COLORADO Guidebook 1958

THE COKE OVENS TRAIL

A Self-Guiding Trail to Coke Oven Overlook

The Coke Ovens, Self-guiding Nature Trail starts here. Many interesting plants of the Monument are identified for you along this trail. Numbered stakes point out features described below. Watch for them as you go. The geological story told at the end of the trail is fascinating. You can learn of the origin, erosional factors and prehistoric animal life of the region. The round trip is approximately one mile. The trail grade is not steep and is suitable for most people. Use care as you walk—getting too close to the cliffs can be dangerous.

Stake 1. Big Sagebrush (Artemesia tridentata). This is one of the most abundant plants in western North America. It has forage value, particularly for such browsing animals as mule deer and, here in the Colorado National Monument, the Bison.

Stake 2. Mountain Mahogany (Cercocarpus montanus). This shrub is another favorite food plant for browsing animals. The seeds have long tails which coil and uncoil with changes in moisture, thus literally screwing the seeds into the soil, and improving their chances of sprouting.

Stake 3. Juneberry (Amelanchier alnifolia). This species often becomes a large, wide-spreading shrub. The white flowers appear early in May. The berries are eaten by many animals and birds.

Stake 4. Utah Juniper (Juniperus osteosperma) and Pinon Pine (Pinus edulis). These two trees make up the majority of the forest of the Monument. The needles of the Colorado Pinon are usually in bundles of two, whereas other Pinons in the Southwest may have three needles in a bundle. The Indians used the Pinon Nuts as a food. The leaves of the Juniper are small and scale-like. The Juniper is also called Western Cedar. Actually, it is not a true cedar.

Stake 5. Entrada Sandstone (Slick-rock). The small cliff to your left is composed of fine grained quartz sand. Much of the Rim Rock Drive is either built up on or very near this sandstone. This formation was probably wind deposited rather than water-deposited and contains a great deal of cross-bedding.

Stake 6. Mormon Tea (Ephedra viridis). Mormon Tea is recognized by its green broomstraw-like branches. The common name comes from its use by the Mormon settlers for a medicinal brew, a use learned from Indians and frontiersmen. It is a member of the Jointfir Family, an evergreen.

Stake 7. Spanish Bayonet (Yucca harrimaniae). The sword-like leaves of this species of Yucca, common only to the Colorado Plateau, were used by Indians to make mats, sandals, and rope, The roots were used as soap and the fruit for food. Often mistakenly associated with the Cactus Family, the Yucca is really a member of the Lily Family.

Monument Canyon Trail

This is the junction of the Monument Canyon Trail. The trail descends into Monument Canyon passes by the foot of Independence Monument and ends in the Grand Valley at the East Mouth of the Canyon. Total length is about six miles. There is no water along the way so be sure to take a canteen!

Stake 8. Crossbedding. If you look closely you can see different layers of sandstone meeting at various angles. Since much of the sandstone in the Monument was originally deposited as sand dunes, piled up by shifting winds, this explains the cross-layering.

Stake 9. Porcupine Damage. During the winter months this large rodent spends a great percentage of its time in trees, feeding on the bark. The Pinon Pine is a favorite food tree. Porcupines kill many trees each year by girdling them as they feed.

Stake 10. Indian Rice Grass (Oryzoposis hymenoides). This is one of the most common grasses in the Monument. It is a bunch grass, and can be recognized by the very open flower clusters.

Stake 11. Single Leaf Ash (Fraxinus anomala). The leaves of this tree, unlike other species of ash, are, as the name implies, single rather than composed of leaflets along a central stem. It rarely grows taller than 20 feet.

Stake No. 12. Slender Wheatgrass. (Agropyron pseudorepens). A bunchgrass found most frequently in the sagebrush flats. Closely related to Western Wheatgrass and Crested Wheatgrass. It is an excellent food for deer, elk and buffalo.

Stake 13. Kayenta Sandstone. The Kayenta sandstone is directly under the Entrada Formation and is quite weathering-resistant. It is exposed over a great deal of the Monument, particularly between the canyons. It forms the cap on many of the taller monoliths.

Stake No. 14. The Coke Ovens. The Coke Ovens' distinctive shape is probably due partially to the loss of their protective Kayenta cap and partially because of the particular way the Wingate Sandstone was deposited in this area. Erosion has removed the layers much like you would peel an onion, thus giving them their round coke oven-like appearance. Compare these monoliths with Independence Monument.

All but one of the rock formations (the Dakota Formation) in the Monument can be seen from this spot. To the West, and occupying the highest hills, is the Morrison, a formation containing many prehistoric fossil remains, chiefly dinosaur. Directly above the road and below the Morrison, is a thin, highly colored, formation known as the Summerville. Looking progressively downward toward the bottom of the canyons are seen the Entrada Sandstone Kayenta Sandstone, Wingate Sandstone (forms most of the canyon walls and high cliffs), the Chinle Shale (brick red in color) and finally the dark masses of the precambrian granites exposed in the stream beds.

We hope you have enjoyed this hike. Another nature trail is located near the campground... The Window Rock Self-Guiding Nature Trail.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
COLORADO NATIONAL MONUMENT