This is where the Paria River meets Kitchen Canyon Creek in this image of the Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument. I lensed this late in the afternoon on an early springtime day as I was flying and exploring the area along the side of the Cockscomb Monocline near Canyonlands National Park.
The Paria River is on the right and Kitchen Canon on the left, where they meet is called Deer Range Trails. If you follow that back towards the top of the image you will find two separate cliffs running horizontally across the image. The first ones are called the White Cliffs and the ones above them on the distant horizon are the pink and red cliffs of Bryce Canyon National Park.
I found the following information about the history of the area from here (Research Source):
The Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, a 112,000-acre reserve located on the border of southern Utah and northern Arizona, was established by Congress in 1984 in the Arizona Wilderness Act. Part of the wilderness area was later incorporated into the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument by President Bill Clinton in 2000. The wilderness area includes many plateaus, escarpments, and slot canyons.
Ancient Human History
The history of the area, however, can be traced to prehistoric times. Indeed, some archaeologists believe that the wilderness area was inhabited at least 10,000 years before the first Europeans stepped foot in the area in the mid 1770s. It is believed by some to have been a travel route between southern Utah and northern Arizona.
From approximately 200 A.D. to 1200 A.D., the area was inhabited by the Anasazis and later by the Paiute people. In fact, “Paria” (originally spelled “Pahreah”) is a Piute word that means “salty” or “muddy” water. These two civilizations left behind an inspiring array of petroglyphs and pictographs that can still be observed on many of the rock walls today.
On the right side of this image along the Paria River are what is called the “Water Pockets” and is a popular canoeing or kayaking river. And this is some interesting info I found here (Research Source):
The Paria River winds down through Utah and into Arizona, eventually to reach the Colorado River just above Grand Canyon. Paria (pah-REE-a) is a Paiute word meaning "muddy water". A few miles north of the Arizona border, the river cuts into cliff-forming sandstone.
The gorge rapidly deepens, forming walls over a quarter mile high, but so close together in one five mile stretch that you can literally stretch out your arms and touch both walls at once. Sandstone cliffs characterize the canyon for the first 25 to 30 miles, after which the canyon widens out into mixed layers of sandstone and shale, before finally reaching Lee's Ferry on the Colorado River. Total mileage is just over 37, excluding the exploration of side canyons.
This image of the Paria and surrounding wilderness is from my ongoing project in which I am trying to raise awareness of the 47% of the USA and 90% of Canada that remain unpopulated wilderness.
Where Eagles Fly - The American Wilderness Expedition is my personal mission to introduce people to these amazing locations that surround us.
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Yehaw!!