I think I am looking more east here. It's hard to believe... but then again it was so long ago: at various times in the past, this region was a floodplain, part of a sea, and a desert. The Colorado Plateau, beginning about 50 million years ago, was a mostly flat part of a lake and floodplain system. This area was surrounded by higher elevations, carrying sediment downwards where it was deposited. The sediments were cemented over time to form various sedimentary rocks, including sandstones, dolostones, limestones, and mudstones.