A view from the Curtis Formation, which was deposit in an ancient Jurassic Sea.

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You have driven into a geologist's paradise-the San Rafael Swell. Here layers of the earth's crust are eroded & exposed for easy viewing, revealing millions of years of earth's history. You can identify each layer by its color & characteristics. The dark velvety gray of the Mancos Shale to the west was deposited in an ancient Cretaceous Sea. The yellows & golds of the Ferron & Dakota Sandstone tell of a time when this area was a great seashore with a delta, where materials laden with the plant & animal life that eventually became a source for coal & natural gas, were deposited. Then comes the soft purple, green, & red beds of the Morrison layer. When this layer was formed during the Jurassic Period, the area had tropical forest, inhabited by giant dinosaurs that died & left behind their bones to intrigue & enchant us. Ancient tidal flats created the many thin layers of the Summerville formation that you see before you. The view area itself is built on the beige-green Curtis formation, which was deposit in an ancient Jurassic sea. To the east, the upward tilt of the layers is an indication of the huge eroded anticline that is the spectacular San Rafael Swell.

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You have entered the San Rafael Swell, Remote & isolated as it may seem, civilization exists of the foot of the mountains at the western edge of the Swell.

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A view from the Curtis Formation, which was deposit in an ancient Jurassic Sea.

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