Geology

189 locations. View on the interactive map

Nevada (30)

Aurora Crater — Mineral County, NV
Pleistocene basaltic crater in the Aurora–Bodie volcanic field, the late-stage vent that capped a long Miocene-to-Pleistocene eruptive history around the Aur…
Basin & Range — Central Nevada — Central Nevada
Nevada's defining geology — crustal extension has stretched the state to roughly twice its original width, tilting giant fault blocks to create the parallel …
Bowl of Fire — Clark County, NV
A closed basin of vivid red Aztec Sandstone outcrops and eroded knobs inside Lake Mead National Recreation Area, north of Callville Bay. Wave-cut and wind-sc…
Carlin Canyon — Elko County, NV
Steep Humboldt River canyon west of Carlin where Paleozoic through Tertiary strata are exposed in road and railroad cuts. Historic corridor of the California…
Chalk Mountain — Churchill County, NV
Pale, chalky summit in the West Gate country east of Fairview Peak—part of the light-toned carbonate and altered rock package that colors this stretch of US-…
Clayton Valley Cinder Cone — Esmeralda County, NV
Pleistocene basalt scoria cone (~390,000 years old) rising about 85 m beside NV-265 in Clayton Valley north of Silver Peak. Loose cinders, volcanic bombs, an…
Cuprite — Esmeralda County, NV
World-famous hydrothermal alteration landscape south of Goldfield where late Miocene acid-sulfate systems painted the hills in bright clays, alunite, and iro…
Devils Throat — Clark County, NV
Large collapse sinkhole in Gold Butte National Monument that opened in the early 1900s and has widened over time (now roughly 100–120 ft across and very deep…
Easy Chair Crater — Nye County, NV
Prominent Quaternary cinder cone on the Lunar Crater Back Country Byway—named for its high-backed ‘easy chair’ silhouette. Part of the Lunar Crater volcanic …
Emigrant Peak — Esmeralda County, NV
Isolated summit on the Rhyolite Ridge / Emigrant Peak map sheet north of the Silver Peak Range, a hard-rock desert highpoint above the Clayton Valley–Fish La…
Fairview Peak Earthquake Faults — Churchill County, NV
Public BLM interpretive pullout and graded Earthquake Fault Road south of US-50 showcasing surface rupture from the December 16, 1954 Fairview Peak (M~7.1) a…
Gemfield — Esmeralda County, NV
Pay-to-dig chalcedony field about four miles northwest of Goldfield on the US-95 corridor, marketed as one of the largest gemstone-quality chalcedony deposit…
Hole in the Mountain (Lizzie's Window) — Elko County, NV
Natural arch known as Lizzie’s Window or Hole in the Mountain on a ridge of the East Humboldt Range just south of Hole in the Mountain Peak (about 11,300 fee…
Lake Lahontan Shorelines — Washoe / Pershing County, NV
Wave-cut terraces and tufa towers mark the shorelines of ancient Lake Lahontan, which filled most of western Nevada during the last ice age — peaking ~13,000…
Lexington Arch — White Pine County, NV
A rare limestone natural arch (possibly a former cave passage or natural bridge) standing high in Lexington Canyon on the remote south side of Great Basin Na…
Lunar Crater Volcanic Field — Nye County, NV
Over 100 volcanic vents, cinder cones, and a pristine maar crater in central Nevada. NASA used Easy Chair Crater to train Apollo astronauts — the resemblance…
Malpais Mesa — Esmeralda County, NV
A dark volcanic mesa on the southwest fringe of the Goldfield district, gazetted by the Board on Geographic Names and long mapped in classic USGS Goldfield g…
Mount Grant — Mineral County, NV
High summit of the Wassuk Range above Walker Lake—a steep fault-block massif with classic Basin-and-Range relief. Ridge and road approaches offer geology and…
Pilot Cone — Mineral County, NV
Isolated volcanic cone rising above the Rawhide Hills / Koegel Hills north of Walker Lake country—a landmark cinder-and-boulder summit on the Pilot Cone 7.5′…
Piper Peak — Esmeralda County, NV
High, high-prominence summit of the Silver Peak Range above Fish Lake Valley—one of Esmeralda’s landmark desert peaks. Granitic and metamorphic uplands drop …
Rainbow Gardens — Clark County, NV
BLM Area of Critical Environmental Concern east of Las Vegas between Frenchman Mountain and Lake Mead — gypsum badlands and multicolored Tertiary sedimentary…
Redstone Picnic Area — Clark County, NV
NPS day-use stop on Lake Mead’s Northshore Road where bright Aztec Sandstone knobs rise from gray limestone country. A short Redstone Dune Loop (~0.5–1.1 mi)…
Rhodes Salt Marsh — Mineral County, NV
Playas and salt flats of the historic Virginia Salt Marsh, mined from 1862 when camels hauled salt to Comstock mills—later a Carson & Colorado railroad stop …
Ruby Mountains Core Complex — Elko County, NV
Textbook metamorphic core complex — Precambrian and Mesozoic rock domed upward as the Great Basin stretched, creating Nevada's most dramatic alpine terrain. …
