Dean M. Chriss
Photography
Cloudscape, North Coyore Buttes Wilderness, Arizona

The Sky's Celebration, North Coyote Buttes Wilderness, Arizona

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The sky must certainly have been celebrating when this image was captured. Clouds from a clearing storm form of dramatic proportion frame the cross-bedded sandstone hills in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness. This 112,500 acre (455 km2) desert wilderness is composed of broad plateaus, tall escarpments, deep canyons and bizarre sandstone formations. It lies mostly within the 294,000 acre (1,189 km²) Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, which is adjacent to the 1,217,280 acre (4972  km²) Grand Canyon National Park. Together these lands form what is perhaps the most bizarre and amazing place in North America.