Uinta Mountains, South Flank Photos

Ashley Gorge on the south flank of the Uinta Mountains.

Site of a recent landslide on the south flank of the Uinta Mountains. The sediments that were activated in the landslide were deposited by glaciers that scoured these mountains during the last ice age.

View of Whiterocks River valley from Ice Cave Peak on the south flank of the Uinta Mountains. Precambrian through Mesozoic rocks dip here to the south off of the Uinta anticlinorium.

Red colored rocks grading up into gray are the Pennsylvanian Morgan Formation.

View from Ice Cave Peak across Whiterocks River valley. The tan beds capping the ridge above the cliffs is the Mississippian Humbug Formation. The cliffs are composed of the Deseret Limestone and Madison Limestone formations, both Mississippian in age. These Mississippian formations were deposited unconformably on the Proterozoic (Precambrian) Red Pine Shale that has been dated at about 770 million years old. You can read more about this area and other areas of Utah in the "Geologic History of Utah."

The Oldest Living Things -- Bristlecone Pines

On a cloudy day in 1999 a group of students and faculty from BYU hiked up into the bristlecone pine forest on the flanks of Wheeler Peak in Great Basin National Park, Nevada. Bristlecone pines are thought to be among the oldest living things on the Earth with some trees older than 5,000 years. According to Wikipedia, "Even the tree's needles, which grow in bunches of five, can remain on the tree for forty years, which gives the tree's terminal branches the unique appearance of a long bottle brush."

 The day we hiked up into the trees was a cool and cloudy fall day. Even though the sun was not shining, these ancient trees were still spectacular.

 My daughter was one of the students in the class. Here she is next to one of the ancient trees.

The rest of the forest was dressed in its fall colors. Don't pass up the chance to visit Great Basin National Park and see the bristlecone pines along with Lehman Caves and other fun stops in the park.

Looking west toward Great Basin National Park and snow covered Wheeler Peak.