Soda Lake — Churchill County, NV
Young basalt maar (and sister Little Soda Lake) on the Carson Sink floor NW of Fallon — one of Nevada's clearest Holocene phreatomagmatic craters. USGS class…
Table Mountain — Nye County, NV
Namesake high volcanic tableland (~10,000 ft average) at the core of the 92,600-acre Table Mountain Wilderness in the Monitor Range. One of the Great Basin's…
Teels Marsh — Mineral County, NV
Broad alkaline playa and historic borax source in southwestern Mineral County, now part of the Marietta Wild Burro Management Area on BLM land. Late-19th-cen…
Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument — Clark County, NV
NPS national monument protecting Ice Age groundwater-discharge deposits of the Las Vegas Formation in the Upper Las Vegas Wash. Mammoth, camel, horse, dire w…
Upsal Hogback — Churchill County, NV
Young phreatomagmatic tuff cone and basalt ridge north of Fallon in the Lahontan Valley, part of the same late Quaternary volcanic family as Soda Lakes. Geol…
Volcanic Hills — Esmeralda County, NV
Named volcanic range on the Fish Lake Valley side of Esmeralda County—dark hills and rhyolitic ground between the White Mountains front and the Silver Peak c…

California (49)

Amboy Crater — San Bernardino County, CA
A classic cinder-cone volcano and lava field along historic Route 66 in Mojave Trails National Monument. A roughly 3-mile round-trip trail crosses the black …
Artist's Palette — Death Valley, CA
Artist's Palette is a multicolored hillside on one-way Artist Drive in Death Valley National Park. Iron oxides paint yellows and reds, manganese adds pinks, …
Black Point Fissures (Mono Lake) — Mono County, CA
Pleistocene basalt volcanic cone on the north shore of Mono Lake riven by deep cooling fissures and caves—an off-trail geology hike in the Mono Basin Nationa…
Blue Angels Peak — Imperial County, CA
Summit on the Jacumba Mountains skyline above the Imperial–San Diego desert border, a landmark peak for the southwest Imperial desert approaches. A geology/n…
Calcite Mine Trail — San Diego County, CA
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park truck trail and hike to a WWII-era optical-grade calcite diggings area, with slot-canyon narrows, fault-shattered sedimentary …
Canyon Sin Nombre — San Diego County, CA
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park wash-and-canyon route off County Route S2 famous among desert travelers as a compact “geologist’s tour”: layered mudstone and …
Castle Butte — Kern County, CA
A isolated Mojave Desert butte rising east of California City, mapped by the USGS as a distinctive volcanic and sedimentary landmark of the Castle Butte quad…
Cinder Cone Lava Beds (Mojave Lava Tube) — San Bernardino County, CA
Pleistocene basalt cinder cones and flows in Mojave National Preserve (Cinder Cones National Natural Landmark). Visitor focus is the signed Aiken Mine Road a…
Clark Mountain — San Bernardino County, CA
Dominant limestone peak of the Clark Mountain Range on the northern Mojave National Preserve approaches—classic desert range geology with steep carbonate cli…
Coon Hollow — Riverside County, CA
BLM primitive campground and desert wash camp in eastern Riverside County’s lower Colorado Desert, set among palo verde, smoke tree, mesquite, and ironwood. …
Crater Mountain (Big Pine Volcanic Field) — Inyo County, CA
Young basalt shield and cinder-cone complex of the Big Pine volcanic field on the east side of Owens Valley south of Big Pine. Crater Mountain is the field’s…
Devils Golf Course — Death Valley, CA
Surreal landscape of jagged salt pinnacles up to 18 inches tall formed as salt crystallizes upward through the playa surface. On quiet days you can hear the …
Devils Punchbowl Natural Area — Los Angeles County, CA
Dramatic tilted sandstone slabs and a deep fault-bounded punchbowl on the San Andreas system in the northern San Gabriels / Mojave fringe — LA County natural…
El Paso Mountains Wilderness (Black Mountain) — Kern County, CA
BLM wilderness in the northern Mojave anchored by Black Mountain (5,244 ft), an extinct volcanic high point rising above dark mesas, reddish buttes, and narr…
Fonts Point — San Diego County, CA
Premier overlook of the Borrego Badlands in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park—layered badland ridges and the Salton Sink from a short walk beyond a sandy spur r…
Fossil Canyon (Coyote Mountains) — Imperial County, CA
Shell-rich canyon on the edge of the Coyote Mountains Wilderness near Ocotillo, where marine Imperial Formation beds expose abundant invertebrate fossils. Pu…
Fossil Falls — Inyo County, CA
Pleistocene basalt channel where the ancestral Owens River once spilled over a lava dam, carving a dry waterfall of potholed, polished black rock at the foot…
