Sheep Creek Geological Area. Memorial Day 2019 trip, part 6

It was difficult to leave the viewpoint overlooking the Flaming Gorge (Red Canyon and Flaming Gorge. Memorial Day 2019 trip, part 5) but we managed, turned left and took a side road.

 

You all know how boring it is to go straight to your destination... It's always more fun to explore unknown routes and take the winding road instead of the fastest one. So we went down the road we knew nothing about - Sheep Creek Loop. We now know that this was the best decision, because it was an amazing path to explore, but at the moment we had some doubts about whether we were doing the right thing. The road runs at the bottom of a narrow canyon (this is a challenge for taking the pictures - everything is way too close) and allows you to travel through the time when you drive along it.

This road follows the visually dramatic Uinta Fault and then loops back to Hwy 44. An interesting display of unique rock formations can be seen along the fault, including towering monoliths along with rock that has been fractured, jumbled, discombobulated.

Here are a few more details about these formations:

Sheep Creek Canyon Geological Area is located in northeastern Utah on the north flank of the eastern Uinta Mountains. About 800 million years of geologic history are showcased within the geological area, from some of the oldest sedimentary rocks in Utah to the classic faults and folds of the Laramide orogeny that uplifted the Uinta Mountains about 70 to 34 million years ago.

 

Ten bedrock formations that comprise about 6,600 feet of rock are exposed in northwest-trending bands that dip northeastward; the oldest rocks are exposed in the southern part of the geological area and the bands of rock young to the north.

The oldest rocks in Sheep Creek Canyon comprise the middle Neoproterozoic formation of Hades Pass of the Uinta Mountain Group. These rocks are about 770 million years old (OK, to set it straight, let's write it with numbers - 770000000 years old) and were deposited in a basin by marine and non-marine processes. After the deposition of the Uinta Mountain Group, a prolonged period—about 410 million years—of interspersed deposition and erosion occurred, with erosion prevailing. Any rocks deposited during this time were later eroded. Rocks of Mississippian age were laid down on the unconformable (erosion) surface that formed on the slightly tilted Uinta Mountain Group. Marine conditions dominated the rest of the Paleozoic, with an interruption during Late Pennsylvanian to Early Permian time as the eolian Weber Sandstone was deposited. The youngest rocks in the geological area belong to the Triassic Dinwoody Formation.

The Uinta Mountains rose along the Uinta fault zone during the latest Cretaceous through early Tertiary time. Precambrian, Paleozoic, and Mesozoic rocks were tilted steeply northward, folded into monoclines, and faulted. Thousands of feet of rock were eroded from the growing highlands, eventually exposing the Precambrian core of the Uinta Mountains.

The landscape and drainage system of the eastern Uinta Mountains, which includes Sheep Creek Canyon, continued to change as the Gilbert Peak erosion surface formed in Oligocene time and was later tilted during the Miocene extension of the Uinta Mountains. Renewed uplift of the Colorado Plateau during Basin and Range extension that began about 15 to 10 million years ago rejuvenated the upper Colorado River Basin and caused active headward erosion of many rivers.

It sounds very scientific ;) but the only thing that matters is this road is amazing and it's impossible to forget it if you've been there. The loop is 13 miles and it took over an hour to complete those loooong miles. Actually, we spent most of the time on the 4 miles section in the oldest part of the canyon. I'm guessing 50 minutes for 4 miles and 10 minutes for the rest (9 miles).

Wanna to see our next stop? Click here - Flaming Gorge Dam. Memorial Day 2019 trip, part 7.

Pictures were taken on May 26, 2019.