Vermilion Cliffs

The Vermilion Cliffs are the second "step" up in the five-step Grand Staircase of the Colorado Plateau, in northern Arizona and southern Utah in the southwestern United States.

[2] They are made up of deposited silt and desert dunes, cemented by infiltrated carbonates and intensely colored by red iron oxide and other minerals, particularly bluish manganese.

The area was explored by the Mormon pioneer and missionary Jacob Hamblin, who started a ranch at the base of the cliffs in House Rock Valley.

Present day U.S. Highway 89A basically follows the old wagon route past the cliffs through House Rock Valley and up the Kaibab Plateau to Jacob Lake.

In the image below, Highway 89A is atop the yellow rocks capping the first step of the series, the Chocolate Cliffs, and will turn east (to the right) upon entry to the valley below, ultimately crossing the Colorado River at Marble Canyon via the Navajo Bridge.