Crater View Trail - 1.7 Miles Round-Trip

The Crater View Trail runs .85 miles over brilliant slickrock benches to the Upheaval Dome overlook. In a landscape of predictable sandstone layering, Upheaval Dome stands out as one of Utah’s most curious geological features.

The Upheaval Dome Crater is over 2 miles wide, ringed by downwarped rock layers called a Syncline. Rocks in the center of the crater have been pushed up into a circular structure called a dome, and in this case more specifically, an Anticline.

Geologists are not sure how this oddity was formed, but two strong theories have emerged:

Salt Dome Theory

A thick layer of salt left by evaporated inland seas underlies much of southeastern Utah (see the Paradox Formation in Arches National Park). Under pressure from overlying rock, salt can flow like hot plastic, or ice moving at the bottom of a glacier.

Over time and under the right amount of pressure, salt can flow up through rock layers as a salt bubble, and emerge above the surface as a dome. Energy from this process would ripple out and deform surrounding rock.

Research suggests that a salt bubble - as well as any overlying rock - have been entirely removed by erosion, and the present surface of Upheaval Dome is the pinched off stem below the original bubble.

Impact Crater Theory

Geologists estimate that a meteorite (or meteorite debris) roughly 1/3 of a mile across hit this location about 60 million years ago. The impact created a large explosion, forming a large crater that would partially collapse on itself. As the perimeter stabilized, underlying rocks heaved upward to fill the void left by the impact.

Subsequent erosion has washed away remains of the meteorite, exposing the crater’s original interior, and rock layers once buried thousands of feet underground.

Crater View Trail

Whatever its true origin, scientists can agree the formation we see today is the result of erosion on a structural dome. Rock layers at the surface within the dome were once buried at least a mile underground, and are not visible anywhere else in the area.

The Crater View Trail runs up and down through a magnificent slickrock landscape to two crater overlooks (.3 miles : 5,812’ and .85 miles : 5,632’).

While the viewpoints are fascinating, the trail itself is equally compelling. Visitors will enjoy open travel over multicolor slickrock benches with exceptional views that reach the Green River. Follow cairns closely – despite the short distance, it’s quite easy to loose track in this indistinguishable landscape.