Magma and Limestone Met at America's Second Tallest Cliff: Notch Peak, Utah 

I love geology. You never stop learning something new.

I worked in oil exploration as a young man. It was through every desert in the country apart from one. There is something just so majestic about being a thousand miles from anywhere and from almost from anyone. The sky is God's canvas. The moon and the stars at night, no city person could ever know their absolute beauty. You can read a book under the moon and by starlight. One time after a few very hard weeks, we were all laid up and camped under a huge mesa for a few days waiting to be evacuated by plane. A group of 30 men and their gear and their machines and their bunks under the stars and someone was playing Willie Nelson's 'Stardust' over and over again. When I got back home to the city, I bought the tape and have it still to this very day. 'Stardust' just takes me back to the desert nights every time I play it. I often think of driving back out there and 'leaving this earth',out there when I'm older and ready to go. Sorry. I got right off the track. Great video and I'll get back to it and pay it more attention. Thanks.

In the 1980s I lived in Salt Lake City. I used to come to Antelope Springs & the House Range to collect trilobite fossils. This was before mineral claims were filed & the area became commercialized. Cambrian shale exposures were everywhere. I collected 100s of trilobites over a period of four years. This is a world class area for trilobite collectors.

The beauty is almost overwhelming! Such magnificent contrasting layers. Thank you for providing this incredible scene and explaining its origins.

This is one of my favorite places. I spent time in geology field camp mapping this valley (in 90s). It is so beautiful and I love to visit (from NV). I'm stoked to find this video, I keep trying to convince family to come camp there with me. And your geology explanation is spot on.

This geology is beyond spectacular! Just incredible to see. Thanks Shawn for sharing.

Thanks for this great video, Shawn! Notch Peak is one of Utah's best kept secrets! It really is an amazing place. The last time I was there a few years ago I camped along the side of the dirt road (I wasn't sure if my car could go any further) just below where you filmed this video. Probably where you parked your truck! 😂 It was early October and that night was the most eerily quiet night I've ever experienced. No people. No wind. No insect noises. Just the occasional sound of an owl hooting in the distance and a few jets passing high overhead. And the stars were spectacular! some of the darkest night skies in the country! And of course, the geology can't be beat! Hiking up the "notch" on the west side is amazing! Hiking to the summit and walking through the ancient bristlecones on the east side is amazing! I can't wait to go back!!! 😄

"Baked." Gotta love it.

Wow, gorgeous and exciting rocks! Fantastic scenery... how cool to have it explained. Thanks so much, Shawn.

The tallest cliff in North America is Mount Thor on Baffin Island Canada. It is also the tallest cliff in the world.

I will show this to my geology class. Thanks for your work.

Thanks! For the “giddy”🤣. Beautiful rocks!!

Thanks for taking us along. The rocks are glorious.

Your drawing was good. Loved the geology, Thank You

One of my favorite places in Utah! Been there a number of times and the landscape has inspired the art I make. Nice to learn more about the geology out there. Thanks!

Just exquisite formations! The lighting, WOW!

It took time for me time to appreciate the geology of Utah - I've always been partial to the Idaho Batholith, and Custer County in particular. Exploring the San Rafael Swell and Capitol Reef N.P. really opened my eyes. It's different, but it's outstanding.

A great find. Thanks for your explanations. 👍🏼

I think... as a "couch expert" maybe the black layers represent layers of limestone that have become more oxidised, since limestone weathers grey/black when exposed to the elements. in NZ we get a lot of limestone thats been stained black through dissolution of the naturally occuring manganese, phosphate etc in the stone :) It could also be volcanic ash thats been incorporated into the limestone when it was laid down.

Fascinating geological field trip for us arm-chair geology buffs. Thanks for the awesome presentation of granitic intrusions into and around Cambrian limestones in the House Range of Utah. Looking forward to more of your vids.

I drove through Utah in 2002. Loved it. Around every corner was a new and improbable sight.

Very stunning and picturesque views. Thanks for sharing it and explaining how it came to be 😃

Wow! You are a great teacher! Thank you!

Thank you Professor.

Awesome.Thanks Shawn.

Great presentation. I really enjoyed the views and explanation.

We loved it so much we sold our house in Dallas and moved out to utah. We will be going back out to the house range, conger and wha wha ranges. Incredible geology not to mention aincient lake Bonaville

Fascinating. Thanks.

Excellent. Thanks for the sequence of events at the end. Helped peice it all together.

Thank you, Brother

Very cool!

Spectacular!

Thank you!

Great instruction. Thanks.

AWESOME STUFF! THANX 4 SHARING!

Thanks. Great demonstration!

Thank you

Beautiful

Hi from Devon in the UK. Really enjoying your videos and your enthusiasm. Where I live is on the edge of Dartmoor which I believe is mostly granite. There are working mines for China Clay and Tungsten near by.

Amazing. Thanks for sharing

You, my friend, are amazing

What fascinating rocks! Thanks for your explanations.

That is a spectacular contact! I'm going to try and visit it. Thx!

I was reading about pegmatites and magmatic intrusions yesterday and now you've made a great video showing both in real life. Nice!

