Canyons, Plateaus…and Hoodoos? Hmmm…..
I have always been a lover of architectural structures with intricate carvings and long-ago history, so when I stumbled on the Hoodoos I just had to check them out! Although, not a manmade structure, these are GOD’s very own architectural structures that HE so magnificently carved out of the very earth HE created.
From our visit to Cedar Breaks National Monument, we went up 669 S. Highway 89A to Bryce Canyon National Park (https://www.nps.gov/brca/index.htm). Bryce Canyon is only an hour and a half drive through some of the most beautiful mountain dessert highway I have ever seen. It is said that over two million people visit Bryce Canyon every year, the most popular…and populated, time is between March and October, it just so happened that we were there in October!
Bryce Canyon isn’t just a canyon, it is a series of amphitheaters that have been carved into the edge of a high plateau. The one I wanted to see was the one with the haphazardly eroded pinnacles of rocks called Hoodoos! Hoodoos are formed when earthquakes create fractures and joints within the bedrock. With 200 days of above freezing temperatures during the day and below freezing temperatures at night, ice begins to break the rock apart. The annual snowfall in the canyon totals up to 8 feet. When the snow melts it finds it way into the fractured joints in the rock caused by the earthquakes. Then the melted snow will refreeze at night and ice will form which will cause the rock to break apart. When the summer rains begin to fall, it carries debris down the edge of the plateau where it begins to eat away at the edge until it hits one of the harder layers of limestone. Instead of the rock being carried away, it flows around this layer of openings called ice windows. Throughout the seasons, these windows become so large that they give way and breakdown taking its protective layer of hard limestone with it. More windows then form and the process will continue to repeat itself until the flat topped fin becomes a row of Hoodoos.
There are four main points at Bryce Canyon to enjoy: Bryce Point, Inspiration Point, Sunset Point, and Sunrise Point, all within the first few miles of the park, and between April and October, a shuttle service to get you there. The main road into the park leads from the entrance and along the north plateau rim to the southern most tip at an elevation of over 9,000 feet. Hiking trails will take you through the hoodoos and along the rim of the Bryce Amphitheater to the forests of the plateau.
The Canyon also has a Ranger Program that offers daily geology talks, rim walks, evening programs, night sky viewing, or even a full moon hike. Horseback rides are also offered during the summer season, and there are two campground sites. Lodging is also available at the Bryce Canyon Lodge (http://www.brycecanyonforever.com) during the summer months, and the Sunset Hotel (http://www.brycecanyonforever.com), during the winter months.
The hoodoos of Bryce Canyon were a marvel to see, but just up the road was another wonder to behold…Zion National Park.
