Castle Butte (Valley of the Gods)
Castle Butte is a  summit in San Juan County, Utah, United States.

Description
Castle Butte is situated  west of Bluff, Utah, in the Valley of the Gods, on land administered by the Bureau of Land Management.Valley of the Gods, Bureau of Land Management, Retrieved 2024-08-31. Precipitation runoff from this iconic landform's slopes drains to the San Juan River via Lime Creek. Access to the butte is via the 17-mile Valley of the Gods Road which makes a change of direction loop around this butte. Topographic relief is significant as the summit rises  above the surrounding terrain in 0.15 mile (0.24 km). This landform's toponym has been officially adopted as Castle Butte by the United States Board on Geographic Names, however it is also known as Eagle Plume Tower. The first ascent of the summit was made in 1976 by Bill Forrest and Frank Luptom via the South Face.First Ascent Timeline, deserttowersbook.com, Retrieved 2024-08-31.
 
Geology
Castle Butte is composed of two principal strata of the Cutler Formation. The bottom layer is slope-forming Halgaito Formation and the upper stratum is cliff-forming Cedar Mesa Sandstone.Robert Brett O'Sullivan, Geology of the Cedar Mesa-Boundary Butte Area, San Juan County, Utah, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1965, p. 34. Cedar Mesa Sandstone is the remains of coastal sand dunes deposited about 270 to 300 million years ago, during the Wolfcampian (early Permian). The buttes of Valley of the Gods are the result of the Halgaito Formation being more easily eroded than the overlaying sandstone. The valley floor is Honaker Trail Formation.Dan S. Chaney, The Carboniferous-Permian Transition, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, 2013, p. 64.

Climate
Spring and fall are the most favorable seasons to visit Castle Butte. According to the Köppen climate classification system, it is located in a cold semi-arid climate zone with cold winters and hot summers. Summers highs rarely exceed . Summer nights are comfortably cool, and temperatures drop quickly after sunset. Winters are cold, but daytime highs are usually above freezing. Winter temperatures below  are uncommon, though possible. This desert climate receives less than  of annual rainfall, and snowfall is generally light during the winter.

Gallery

See also
 Castle Rock (San Juan County, Utah)

References

External links

 Eagle Plume Tower Climbing: Mountainproject.com
 Weather: Castle Butte

Category:Colorado Plateau
Category:Landforms of San Juan County, Utah
Category:North American 1000 m summits
Category:Sandstone formations of the United States
Category:Buttes of Utah