noon
We returned to the Trooper and took off our boots and left the Monument.
Friday, July 18, 2003
Overlooks
We set up our camp in the Te-Ah Campground near Navajo Lake, ate lunch, then drove up to Cedar Breaks National Monument up on the Markagunt Plateau. We visited with the Rangers, looked through the small Visitor Center, and then took in the sites. Because of the local thunder storms and the exposed nature of many of the overlooks (at around 10,400 feet in elevation), the Point Supreme overlook (10,350 feet) was closed. But there were plenty of other places to catch a glimpse of the various colored outcrops of the Cedar Breaks Amphitheater that the Monument is known for.
Ramparts Trail
We decided to hike the Ramparts Trail to Spectra Point (10,285 feet) and then down to the Rampart Overlook (9,952 feet). We made it to Spectra Point, where there are a good many old Bristlecone Pines. But by then another thunder storm had moved in and it started to rain lightly. We donned our rain coats and continued on a little ways before we realized that there was more of the trail clinging to our boots than was safe. We turned around and headed back to the Visitor Center. We probably shouldn't have been out there with lightning in the area anyway.
This short trail has spectacular views of the pink cliffs and passes through an amazing array of vegetation. The trail, when dry, is well packed and probably powdery. When wet that powder balls up with the rain and clings to the cleats on hiking boots as if they were magnets. The trail moves up and down slightly, but is easy to moderate, because of the elevation.
On the return trip we spotted a good sized yellow-bellied marmot. He (or she) sat there patiently while I snapped several photos. We calculate that we probably hiked about 2.4 miles round trip.
Because of the rain we scrapped our plans for a hike along the two mile loop of the Alpine Pond Trail. That will have to wait for another trip. We did pick up a descriptive brochure, and this nature trail seems to be mostly flat, passing through the forest, but with a few viewpoints overlooking the Cedar Breaks Amphitheater.
Point Supreme Campground
On our return to our own campsite we drove through the 48 site campground in the Monument. The roads are paved and the campground seems open and clean. At that high elevation campers might welcome the Sun.
Brian Head Township
We then drove over to Brian Head to see what was up in there. Brian Head is mostly a ski resort, but they do have a good number of hiking and mountain biking trails in the area.
More Overlooks
We then returned to the south. We stopped at several overlooks within the Monument, including the North View (at 10,435 feet), the Chessmen Ridge Overlook (at 10,467 feet), and the Sunset View (at 10,354 feet). Each gives a slightly different perspective to the pink formations and erosional features of the Cedar Breaks Amphitheater. From several of the view points we could see water collecting in the usually dry stream beds far below. And off in the distance we could see where the canyon opened and the town of Cedar City spread out into the basin.
Monday, August 4, 1997
We had our trailer in the Bryce Canyon Pines RV Park near Bryce Canyon National Park. It was a rainy day and we weren't in the mood to hike in the rain, so we drove down to Zion National Park and took the long way back through Cedar City and Cedar Breaks National Monument. The Monument is quite high in elevation and it was pretty cool up there, and damp. We spotted a marmot. After our visit that day we ran into more thunderstorms along Highway 89.
