Cedar Breaks National Monument
Cedar Breaks National Monument is located on top of the Colorado Plateau and when you reach the point of over ten thousand feet tall, you are met with amazing, breathtaking views.
Millions of years of sedimentation and erosion have dug up a giant natural amphitheater that stretches about three miles deep and over two thousand feet wide. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared Cedar Breaks a National Monument, to maintain this amazing natural wonder intact for future generations. Cedar Breaks National Monument is located near the town of Cedar City.
When Southern Pauite lived in this area, they called the area ”s MAP uich ", which translates as "the place where rocks slide permanently down”. Cedar Breaks National Monument resembles a miniature Bryce Canyon.
Some tourists say the magnificent colors of Cedar Breaks National Monument’s beauty, intensity and brightness even exceed those of Bryce Canyon. The Indians called Cedar Breaks "circle of colored rocks." This is due to the interesting form of Cedar Breaks, forming a natural coliseum, dyed in beautiful colors.
Deep in the Coliseum are all sorts of colorful rocks, columns, arches and spirals, which color the canyons in shades of red, purple and yellow. One of the oldest trees on Earth, a special type of pine, known as bristlecone pine grows in the area and can be seen along the trails. Some trees are more than sixteen hundred years old.
Cedar Breaks is surrounded by Dixie National Forest, allowing tourists to enjoy the perfect combination of alpine meadows with beautiful pines. During the summer, the sight of blooming wildflowers is just incredible. In autumn this magnificent yellow asters bloom.
Many photographers from around the world come here to shoot the magnificent views. Tourists who love camping, pitch tents near Cedar Breaks and climb the high hills.
Hiking trails can create difficulties for the elderly and people with respiratory problems, as the monument rises at ten thousand feet altitude. During the winter months, Cedar Breaks National Monument is one of the most popular destinations for skiers, and drivers of snowmobiles.
In the visitor center, visitors can obtain detailed information about the Cedar Breaks National Monument. Experts from the visitor center explain to the tourists how to visit the monument and enjoy a nice view and cause the least possible environmental damage. Due to heavy snowfall during the winter part of the hiking trails are closed.
But the Cedar Breaks National Monument is not closed in winter. During the cold winter months, Winter Warming Yurt within the Cedar Breaks National Monument works as a winter station, training center and home to skiers and operators of snowmobiles. Before the warm cozy fire warming a pleasant cocoa is offered.
The territory of the Cedar Breaks National Monument has many wild animals. Deer, pigs and prickly marmots, red squirrels are among the most common animals in the territory of the monument. Mountain lions and other larger animals are rare within the Cedar Breaks National Monument. Birds are common and ordinary raven and purple-green Swallow.