Hauser Geode Beds — Imperial County, CA
Classic public rockhounding ground in the Wiley Well District of the Chuckwalla Valley, long known for geodes, nodules, and agate in volcanic host rock. BLM …
Hot Creek Geologic Site — Mono County, CA
Inyo National Forest day-use interpretive site on Hot Creek where boiling springs, fumaroles, and occasional geysering reveal the Long Valley Caldera hydroth…
Inyo Crater Lakes — Mono County, CA
Pair of mid-14th-century phreatic (steam-blast) explosion craters on Deer Mountain above Mammoth Lakes—~600 ft wide and 100–200 ft deep, each holding a small…
La Brea Tar Pits — Los Angeles County, CA
Active asphalt seeps in Hancock Park, central Los Angeles, where natural bitumen has trapped and preserved Ice Age animals for tens of thousands of years. A …
Last Chance Canyon Arch — Kern County, CA
Named natural arch in the El Paso Mountains along Last Chance Canyon, a classic northern Mojave canyon system of colorful badlands, volcanic and sedimentary …
Malapai Hill — Riverside County, CA
Dark basalt volcanic dome rising above Queen Valley inside Joshua Tree National Park—one of the park’s clearest windows into young Mojave volcanism. Hard bla…
Mono Craters — Mono County, CA
Chain of young rhyolite and obsidian lava domes and craters south of Mono Lake in Inyo National Forest—one of the most recently active volcanic fields in the…
Morro Rock — San Luis Obispo County, CA
Iconic 576-ft volcanic plug and the westernmost of the Nine Sisters (Morros) — a chain of extinct volcanic necks marching inland from Morro Bay to San Luis O…
Narrows Earth Trail — San Diego County, CA
Short paved-access interpretive loop in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park along Highway 78 that explains some of the park’s oldest exposed rock, faulting, and d…
Obsidian Dome — Mono County, CA
Young rhyolite–obsidian lava dome in the Inyo volcanic chain west of US-395 north of Mammoth Lakes. Short walks from dirt-road parking reach glassy black flo…
Owens River Gorge — Inyo County, CA
Deep basalt canyon cut by the Owens River between Crowley Lake and Pleasant Valley Reservoir north of Bishop. Vertical jointed basalt walls expose Bishop Tuf…
Painted Canyon (Mecca Hills) — Riverside County, CA
Banded sandstone and mudstone badlands in BLM’s Mecca Hills Wilderness northeast of the Salton Sea / Coachella Valley. The popular Ladder Canyon–Painted Cany…
Painted Gorge — Imperial County, CA
Colorful faulted sedimentary badlands and canyon walls in the Coyote Mountains Wilderness near Ocotillo—a BLM dirt-road drive into striped reds, ochres, and …
Panum Crater — Mono County, CA
Young rhyolite plug-dome volcano on the south shore of Mono Lake, formed only a few hundred years ago. A short trail climbs the pumice ring and plugs for clo…
Pisgah Crater — San Bernardino County, CA
Young basaltic cinder cone and lava field in the Mojave Trails National Monument corridor just south of I-40/Route 66. Flows, cinder slopes, and lava-tube fe…
Pumpkin Patch — Imperial County, CA
Field of spherical sandstone concretions (“desert pumpkins”) exposed by wind and water erosion inside Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area. Formed …
Rainbow Basin Natural Area — San Bernardino County, CA
BLM Area of Critical Environmental Concern and National Natural Landmark north of Barstow showcasing multicolored Miocene badlands, fossil beds of the Barsto…
Red Rock Canyon State Park — Kern County, CA
Colorful cliff-and-butte badlands where the southern Sierra Nevada meets the El Paso Mountains on the western Mojave. Soft sedimentary layers eroded into red…
Salton Buttes — Imperial County, CA
Chain of five Holocene rhyolite lava domes on the southeast shore of the Salton Sea—Mullet Island, North and South Red Hill, Rock Hill, and Obsidian Butte—am…
Shell Reef — Imperial County, CA
Exposed ridge of marine shell beds and badland topography in the Ocotillo Wells / northwestern Anza-Borrego desert, where ancient sea deposits weather into f…
Split Mountain (Anza-Borrego) — San Diego County, CA
Dramatic anticline and gorge where Fish Creek Wash cuts the Vallecito Mountains at the SE corner of Anza-Borrego. Classic Colorado Desert structure-geology s…
Striped Butte — Death Valley, CA
Isolated banded peak rising from remote Butte Valley in southern Death Valley National Park—classic multi-colored sedimentary stripes visible for miles. Reac…
Teutonia Peak (Cima Dome) — San Bernardino County, CA
Three-mile round-trip trail from Cima Road to a rocky summit overlooking Cima Dome — one of the Mojave's best-expressed symmetrical granitic domes — and a va…
Titus Canyon Geology Drive — Death Valley, CA
Titus Canyon Road is a rough one-way high-clearance drive from Nevada Highway 374 west into Death Valley, cutting 700 million years of rock from Precambrian …
