Layers of Time wayside

This tactile bronze map at the Rainbow Point shelter illustrates our location here.

NPS

Quick Facts

Location:

Rainbow Point

Amenities

1 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

Bryce Canyon is part of a larger region known as the Colorado Plateau--a layer cake of colorful sedimentary rocks. Over the last twenty million years, tectonic forces have slowly uplifted the Colorado Plateau to elevations reaching nearly 13,000 feet (3,960 m) in some areas. As it rose, faults fractured and offset the layers along its edge, creating the High Plateaus of southwestern Utah. Look across the Paria Valley and Paunsaugunt Fault to the Table Cliff Plateau. There the same Claron Formation on which you stand has been elevated to over 10,000 feet (3,048 m).