Thank you. Notch Peak has fascinated me since I first saw pictures and video of it. It is on my list.

Thanks Shawn! We viewed the recent annular eclipse from this area and hiked the Norch Peak trail. Great to know the Geology behind this remote range.

Wow!!! I've never heard of Notch Peak. Amazing ❤

Thanks! I've lived in the area but have never had such a splendid and enthusiastic explanation. Love your field trips.

Great descriptions professor!!!!!!!

This is awesome. What a beautiful place. So many of the places you go to. I go to the maps to mark them down but realize I've already saved them in my locations so I can visit them or I have visited them in the past. Keep up the good work

The "zebra" stripes on the limestone put me in mind of a varve. I wonder if they were deposited under an ocean that froze seasonally? The longest vertical drop cliff face is Thor's Mountain on Baffin Island. I look forward to you visiting there. Dress warm.

Thank you so much.

thanks

We just drove by this peak taking an all back roads road trip to Seattle. I saw the peak and remembered it from the video! Now planing some sort of Basin and Range circumnavigation bike tour (self supported, likely solo) this Spring, 2024. Like all the other commenters and Shawn said, it's a stunning and beautiful in a very, very remote area. And of course, another excellent video Shawn... learned a lot as usual.

That is some awesome, dramatic scenery! Thanks for the info on it!

Utah really has beautiful rocks (units)

Thanks!

Another good one man that was fun 🤙 I'm in Cincinnati the ordovician & glacial max. Love it!

Wow! So much going on here. Ashamed to say that I never even heard of this area. Thanks.

I love the west deserts of Utah! Notch peak and the House range is an absolutely stunning landscape. I hope you take a trip out to the Deep Creek mountains along the Utah, Nevada border.

OMGosh! I could tell you were so excited exploring this site! It’s great to see other people get as excited about geology as I do! Thanks again!

What a cool location! I was drawn to this because I am trying to learn my local geology, where the CRB exactly comes in contact and in some cases is a little mixed into to Eocene rocks near Wenatchee. I wish I could find someone who has explained that as clearly as you have explained this contact zone in Utah! Thank you for your always interesting geology videos. Your explanations are always so clear and concise.

I love those stripey limestones ... I"ve never seen that before. Would love a "chunk" of it to have on display in my home, just to look at and admire. Beautiful. Thank you for this view and explanation. ❤ 😊

Thanks

What an amazing place that I never heard of. Got to get out west more often to see some unusual rock formations. Oh, and thanks for that excellent drawing explaining what we are seeing Shawn.

I lived in Utah for 20 years, and I do miss the vast expanses of exposed geology. Do you know if rock climbing is allowed on Notch Peak? Anyway, thank you for taking us to these incredible and remote geological wonders!

Thank you for the wonderful video. When worked at Gulf Oil in the early 1980's a group of fellow Geos would drive from Bakersfield CA for 4 day weekend hike of up Notch Peak but we had just started a family and could not leave for amount of time. It got me thinking about making a visit.

reminds me of the La Sale Mountains east of Moab - those are laccolith style intrusions in Mesozoic aged rocks. In that case it was too shallow an intrusion and cooled quickly compared to the intrusion here at Notch Peak, which was clearly much deeper and stayed hotter longer, allowing the melt to develop larger crystals and express as granodiorites and granites.

Okay, Shawn, thanks because "topographic expression" is itself an excellent topographic expression-

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I've hiked to Notch Peak but I had no idea of the complexity of the geology below it. Hiking up from the east it all seemed like similar geologic layers, except for perhaps one spot with some very thin and well-defined layers.

It’s vast and desolate and beautiful. I am very thankful for the desolate places.

That really is a beautiful area, I've been close by and never had any idea what was just a range or two east. Have you been up into the Mt Moriah Wilderness area at all? We were in there elk hunting and the geology completely blew me away. It was so complex and breathtaking, I'd love to see your take on it someday.

Number of years ago, girlfriend and I came to this area and did some digging for Trilobites at U Dig down the road. Then went over to Fossil Mountain. My girlfriend was convinced there were no fossils on the mountain and was a waste of time to climb up the hillside, and she decided to wait at the truck. It was one of those times I'm glad I didn't listen to her. The hike up the hillside was well worth it.

I was struck by the intense banding of the limestone section. It seems to me that the regularity must result from periodic changes in the growth cycle. I wonder how many years each 😊band represents.

Rock the House!

wow

Wow that is in the middle of nowhere, i've been to Great Basin NP but never heard of that area.

Great, very instructive example, but wabted to see the wall of Notch Peak.

Exacto amigo ! Me encanta aprender pero en ocasiones el paisaje es tan espectacular, la luz tan hermosa y la soledad tan sobrecogedora que solo hay que sentarse y disfrutar. Aprecio mucho tus videos. Un abrazo desde el Perú.

Been there. Trilobites in that general area, in older rocks.