Trona Pinnacles — San Bernardino County, CA
Hundreds of calcium-carbonate tufa spires rise from the dry bed of Searles Lake in the northern Mojave, formed when freshwater springs met alkaline lake wate…
Truckhaven Rocks — San Diego County, CA
Colorful sandstone outcrops of some of Anza-Borrego’s oldest sedimentary rock, rising above the Arroyo Salado bajada north of S-22 (Borrego-Salton Seaway) ne…
Twenty Mule Team Canyon — Death Valley, CA
One-way unpaved scenic drive through yellow-and-brown badlands of eroded Furnace Creek Formation mudstone just east of Zabriskie Point. Named for the histori…
Ubehebe Crater — Death Valley, CA
Half-mile wide maar volcano that last erupted just 300-800 years ago. A phreatomagmatic explosion hurled rock miles across the desert floor. Little Hebe Crat…
Vasquez Rocks Natural Area — Los Angeles County, CA
Iconic tilted sandstone and conglomerate outcrops of the Mint Canyon Formation in Agua Dulce, managed as a ~945-acre LA County natural area with interpretive…
Volcanic Tableland (Chalk Bluff) — Inyo County, CA
South-facing escarpment of the Bishop Tuff Volcanic Tableland north of Bishop — a ~760,000-year-old welded rhyolite ignimbrite sheet erupted from the Long Va…
Volcano Peak — Inyo County, CA
Prominent basaltic peak in the Coso Volcanic Field east of US-395 near Little Lake / Fossil Falls country. Part of the young volcanic landscape that fed lava…
Wallace Creek Interpretive Trail — San Luis Obispo County, CA
Classic San Andreas Fault field site on Carrizo Plain National Monument: an intermittent creek right-laterally offset ~130 m by repeated earthquakes, with a …

Arizona (31)

Aztec Peak — Gila County, AZ
Highest summit of the Sierra Ancha (~7,694 ft) in Tonto National Forest, capped by Cambrian sandstone analogous to Grand Canyon Tapeats and ringed by Protero…
Bassett Peak — Graham County, AZ
High point of the Galiuro Mountains sky island in Coronado National Forest, Graham County—mid-Tertiary block-faulted volcanic and sedimentary range between t…
Black Hills Rockhound Area — Greenlee County, AZ
BLM-designated collecting area between Safford and Clifton on the north side of US-191, known worldwide for fire agate in weathered basalt and rhyolite. Free…
Blue Mesa Trail — Apache County, AZ
One-mile loop among blue-gray bentonite badlands and petrified-wood logs in the heart of Petrified Forest National Park. The trail drops from a mesa-top sun …
Chiricahua National Monument (Massai Point) — Cochise County, AZ
National Park Service monument protecting a “wonderland of rocks” — tall rhyolite hoodoos and balanced rocks carved from 27-million-year-old Turkey Creek Cal…
Crystal Forest Trail — Apache County, AZ
Short paved National Park Service loop through one of Petrified Forest National Park’s richest Triassic log fields, named for quartz and other crystals that …
Crystal Hill — La Paz County, AZ
Classic western-Arizona BLM quartz-crystal collecting hill north of Quartzsite, long favored by winter rockhounds for clear and smoky quartz points weathered…
Diamond Point — Gila County, AZ
Tonto National Forest geology and managed crystal-collection area on Diamond Rim northeast of Payson. Precambrian granite and metamorphic basement, Cambrian …
Kartchner Caverns State Park — Cochise County, AZ
Living limestone show cave in the Whetstone foothills south of Benson, discovered 1974 and kept secret until state protection. Arizona State Parks operates c…
Lacey Point — Apache County, AZ
Painted Desert rim pullout on the Petrified Forest National Park main road south of Painted Desert Inn, looking over banded Chinle Formation badlands in reds…
Ladybug Saddle — Graham County, AZ
High pass on the Pinaleño Mountains’ Swift Trail Parkway near Ladybug Peak—roadside geology and sky-island viewpoint where mixed-conifer forest meets steep c…
Lake Pleasant Thunderegg Beds — Maricopa County, AZ
Public-land volcanic washes west of Lake Pleasant known among rockhounds for thundereggs, gas-bubble geodes, and agate nodules weathered from Tertiary volcan…
Meteor Crater — Coconino County, AZ
Best-preserved simple impact crater on Earth—about 1.2 km across and 170 m deep—formed ~50,000 years ago by a nickel-iron meteorite on the Colorado Plateau. …
Montezuma Well — Yavapai County, AZ
Detached unit of Montezuma Castle National Monument: a limestone sinkhole ~370–386 ft across continuously fed by ~1.5 million gallons of spring water per day…
Muggins Peak — Yuma County, AZ
Signature summit of the Muggins Mountains Wilderness east of Yuma—a rugged block of desert ranges and peaks above the Gila River corridor. Classic Sonoran ge…
Petrified Forest National Park (Rainbow Forest) — Navajo County, AZ
