Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness

The Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness is a 112,500-acre wilderness area in northern Arizona and southern Utah, within the arid Colorado Plateau region. It is composed of broad plateaus, tall escarpments and deep canyons, and the Paria River flows through it before joining the Colorado at Lees Ferry. Congress designated the wilderness in 1984, and in 2000 it was largely incorporated into the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument proclaimed by President Bill Clinton. Both are administered by the Bureau of Land Management. The Colorado Plateau and its river basins are of particular value in chronostratigraphy, because the region exposes miles-thick contiguous rock columns that geologists and palaeobiologists use as reference strata for the geologic record.

Where it is

Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness is a natural landmark near Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, in Coconino County. It is one of the natural landmarks in this database, and appears in the statewide ranking of Arizona attractions.

How this ranking was reached

No official visitor count is published for Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, so its score rests on public interest and tourism significance, and is capped below the level a measured attraction can reach. That is why the medium confidence above is not higher. The weighting is explained in full on the methodology page, and every axis is broken out under Facts and sources at the foot of this page.

Note on the data: No official visitor count is published for this attraction.

Sources

• Public interest: Wikimedia pageviews (en.wikipedia, human traffic), 2024
• Coordinates and designations: Wikidata(opens in a new tab)
• County: U.S. Census geography via FCC Area API, resolved from coordinates
• Official site: https://www.blm.gov/visit/paria-canyon-vermilion-cliffs-wilderness(opens in a new tab)

Record last verified 2026-08-12.