mount messiaen

Mount Messiaen is an awesome tribute to an incredible composer! In 1972, French composer Olivier Messiaen visited Utah. Inspired by Utah's landscapes and birdsongs, Messiaen composed the massive orchestral work "Des canyons aux étoiles." The state of Utah honored Messiaen by naming a mountain after him.The turnout to Mount Messiaen is a few miles south of Parowan, Utah, on SR-143, at mile-marker 11, on the east side of the road. There is no sign at the turnout, but there is a small plaque a short walk from the paved road. To find the plaque, park at the turnout, and walk along the dirt road. The first curve in the dirt road is to the right. In the crook of the curve, about ten feet from the dirt road, are three vertical slices of red sandstone. The slices of red sandstone are not naturally occurring, but were "planted" by the workers who installed the plaque. The grayish plaque is embedded into the vertical face of one of the slices of red sandstone. Facing the plaque, you can look up and observe Mount Messiaen. Since no one maintains the plaque, trees and bushes grow up around it, making it very difficult to locate. After visiting the plaque, you should walk a couple minutes further, and explore the other-wordly landscape of white sandstone beneath Mount Messiaen. If you don't make this short hike, you miss the best part!