Trifter

The Painted Desert features a group of eroded hills that are colored in remarkably bright colors. They are composed of a combination of hermative, which is red stone; limonite, which is yellow, and gypsum, which is white. The stones have been ground down over many centuries by water and wind.

Breathtaking scenery can also be found in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park and in Canyon de Chelly National Monument, where stone mesas, buttes and spires have been shaped by erosion into strange figures.

Mesas and buttes are small hills with flat tops and often steep sides that have been formed by the erosion of land around them. Some of the most spectacular formations are the Mittens – huge, mitt-shaped rocks – in Monument Valley, and the Spider Rocks in Canyon de Chelly, which rise like narrow towers from the desert floor.