Cedar Breaks National Monument

The Southern Paiute called the place u-mapwich – “the place where the rocks are sliding down all the time.”

Later settlers renamed it Cedar Breaks:   Cedar for the cedar or juniper trees growing nearby, and “Breaks” a term for badlands in 1933 Cedar Breaks National Monument was established.

 The scenery is spectacular.

A lot of snow falls here in the winter, last winter the only thing that could be seen of the historic visitor centre was the top of the chimney.

We took the short hike from Chessman Ridge Overlook down to the Alpine Pond, although there was still snow in a couple of places, wildflowers filled the forest and crowded over the path.

Pretty as it was we didn’t linger long by the pond as the mosquitos were biting.  Ouch!

 Wildflowers along the trail

As we were hiking we’d seen black clouds starting to form as we got back to the truck thunder started to rumble around us, so our return was well timed.

Have fun, we are!