These spires at Bryce Canyon National Park are called hoodoos. A hoodoo is a tall, thin, spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland. See Wikipedia:Hoodoo (geology). These formations are rather common erosional features on the Colorado Plateau, but nowhere so abundant as in Bryce. The rocks consist of limestone, dolomite and siltstone. The softer rock erodes under a cap of harder material making the hoodoos. For the most part, the hoodoos are not carved by running water, but by the freeze/thaw cycle flaking off particles of rock. We have had several very pleasant family camps in the general area of Bryce. The summer I took this picture we were very surprised to find a nice camping spot inside the National Park without a reservation.
I've done the hike down into the hoodoos twice now -- it's the kind of thing that belongs on a "bucket list." I will continue to do this hike for as long as I can walk. Bryce may be my all-time favorite canyon (though technically it's a monocline). I love it dearly.
ReplyDelete