Iron Springs Bench Overlook

The Iron Springs Bench Overlook views the open Yampa plateau.

NPS Photo/Conrad Provan

Quick Facts

Amenities

1 listed

Scenic View/Photo Spot

At an elevation of 7600 feet, the rock under your feet is the same layer of rock that is exposed at river level about 2600 feet below. How is that possible? Two large blocks of land have slipped downward along the Yampa Fault and the Red Rock Fault, forming giant steps, or benches. Although the underlying rock of each bench is the same Weber Sandstone, differences in elevation and moisture dramatically affect the vegetation. Sagebrush and grasses dominate the lower benches, while pinyon pines and juniper trees forest this area. The pinyon-juniper landscape at this stop is a hallmark of many arid areas in the West. At Dinosaur, these forests support diverse native vegetation and can be very old. Intense fires, capable of altering entire stands of trees, are fairly rare here; some pinyons are over 700 years old. Today, pinyons and junipers are almost always associated with each other and are expected to be seen together, but this has not always been the case. Junipers actually arrived in the area about 9000 years ago. Pinyons arrived much later, around the mid-1200s.