The highway crosses the _Rio Virgen_ at Rockville and climbs the
plateau, whence splendid views may be had of the Temples of Zion. Near
the Arizona boundary appear the magnificent Vermilion Cliffs which
stretch across Southern Utah for great distances; they present the
arresting architectural effects of vast castles and cathedrals colored
rich red which becomes vivid vermilion in the afternoon sun.
After crossing Short Creek into Arizona the immense blue arch of the
Kaibab Plateau becomes more prominent and Mt. Trumbull, an extinct
volcano overlooking Grand Canyon, looms in the purple distance. Upon
this stretch of fascinating desert range many wild horses, direct
descendants, perhaps, of those brought to America by the Spaniards. On
Cedar Ridge is a petrified forest.
The road follows the Vermilion Cliffs eastward through the Kaibab Indian
Reservation to Pipe Spring, a celebrated oasis on the plains, created a
National Monument in 1923. The two historic stone buildings standing
there were erected more than fifty years ago in fortress style for
protection from the Indians; from beneath one house flows the finest and
purest spring in all this frontier domain, daily discharging 100,000
gallons of cool water.
At Pipe Spring, the Vermilion Cliffs recede northward and give place to
the Shinarump Cliffs, banded with gorgeous colors--red, brown, lavender,
chocolate and white. A conspicuous butte seen approaching Fredonia is
The Battleship. Fredonia is a pretty little Mormon community of 300
inhabitants and the only town in Arizona north of the Grand Canyon.
Between Fredonia and the Kaibab is one of the most picturesque and
exquisitely colored stretches of upland in America. Whites, blacks,
browns, yellows, pinks, purples, reds and all their pale intermediate
tints are splashed over these prismatic plains, where cactus, yucca,
piñon, sage and cedar somehow find sustenance.
Almost imperceptibly, the automobile has climbed the gentle slopes of
the Kaibab. Looking backward to the north one of the grandest spectacles
of the Plateau Country is unfolded. Nearly 10,000 feet of terraced rock
layers are exposed edgewise across a frontage of some sixty miles. A
glorious panorama, these painted precipices! First the rainbow
Shinarump, then the Vermilion, White and Pink cliffs, tier upon tier and
hundreds of miles in convoluted length, all shining and shifting in the
sun.
[Illustration: _Bryce Canyon from Inspiration Point_]
[Illustration: _The Temple of Osiris, Bryce Canyon_]