South-unit visitor hub of Petrified Forest National Park — the Rainbow Forest Museum anchors short walks among giant Triassic-age (Chinle Formation) silicifi…
Picketpost Mountain — Pinal County, AZ
Distinctive flat-topped volcanic remnant rising above the Superior desert, named as a historic military signal/picket post landmark. Popular steep scramble/h…
Red Knolls Amphitheater — Graham County, AZ
BLM-managed badland of soft Pliocene lake and fluvial beds west of Safford that weather into a natural amphitheater of red and white knolls, sinkholes, short…
Red Mountain — Coconino County, AZ
Unusual U-shaped cinder cone in the San Francisco Volcanic Field (~740,000 years old) with a large natural amphitheater, hoodoos, and dark mineral crystals. …
Round Mountain Rockhound Area — Greenlee County, AZ
BLM-designated public rockhounding area near Duncan in far eastern Arizona, popular for agate, jasper, and other colorful silicates on open desert hills arou…
S P Crater — Coconino County, AZ
Nearly symmetrical cinder cone in the San Francisco Volcanic Field north of Flagstaff, with a dark basaltic lava flow extending south. Unlike the closed summ…
Saddle Mountain Fire Agate Area — Maricopa County, AZ
Public BLM Sonoran Desert slopes west of Phoenix near Tonopah where rockhounds hunt fire agate, chalcedony roses, and quartz among volcanic float. A long-sta…
Seven Springs Jasper Area — Maricopa County, AZ
Classic Tonto National Forest collecting ground north of Cave Creek along the Seven Springs / Bloody Basin Road corridor. Surface float and wash material yie…
Stockton Pass — Graham County, AZ
Highway pass and USFS campground on AZ-266 across the southern Pinaleño (Mount Graham) sky island—classic Arizona Basin-and-Range/sky-island geology with abr…
Strawberry Crater — Coconino County, AZ
Pleistocene cinder cone and namesake wilderness in the San Francisco Volcanic Field northeast of Flagstaff. Black basalt and scoria slopes, a short crater-ri…
Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument — Coconino County, AZ
National monument north of Flagstaff preserving a ~1,000-year-old cinder cone and the black Bonito Lava Flow — one of the youngest major volcanic features on…
The Eagles Eye — La Paz County, AZ
Named natural arch in the desert ranges east of Quartzsite / north of the Kofa country, a windowed rock fin in the Plomosa–Eagletail approaches. Thin geology…
The Jug — Gila County, AZ
Narrow slot-like gorge cut by Salome Creek through resistant conglomerate and volcanic-derived rock in the Salome Wilderness (Tonto National Forest)—the sign…
Tonto Natural Bridge State Park — Gila County, AZ
Arizona State Park protecting what is widely cited as the world’s largest natural travertine bridge — about 183 ft high, 400 ft long, and up to 150 ft wide —…
Watson Lake — Yavapai County, AZ
City of Prescott reservoir set in the Granite Dells — a classic jointed granite boulder landscape of rounded outcrops, narrow waterways, and cliffed coves. D…
Weavers Needle — Pinal County, AZ
Prominent volcanic-tuff spire and erosional remnant in the Superstition Mountains, summit elevation 4,555 feet and roughly a thousand feet of relief above th…

Utah (39)

Big Rock Candy Mountain — Piute County, UT
Colorful hydrothermally altered volcanic rocks (yellow, orange, red, and white) in Marysvale Canyon along US-89, named after the folk song once locals posted…
Black Rock Volcano — Millard County, UT
Horseshoe-shaped cinder-and-spatter cone rising more than 300 ft above the Black Rock Desert valley floor between I-15 and Kanosh. Part of Utah’s youngest vo…
Bonneville Salt Flats — Tooele County, UT
Iconic remnant of Pleistocene Lake Bonneville — ~30,000 acres of hard white salt crust managed by BLM as an ACEC and Special Recreation Management Area. Land…
Candlestick Tower — San Juan County, UT
Isolated sandstone tower on the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park—one of the park’s signature free-standing rock fins visible from mesa…
Checkerboard Mesa — Kane County, UT
Signature Navajo Sandstone butte just inside Zion National Park's east entrance, etched with a grid of cross-bedding and joint fractures that read like a che…
Church Rock — San Juan County, UT
Solitary ~200-foot Entrada sandstone tower standing alone beside US-191 between Moab and Monticello, near the UT-211 turnoff for Canyonlands Needles and News…
Crystal Peak — Millard County, UT
A glowing white dome of Oligocene Tunnel Spring Tuff in the Wah Wah Mountains—an inverted volcanic ash-flow valley filled with crystal-rich rhyolite tuff, fr…
Delano Peak — Piute County, UT
Highest summit of the Tushar Mountains (12,169 ft) on the Marysvale volcanic field, mapped in Piute County by GNIS and reached by a short alpine ridge trail …
Deseret Peak — Tooele County, UT
