Dark Canyon Wilderness
IUCN Category Ib (Wilderness Area)
Location:	Utah, USA
Nearest city:	Monticello, UT
Coordinates:	37°47′″N, 109°54′″W
Area:	47,116 acres (191 km²)
Established:	September 18, 1984
Visitation:	(in )
Governing body:	U.S. Forest Service

The Dark Canyon Wilderness in the heart of southeast Utah’s canyon country is named for its high, steep walls that narrow in the lower section so that they block the light in the morning and late afternoon. The roughly horseshoe-shaped wilderness is made up of the upper part of 40-mile (64 km) long Dark Canyon and two major tributaries, Woodenshoe Canyon and Peavine Canyon on the Manti-La Sal National Forest. These canyons all descend from pine-covered Elk Ridge, northeast of Natural Bridges National Monument. Dark Canyon continues west within a Bureau of Land Management primitive area that is recommended for wilderness designation. The last four miles of the main canyon drop steeply into through Glen Canyon National Recreation Area into Lake Powell. The World Conservation Union or International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) is an international organization dedicated to natural resource conservation. ... Broadly, a wilderness area is a region where the land is left in a state where human modifications are minimal; that is, as a wilderness. ... Image File history File links Locator_Dot. ... Image File history File links US_Locator_Blank. ... Official language(s) English Capital Salt Lake City Largest city Salt Lake City Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 13th 219,887 km² 435 km 565 km 3. ... Monticello is a city located in San Juan County, Utah. ... September 18 is the 261st day of the year (262nd in leap years). ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The USDA Forest Service, a United States government agency within the United States Department of Agriculture, is under the leadership of the United States Secretary of Agriculture. ... La Sal mountain range as seen from Arches National Park First snow in La Sal Forest The Manti-La Sal National Forest covers 1,413,111 acres (5,718 km²) and is located in the U.S. state of Utah. ... Natural Bridges National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located in the southeast of Utah, in the western United States. ... US BLM logo The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers Americas public lands, totaling approximately 261 million surface acres (1,056,229. ... Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (Glen Canyon NRA) is a recreation and conservation unit of the National Park Service that encompasses the area around Lake Powell in Utah and Arizona, covering 1,254,429 acres (5,076 km²) of mostly desert. ... Lake Powell is a man-made reservoir on the Colorado River, straddling the border between Utah and Arizona. ...

Life zones range from ponderosa pine and aspen-covered high country to desert vegetation in the bottom of Dark Canyon. High terraced castle-like sandstone walls tower 3,000 feet above the canyon floors. Wildlife species include mule deer, some mountain lions, black bear, and bighorn sheep. This diverse canyon country contains arches, springs, seeps and hanging gardens. Binomial name Pinus ponderosa Douglas ex C. Lawson Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa) is a widespread and very variable pine native to western North America. ... Species Populus adenopoda Populus alba Populus grandidentata Populus sieboldii Populus tremula Populus tremuloides Aspens are trees of the willow family and comprise a section of the poplar genus Populus sect. ... Sandstone near Stadtroda, Germany Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-size mineral or rock grains. ... Binomial name Odocoileus hemionus (Rafinesque, 1817) The Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus) is a deer whose habitat is in the western half of North America. ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Binomial name Ursus americanus The American Black Bear (Ursus americanus), also known as simply the black bear or cinnamon bear, is the most common bear in North America. ... Binomial name Ovis canadensis Shaw, 1804 Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis) is a species of sheep in North America with two endangered subspecies: Desert Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni) California Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis californiana). ... Rainbow Bridge was formed by a meandering watercourse A natural arch or natural bridge is a formation (or landform) where a rock arch forms, with a natural passageway through underneath. ...

Water sources in Dark Canyon are often widely separated, and some have dried up entirely in recent drought years. Thunderstorms can result in powerful flash floods that scour the canyon streambeds. A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas, rivers and streams that is caused by the intense rainfall associated with a thunderstorm, or multiple training thunderstorms. ...

Wilderness visitors may see evidence of the Ancestral Puebloan culture. Remember, it is against the law to remove or tamper with any archaeological resources you may find. Please leave things as you have found them for those that come after you to enjoy. Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park Ancient Pueblo People, or Ancestral Puebloans is a preferred term for the cultural group of people often known as Anasazi who are the ancestors of the modern Pueblo peoples. ...

All the trails dropping into the canyons are moderate, but they can be difficult, if not impossible, to find and follow until you reach the bottoms of the canyons. Peavine Canyon contains a cherry-stem jeep trail that detracts from the wilderness character of the canyon. The Forest Service once recommended closing the area to vehicles, but this corridor was kept open as a compromise in the Utah Wilderness Act of 1984. The USDA Forest Service, a United States government agency within the United States Department of Agriculture, is under the leadership of the United States Secretary of Agriculture. ...

See also

• Manti-La Sal National Forest
• Wilderness
• National Wilderness Preservation System
• List of U.S. Wilderness Areas

La Sal mountain range as seen from Arches National Park First snow in La Sal Forest The Manti-La Sal National Forest covers 1,413,111 acres (5,718 km²) and is located in the U.S. state of Utah. ... Bob Marshall Wilderness, Montana, United States Wilderness is land that has not been significantly modified by direct or indirect human activity. ... The National Wilderness Preservation System protects federally managed land areas that are of a pristine condition. ... Four federal agencies of the United States government administer the U.S. Wilderness Areas, which includes 680 wilderness areas and 105,695,176 acres (427,733 km²). These agencies are: United States Forest Service United States National Park Service United States Bureau of Land Management United States Fish and Wildlife...

References

• Lynna P. Howard, Utah's Wilderness Areas: The Complete Guide (Westcliffe Publishers, 2005) ISBN 1565793889

External links

• Wilderness.net: Dark Canyon Wilderness
• Maps and aerial photos
  • Topographic map from TopoZone
  • Aerial image from TerraServer-USA
  • Surrounding area map from Google Maps
  • Location in the United States from the Census Bureau