My visits to Notch Peak and surrounds have left me wondering about how that box canyon itself formed. I'm not a geologist. My best guess is that it was catatrophic when underlying rock gave way (maybe due to "aggressive water" slowly eating the rock?), and gravity led to a sudden local collapse. Am I on the right track? Now, thanks to this video, I know that there's a fault nearby. Did that have something to do with it? Excellent video!

What about Zion NP's West Temple? I don't think that wall has been measured but I think it may beat out Notch Peak in shear height.

Nice video I got Into geology when I was 50. But I played in Death Valley East Mojave and along the West Coast of California. I pretty much understand what i'm looking at but I can't explain it

Beautiful-Thor is the tallest cliff in Canada, #2-I don't know. I flew over Baffin Island and those mountains are amazing!

Fabulous geology. Thanks. I would like to see this. I think I can find it from your narrative by taking the Jeep trail to Painter Springs?

This morning I was out on the back patio with my coffee, looking at one of the limestone layered rocks I brought back from Notch Peak a few years ago. At that moment I was wondering if Professor Willsey had made any videos yet about Notch. So I checked YT this morning and bam! Thank you sir! I'm giddy every time I visit that place. I'll be headed there in a couple weeks for an overnight adventure. Any plans for Fossil Mountain and Crystal Mountain areas?

In 2019 my wife and i planned a primitivecamping trip from dalas tx to the house range camped in marjum pass. I had ordered every usgs geo map i could get my hands on. Absolutely fantastic never saw another car the whole 3 days. The wheeler shail is most abundant trilobite bering layer and the best exposure is in antelope amphitheater and is sowed up by claims to make you pay to collect. If you get usgs maps you can find the layers in other areas. I highly recommend a camping trip there. You can dig teal world class trilobite fossils and awsome crystals. Blm free camping and solitude.

Great post. One question that I wasn’t sure about. How did the Jurassic rocks get underneath the Cambrian rocks ?

Love your YT vid series, helps me remember the geology I never knew, but still forgot. This is definitely a nice area of Utah that I need to visit. Thanks for the knowledge. P.S. I have to question the rankings of 1st & 2nd cliff faces in the U.S. and throw in Devils Thumb in Alaska. It's hard to eclipse Thor Mtn. in Canada, but there is the border peak in the Stikine Range, Devils thumb that may beat El Capitan and Notch. The following is from Wikipedia: The most famous feature on the Devils Thumb among climbers is its Northwest Face, rising 6,700 ft (2,042 m) from the Witches Cauldron at its base to the summit, at an average angle of 67 degrees. This is the biggest rock face in North America. The conditions prevalent also make it perhaps the most dangerous climbing proposition on the continent. Been there, seen it, real impressive.

Neat area. Have you geologized in the Ruby Mountain area? That's an area I love.

great rocks, great views, especially at 14:28 when the dark cloud moved close to the Notch Peak. What are the coordinates of this spot, would love to visit it? Thanks for sharing... Oh, I see it, 39.15685,-113.44967, thanks

Felsic intrusives, carbonate rock -- wonder if there are skarns in that area. I would be inclined to pan out some material from that wash. 🙂

I was in this 'neck of the woods' just last June to dig for mid-Cambrian trilobites at that wonderful site in the House Range, not that far from where you were. To think, those little critters died and were buried over 500 million years ago and they lay entombed in their thinly bedded calcareous sediments while primitive chordates evolved into vertebrate fish, a group of fish evolved lungs and limbs, a linage evolved into amphibians, certain amphibians developed a amniotic egg and gave rise to the reptiles including dinosaurs and birds while others evolved an array of mammal-like reptiles and one group of those into mammals and finally primates branched off and then apes branched from them, humans came along with all human history and then, in the fullness of time, I came along. And to think, those little creatures lay undisturbed in their entombing sediments all that time while life evolved to the point where I come along with my brain able to understand all this and disturb their long, long sleep and once more, after more than 500 million years, they are exposed to the sun once again. Yes, it's pretty empty out there, but if I'd have known you were in the neighborhood, I'd have come over and said "hi." Not that far away is Delta, Utah to the East and to the West, in Nevada, is the Great Basin Park and the town of Eli.

Just spectacular! All kinds of stuff going on. Why is it called the HOUSE RANGE?

Alright, the limestone with the zebra look, that intrigued me, because it appears to be bands of different sediments, so I had to do a little research and that just opened up a can worms, or should I say it sent me down a rabbit hole of having to possibly do with mineral replacement perhaps caused by heating from the nearby igneous rocks. So, if someone thinks they can explain it a little bit to a layperson, I would love to read it.

❤

Shawn, I assume the rocks to the west, that have dropped would be a continuation of the original capping limestone?

Subduction! Was there westward subduction at this time as I think I heard Nick Zentner mention last spring in his Baja to BC series and I think it was in one of the conversations with Karen Sigloch. Another thing I believe I heard Karen say is plates move as a result of plate pull rather than plate push. Am I correct?

Shawn: 'just a thought but... Either Delorme's Utah Atlas is off with their GPS coordinates, or perhaps you might be little off here. The Utah Atlas shows Notch Peak in the range of 39º08' -113º26". And I'm assuming you accessed this from Ye Old Indian Trail (as noted in the Atlas).