High point of the Stansbury Mountains west of Tooele Valley—a rugged limestone/quartzite summit with classic Basin-and-Range relief above the Great Salt Lake…
Devils Kitchen — Juab County, UT
Compact hoodoo amphitheater of red Claron-like (Flagstaff/Colton-adjacent) badlands nicknamed a “mini Bryce Canyon,” reached by a short trail off the Nebo Lo…
Dinosaur National Monument Quarry Exhibit Hall — Uintah County, UT
Indoor wall of roughly 1,500 in-situ Late Jurassic dinosaur bones in the Morrison Formation at Dinosaur National Monument’s Utah (Jensen) side. The Quarry Ex…
Dugway Geode Beds — Juab County, UT
Utah’s best-known public geode locality on BLM land west of the Pony Express Trail: Miocene rhyolite cavities reworked by Lake Bonneville into soft lake-bed …
Eardley Spit — Tooele County, UT
Named Lake Bonneville shoreline spit/bar on the Great Salt Lake’s south shore near Mills Junction — part of the classic Stansbury shoreline suite of gravel a…
Escalante Petrified Forest State Park — Garfield County, UT
Utah State Park west of Escalante protecting colorful Chinle Formation petrified wood on mesa trails above Wide Hollow Reservoir. Short interpretive hikes (P…
Fantasy Canyon — Uintah County, UT
BLM day-use pocket of delicately eroded Eocene sandstone hoodoos and fins southeast of Vernal — nicknamed for whimsical shapes (witches, seals, coyotes) pack…
Fumarole Butte — Juab County, UT
Pleistocene basaltic-andesite shield volcano (~0.9 Ma) rising above Crater Bench on the Sevier Desert fringe northwest of Delta. Part of the Black Rock Deser…
Ghost Rock — Emery County, UT
Named sandstone pinnacle above the I-70 corridor through the San Rafael Swell, a landmark for travelers crossing central Utah’s reef-and-canyon country. The …
Golden Throne — Wayne County, UT
Iconic flat-topped Navajo Sandstone butte rising ~1,400 ft above Capitol Gorge in Capitol Reef National Park — a golden caprock landmark of the Waterpocket F…
Gypsum Sinkhole — Wayne County, UT
Dramatic dissolution collapse in Cathedral Valley (Capitol Reef National Park) where groundwater removed gypsum and soft beds, leaving a deep vertical shaft …
Jurassic National Monument (Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry) — Emery County, UT
BLM national monument protecting the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry — among the densest Jurassic dinosaur bone beds known, with tens of thousands of bones f…
Knolls Dunes — Tooele County, UT
Gypsum sand dunes and mud-flat terrain on the eastern edge of the Great Salt Lake Desert at Knolls — the BLM Knolls OHV Special Recreation Management Area (~…
Little Egypt — Garfield County, UT
Compact BLM geologic site of red-and-white banded Entrada Sandstone hoodoos—spheroidal ‘temple’ forms akin to Goblin Valley and Cathedral Valley—tucked west …
Looking Glass Rock — San Juan County, UT
Roadside Entrada/Navajo sandstone arch and alcove just east of US-191 south of Moab (north of La Sal Junction)—a short walk to a ‘looking glass’ window frami…
Merrimac Butte — Grand County, UT
Large flat-topped Entrada sandstone butte northwest of Moab, paired with neighboring Monitor Butte and named for the Civil War ironclads. Classic BLM canyon-…
Pahvant Butte — Millard County, UT
A ~15,500-year-old tuff cone that erupted under rising Lake Bonneville in the Black Rock Desert. Wave-cut beaches and the famous white “Lace Curtain” cliff e…
Red Fleet Dinosaur Trackway — Uintah County, UT
Utah State Park on Red Fleet Reservoir in the Uinta Basin desert: a signed hike reaches hundreds of Early Jurassic theropod footprints preserved in Navajo/Nu…
Rock Corral Recreation Area — Beaver County, UT
BLM day-use and primitive-camping area on the west slope of the Mineral Mountains east of Milford — granite domes, inselbergs, and classic Mineral Mountains …
Roosevelt Hot Springs Geothermal Area — Beaver County, UT
Utah’s hottest developed geothermal field on the west flank of the Mineral Mountains northeast of Milford — steaming ground, boiling mud pots, sulfur-stained…
Sevier Lake — Millard County, UT
Large intermittent endorheic lake / playa in the Sevier Desert of Millard County — the terminal sink of the Sevier River system in the Great Basin. Expansive…
Stansbury Island Bar — Tooele County, UT
Named Lake Bonneville shoreline bar on Stansbury Island in the Great Salt Lake — part of the classic Stansbury shoreline suite of tufa-cemented gravel and ba…
Stockton Bar — Tooele County, UT
One of the largest and best-preserved Lake Bonneville shoreline bars, spanning the strait between South Mountain and the Oquirrh Mountains south of Tooele. G…
Swasey Peak — Millard County, UT
High summit of the House Range west of Delta, overlooking classic Cambrian limestone country and desert basins. Geology pin for a named peak destination near…
