Horseshoes and hoodoos

Thursday, May 21, 2015
Tropic, Utah, United States
Page - established 1957, at an elevation of 4,300 feet.
First up, we drove for 10 minutes to Horseshoe Bend . "Horseshoe Bend is the name for a horseshoe-shaped meander of the Colorado River located near Page, Arizona. It is located five miles (8.5 km) downstream from the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell within Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, about four miles or six km southwest of Page. Horseshoe Bend can be viewed from the steep cliff above. The overlook is 4,200 feet above sea level and the Colorado River is at 3,200 feet above sea level making it a breathtaking 1,000 foot drop. It
is a short ¾ of a mile hike from US Route 89."

The water in the Colorado was low, and you really need to be in a helicopter to get the fantastic pictures you see - but it was spectacular. We walked from the car park with lots of other people (one side of the approach hill was quite steep) and then quite a way around the rim. But not too close to the edge - a few chunks looked ready to crumble in!

Then we drove to Bryce Canyon, Utah. A short drive today, and most of it had the spectacular limestone ridges views . We'd heard Bryce Canyon suggested using the free shuttle to get into, and get around, the park; and we'd seen on google that there was a free shuttle from right where we were staying. Luckily we printed it out or every one would've thought we were mad! We drove past the entrance to the Park and carried on 8 miles (yes miles) to where we'd booked - no shuttle bus. So we drove back and took our car in - which worked out perfectly! We had no trouble getting a park at any of the stops. We got a lot of exercise as there was at least a km at the stops, and we did the Bristlecone Loop walk - only 1.6 km but seemed twice that. This walk was right at the end (top) of the park and was 9,115 feet. It was windy and cloudy (and rather cool!) - another reason we were pleased to have the car. We spent just over 3 hours in the Park.

"Hoodoos are tall skinny spires of rock that protrude from the bottom of arid basins and "broken" lands. Hoodoos are most commonly found in the High Plateaus region of the Colorado Plateau and in the Badlands regions of the Northern Great Plains . While hoodoos are scattered throughout these areas, nowhere in the world are they as abundant as in
the northern section of Bryce Canyon National Park. In common usage, the difference between Hoodoos and pinnacles or spires is that hoodoos have a variable thickness often described as having a "totem pole-shaped body." A spire, on the other hand, has a smoother profile or uniform thickness that tapers from the ground upward.

At Bryce Canyon, hoodoos range in size from that of an average human to heights exceeding a 10-story building. Formed in sedimentary rock, hoodoo shapes are affected by the erosional patterns of alternating hard and softer rock layers. The name given to the rock layer that forms hoodoos at Bryce Canyon is the Claron Formation. This layer has several
rock types including siltstones and mudstones but is predominatly limestone. Thirty to 40 million years ago this rock was "born" in an ancient lake that covered much of Western Utah. Minerals deposited within different rock types cause hoodoos to have different colors
throughout their height.

Hoodoos are formed by two weathering processes that continuously work together in eroding the edges of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The primary weathering force at Bryce Canyon is frost wedging."

Friday morning - this place we stayed at hasn't got much going for it! Didn't like the bed or the lightweight pillow, the heater was really noisy, a 'water saver' shower - and worst of all, slow internet! I'm trying again to download the pictures.

I picked the wrong photos or our photos weren't good enough - they don't do justice to the awesome colours, and the amazing shapes. It was cloudy - my excuse.


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