Cottonwood Canyon Narrows

The slot canyons of the American Southwest possess incredible beauty and mystique that is available on an intimate scale unlike that of the larger canyons. The Southwest has thousands of scenic canyons, but most are relatively wide and often descend in steps through sedimentary rock layers of differing hardness. Slot canyons, in contrast, have winding vertical walls that may be hundreds of feet deep but only a few feet wide. The majority of slot canyons are remote, hidden and difficult to reach and explore, serving to enhance their special appeal.

Sunlight, shining down and reflecting along the slot canyons’ walls, gives them their special beauty. As the sun moves overhead, the shadows and colors change constantly. Slot canyons often have mystical pools, delicate waterfalls and narrow channels, making them even more fascinating to explore.

Also referred to as narrows, slot canyons form by the wear of water, carrying an abrasive load of rocks, while rushing through relatively soft rock, which is usually sandstone. They are found in many parts of the world but predominantly in areas of low rainfall. Utah has the largest concentration of slot canyons anywhere.

Hikers beware. Storms can cause dangerous flash flooding. It is wise to avoid slot canyons even if there is a hint of rain and that includes their watersheds as distant as 50 miles away. It can be many miles before a safe exit or rescue is possible. Flash floods carry logs and rocks traveling with enormous force, most frequently during the late summer months. Some slot canyons have quicksand as an additional hazard.

This is the short narrows of Cottonwood Canyon, found just off of the remote, unpaved and rugged road traveling in southernmost Utah in an area called the Cockscomb. The rock is the Navajo Sandstone, formed in an expansive desert 200 million years ago.

An artist-friend saw this photo and said that it reminded her of "a river in the sky."

Ancestral Puebloans: An Ancient "Passive Solar" Dwelling

The ancient Ancestral Puebloans that built this cliff dwelling were early-day urban planners and passive solar-specialists. And, they knew their geology or at least how to apply it.

Their dwellings were built to collect, store and distribute solar energy in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer. This is called “passive solar” design. In today’s language, passive solar is cheap, efficient, eco-friendly and very green. For the Ancestral Puebloans, it was naturally available and made good sense.

The ancient cliff dwelling is called River House, located a few miles west of Bluff, Utah near the banks of the San Juan River. The Ancestral Puebloans lived there between 700 and 1300 AD. Notice that it is build into a massive rock-alcove that faces south, towards the sun. In winter, the low-angled sun’s rays penetrate the dwelling and keep it warm. In summer, when the sun’s rays are high overhead, most of the rooms remain in the shade and stay relatively cool. This is a classic and early example of passive solar design.

The alcove naturally formed in the rock, because it lies at the touching-point or contact between the Navajo Sandstone, a vast  windblown desert that has "turned to stone", and the underlying Kayenta Formation, made of river mud and silt. The Navajo Sandstone is an aquifer, allowing ground water to seep through it, which emerges at contacts to form springs. The Kayenta is an aquitard, slowing the flow of water within it. Over time, water weakens the overlying sandstone by dissolving its cement, allowing an alcove to form. In addition, the springs at the contact are a fresh source of drinking water in this high desert climate with low precipitation.

Here, we have not only a prime example of a passive solar dwelling, but a site also chosen to optimize the area’s most precious natural resource, water.