Tabernacle Hill — Millard County, UT
A well-preserved basaltic tuff ring and crater in the Black Rock Desert volcanic field south of Fillmore. The hill’s circular form and associated lava tubes …
Temple of the Sun — Wayne County, UT
A free-standing Entrada Sandstone monolith rising more than 400 feet above the floor of Cathedral Valley in Capitol Reef’s remote North District. Paired with…
Toadstool Hoodoos (Paria Rimrocks) — Kane County, UT
Easy 1.5-mile round-trip BLM hike in Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument to classic Entrada-and-Dakota sandstone pedestals (capped “toadstools”) alon…
Tower Arch — Grand County, UT
Remote 92-foot sandstone arch in the Klondike Bluffs corner of Arches National Park. The 2.6-mile RT Tower Arch Trail climbs a rock wall, crosses a sandy val…
Upheaval Dome — San Juan County, UT
Mysterious mile-wide circular structure in Canyonlands' Island in the Sky — debated as a salt-dome collapse or ancient impact crater. Short steep overlook tr…
Veyo Volcano — Washington County, UT
Prominent Pleistocene cinder-cone volcano rising above the town of Veyo in Utah’s Dixie volcanic field northwest of St. George. A steep loose-cinder scramble…
Wolverine Petrified Wood Area — Garfield County, UT
BLM / Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument special management area (Wolverine Petrified Wood Natural Environmental Area) with in-place Triassic Chinle…

New Mexico (40)

Aden Crater — Doña Ana County, NM
Small basalt shield volcano and collapse crater on the west side of the Aden Lava Flow Wilderness (BLM), part of the Potrillo volcanic field ~25 miles southw…
Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness — San Juan County, NM
BLM wilderness (~7,200 acres) of bentonite badlands, hoodoos, petrified wood, and Late Cretaceous fossil-bearing strata in the San Juan Basin south of the be…
Angel Peak Scenic Area — San Juan County, NM
BLM scenic area south of Bloomfield where Angel Peak (~7,000 ft) rises above the eroded Kutz Canyon badlands of the San Juan Basin. Paved US-550 access to gr…
Bandera Crater Ice Cave — Cibola County, NM
Privately operated but long-open public attraction at the edge of El Malpais: hike a trail into the ~10,000-year-old Bandera cinder cone and descend into a l…
Big Tubes Area — Cibola County, NM
NPS day-use trailhead on El Malpais National Monument’s Bandera lava flow: cairned figure-8 route (~2 mi) across rough ‘a‘ā to lava bridges, collapsed tubes,…
Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness — San Juan County, NM
BLM wilderness of eroded Cretaceous–Paleogene badlands — hoodoos, petrified logs, clinker, and candy-striped shales in a pathless desert moonscape south of F…
Burro Peak — Grant County, NM
High summit of the Big Burro Mountains in southwestern Grant County, a classic Basin-and-Range desert-mountain massif of metamorphic and igneous rock rising …
Cabezon Peak — Sandoval County, NM
Iconic ~7,785 ft basalt volcanic plug—the largest of the Rio Puerco necks—rising more than 1,100 ft above the valley floor northwest of Albuquerque. Classic …
Capulin Volcano National Monument — Union County, NM
Nearly symmetrical cinder cone (~60,000 years old) in the Raton-Clayton volcanic field of the high plains. A paved spiral road climbs to the rim; short trail…
Cerrillos Hills State Park — Santa Fe County, NM
Day-use state park on the Turquoise Trail (NM-14) between Santa Fe and Madrid protecting the Cerrillos Hills—source of turquoise and other minerals worked si…
Cerro Pedernal — Rio Arriba County, NM
Flat-topped volcanic landmark of the northern Jemez country, famous as Georgia O’Keeffe’s recurring mountain and named for the Pedernal Chert once quarried f…
Chino Mine Vista Point (Santa Rita) — Grant County, NM
Roadside overlook of the Chino open-pit copper mine — also called Santa Rita del Cobre — one of the oldest copper districts in the United States and a textbo…
Clayton Lake State Park — Union County, NM
Northeastern New Mexico state park best known for a major Early Cretaceous dinosaur trackway exposed on the dam spillway—hundreds of ornithopod and theropod …
Cookes Peak — Luna County, NM
Prominent 8,400-ft granite peak of the Cookes Range Wilderness Study Area north of Deming—a landmark of the southern New Mexico desert skyline and a strenuou…
El Calderon Area — Cibola County, NM
NPS day-use trailhead on NM 53 in El Malpais National Monument sampling the monument’s volcanic suite: lava-tube entrances (including Bat Cave), the El Calde…
Embudo Canyon Trailhead — Bernalillo County, NM
Albuquerque Open Space / Sandia Mountain front trailhead at Embudo Canyon where Precambrian Sandia granite and the mountain escarpment meet the high desert p…
Hunts Hole — Doña Ana County, NM
