Coyote Buttes

Coyote Buttes is a section of the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), spanning extreme south-central Utah and north-central Arizona, south of US 89 halfway between Kanab, Utah and Page, Arizona. It is divided into two areas: Coyote Buttes North and Coyote Buttes South. Visiting either of the Coyote Buttes areas requires purchasing a hiking permit.

The Coyote Buttes area is an exposure of cross-bedded aeolian Jurassic Navajo Sandstone.^[1] The variable coloration of the sandstones is a result of various iron oxide pigments within the layers. A dinosaur trackway or trample surface is found in the area and provides evidence of a variety of dinosaurs.^[1] The area includes dramatic swirling erosional rock formations such as The Wave.

The Wave and Buckskin Gulch share the Wire Pass Trailhead on House Rock Valley Road.

^ ^a ^b Seiler, W. M. (2008), Jurassic Navajo sandstone of Coyote Buttes, Utah/Arizona: coloration and diagenetic history, preservation of a dinosaur trample surface, and terrestrial analogs to Mars (MS Thesis), The University of Utah

[Seiler-1] Seiler, W. M. (2008), Jurassic Navajo sandstone of Coyote Buttes, Utah/Arizona: coloration and diagenetic history, preservation of a dinosaur trample surface, and terrestrial analogs to Mars (MS Thesis), The University of Utah

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