Wasatch Range - Geography and Geology

Geography and Geology

Mount Nebo, the highest peak of the Wasatch, is located at the southern edge of the range. The Colorado Plateau comes to its northwest corner here as it meets the southern end of the Rocky Mountains. Immediately west of these two, the Great Basin, which is the northern region of the Basin and Range Province, begins and stretches westward across western Utah and Nevada until it reaches the Sierra Nevada near the Nevada/California border.

The northern Wasatch Range is punctuated by a series of mountain valleys. While the western side of the range drops sharply to the floors of the Wasatch Front valleys, the eastern side of the range is gentler, allowing for the construction of several ski resorts. The Cottonwoods, a particularly rugged and dense area just east of the Salt Lake Valley, shelters small mountain coves that harbor four world-famous ski resorts (Alta, Brighton, Solitude, and Snowbird). The eastern slopes of the Cottonwoods drop to the Snyderville Basin, which contains Park City and its three neighboring ski resorts. Much of the eastern side of the range from north of Salt Lake City to the Bear River Mountains is especially gentle in comparison to the rest of the range. The range widens significantly east of Ogden, sheltering a high mountain valley known as the Ogden Valley. Three more ski resorts lie here, as well as several small towns (such as Huntsville, Liberty, and Eden).

North of this, the Wellsville Mountains branch off from the northwest of the range, continuing a line of mountains paralleling the I-15 corridor. This range is noted for being exceptionally thin and steep. However, U.S. 89/U.S. 91 is maintained as a four-lane highway along its entire length through the range at Wellsville Canyon east of Brigham City. Cache Valley, created by the Bear River, is flanked on the west by the Wellsville Mountains and the east by the much denser and higher Bear River Mountains. The northwestern border of Cache Valley is flanked by the Bannock Range in Idaho. The two highest peaks in this area are Mount Naomi and Mount Logan, each just under 10,000 feet in elevation.

The southeastern portion of the range across Wasatch County transforms into the relatively flat, windswept Wasatch Plateau at an elevation of approximately 8,500 feet (2,600 m) to 9,500 feet (2,900 m). At its southeastern edge, just north of Helper, it runs into the Book Cliffs. Further north, the Heber Valley and Weber River Valley separate the Wasatch Range from the Uinta Mountains, while the Bear River Valley and Bear Lake Valley separate it from lower mountain ranges that mark the western edge of the Green River Basin.

Throughout the length of the Wasatch Range, it is traversed by just 7 highways (as well as several rugged mountain roads and unpaved trails). The two most prominent are I-80 through Parley's Canyon east of Salt Lake City, and I-84 through Weber Canyon east of Ogden. They meet near the ghost town of Echo on the eastern slopes of the range and continue northeast as I-80. Other highways through the range include U.S. 6/U.S. 89 through Spanish Fork Canyon, U.S. 189 through Provo Canyon, Utah State Route 39 extending east from Huntsville (a route which is closed in winter), U.S. 89/U.S. 91 through Logan Canyon, and along Idaho State Route 36 near the northern end of the range.