Volcanic maar crater in the Potrillo Volcanic Field of Organ Mountains–Desert Peaks National Monument, about two miles south of better-known Kilbourne Hole. …
Kilbourne Hole — Doña Ana County, NM
National Natural Landmark (1975) maar crater—an explosive volcanic pit with little cone-building—set in the Chihuahuan Desert basin between the Potrillo Moun…
La Ventana Natural Arch — Cibola County, NM
Largest accessible natural arch in New Mexico, carved in Zuni Sandstone on the east edge of El Malpais National Monument. A short paved parking pullout and 0…
Lava Falls (El Malpais National Monument) — Cibola County, NM
Cairned one-mile loop across the young McCartys lava flow in El Malpais National Monument — ropy pāhoehoe, ‘a‘ā, squeeze-ups, pressure ridges, and a short sp…
Little Black Peak — Lincoln County, NM
Young basaltic vent that fed the Carrizozo lava flow (Valley of Fires malpaís)—one of the youngest and longest young basalt flows in the continental U.S. BLM…
Mount Taylor — Cibola County, NM
Tsoodził — Mount Taylor — is a ~11,300 ft composite stratovolcano and one of the four sacred mountains of the Navajo Nation, rising above the Grants uranium …
Ojito Wilderness — Sandoval County, NM
BLM wilderness of ~11,800 acres southwest of San Ysidro: steep mesas, box canyons, multicolored sandstone, and hoodoos of the southeastern San Juan Basin. Sh…
Prehistoric Trackways National Monument — Doña Ana County, NM
BLM national monument in the Robledo Mountains north of Las Cruces protecting Paleozoic fossil footprint megatrackways—tracks of early reptiles, insects, and…
Pyramid Rock (Red Rock Park) — McKinley County, NM
Signature red sandstone summit and moderate ~3–3.4 mile round-trip trail inside Gallup’s Red Rock Park, climbing through Mesozoic cliff country to Pyramid Ro…
Rockhound State Park — Luna County, NM
First U.S. state park to allow personal rock collecting—up to 15 lb per visitor of quartz, jasper, geodes, thunder eggs, and other minerals from Tertiary vol…
Sandia Man Cave — Sandoval County, NM
USFS-managed limestone cave high on the Las Huertas Canyon cliffs of the northern Sandia Mountains. A short, steep 0.47-mile trail leads to concrete and meta…
Sandstone Bluffs Overlook — Cibola County, NM
Signed NPS overlook in El Malpais National Monument where Jurassic Zuni Sandstone cliffs drop to a black basalt lava sea. Sweeping views of McCartys and othe…
Ship Rock — San Juan County, NM
Iconic volcanic neck (Tsé Bitʼaʼí, “rock with wings”) rising ~1,500+ ft above the Navajo Nation high desert south of Shiprock, NM—one of the Southwest’s most…
Signal Peak Trailhead — Grant County, NM
USFS trailhead on NM 15 for Signal Peak Trail #742 in the Pinos Altos Mountains north of Silver City—a steep mixed-conifer climb to a historic fire lookout (…
Soda Dam — Sandoval County, NM
Dramatic travertine dam built by mineral-rich hot springs across the Jemez River beside NM 4 just north of Jemez Springs. The white-to-cream calcium-carbonat…
South Baldy — Socorro County, NM
High summit of the Magdalena Mountains south of Socorro, a classic central-New Mexico peak destination with ridge geology and sky-island forest. Geology/summ…
South Sandia Peak — Bernalillo County, NM
Southern high point of the Sandia Mountains (approx. 9,782 ft) on Cibola National Forest, formed of Precambrian Sandia granite and flanking Paleozoic strata …
Three Gun Springs Trailhead — Bernalillo County, NM
USFS Cibola National Forest trailhead (Three Gun Spring / Tres Pistolas Trail 194) in the Carnuel–Monticello foothills of the Sandia Mountains. The approach …
Three Sisters NM — Grant County, NM
Trio of isolated summits in southwestern Grant County rising above the desert grassland and piñon-juniper of the Burro Mountains foothill country. The cluste…
Tortugas Mountain — Doña Ana County, NM
Prominent isolated volcanic/andesite peak (“A Mountain”) on the east edge of Las Cruces with public BLM trail network, summit cross, and city-to-desert views…
Truchas Peak — Rio Arriba County, NM
High summit of the Truchas Peaks massif in the Pecos Wilderness—classic southern Sangre de Cristo geology and alpine ridge walking above the Pecos and Trucha…
Valles Caldera National Preserve — Sandoval County, NM
NPS national preserve protecting a ~13–14 mile-wide volcanic caldera formed about 1.2 million years ago in the Jemez Mountains. Huge mountain meadows (Valle …
Valley of Fires Recreation Area — Lincoln County, NM
BLM recreation area on the edge of the Carrizozo Malpais—one of the youngest major lava flows in the continental U.S., a black basalt river frozen across the…
Vulcan Volcano (Volcanoes Day Use Area) — Bernalillo County, NM
Largest of the three southern cones (JA, Black, Vulcan) in Petroglyph National Monument’s free Volcanoes Day Use Area on Albuquerque’s West Mesa. Loop trails…