Cane Creek Anticline
Anticline Overlook: The Anticline Overlook is located 31 miles from U.S. Highway 191. Sixteen of those miles are on a graveled, highly improved road. The overlook has a vault toilet and trash receptacles. A walkway leads to an interpretive display and benches. This overlook faces north, and offers views of Dead Horse Point State Park, the Colorado River, and Kane Creek Canyon.he Hatch Point and Canyon Rims Recreation Area is part of a high-desert ecosystem that provides habitat for a wide variety of wildlife. Animals have adapted in various ways to survive the harsh temperature extremes and low annual precipitation typical of their sagebrush and pinyon-juniper habitat.
Keen-eyed observers can spot American pronghorn antelope on Hatch Point. These animals rely on extreme speed and excellent vision to escape predators in open country. With sharp eyes or binoculars, desert bighorn sheep can occasionally be located on the steep, rugged talus slopes below the vertical cliffs. The bighorn rely on keen eyesight and agility to escape predators.
Peregrine falcons are rare but may sometime be seen along cliffs. Golden eagles are often spotted while they are hunting, as are many species of hawks. Sage grouse are also rare in this area, but are sometimes seen in dense stands of sagebrush.
Mule deer and coyotes can be found throughout the area all year. The black-tailed jackrabbit is a common sight throughout the area. It radiates heat through the numerous capillaries in its huge ears to help regulate its body temperature.
Snakes and lizards are common. One of the most interesting species is the horned lizard, or & horned toad, & as it is sometimes called. Among its other adaptations, this lizard escapes the chill of night by burrowing into the sand, sometimes several inches below the surface.
The desert is alive with much for the visitor to see. The only requirements are patience and attention.
Geology
Geologic processes in the Canyon Rims area warped the rock strata millions of years ago. Erosion and weathering, primarily during the past 10 million years, has modified the rock even more.
Rock layers exposed in the recreation area range in age from about 150 to 300 million years, and include marine, tidal, lake, stream, swamp, and desert dune deposits. The diversity of the depositional environment and susceptibility to erosion accounts for the variety in color and shape.
Miles of sheer rock walls, spires, deep canyons, domes, buttes and fins of bare slickrock reflect the geologic history of the region. This geologic history is clearly visible from the overlooks at the adge of the Hatch Point plateau. The Anticline Overlook is named for the curved, uplifted shape of the Kane Creek Anticline visable across the Colorado River to the north of the overlook.
Human History
Prehistoric Indians of the ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) culture occupied lands now included within the Canyon Rims Recreation Area for a relatively short period of time, ending in the mid-1200s A.D. Remnants of their rock and log dwellings, granaries, rock art, and tool-making sites exist throughout the area. During historic times, Ute Indians used the area for hunting and seasonal food gathering, but did not establish permanent habitation sites.
The contemporary human history of the recreation area begin when the 1859 Macomb Expedition entered it from the east, traveled west down part of Harts Draw and into lower Indian Creek. Two decades later, ranchers and settlers moved into the area.
Modern human use of the area has largely been limited to livestock grazing, recreation use, and mineral exploration and production, with little permanent occupancy. Cattle are permitted to graze the plateau during the winter months.
