After spending a day touroning around all the overlooks (more posts coming) and looking down on the hoodoos, fins, windows, arches and bridges the next morning we took a trail into the canyon.
The Navajo Loop trail is only 1.3 miles (2 km) long with a 550 foot (167 m) drop in elevation.
The trail winds under arches of orange and yellow…
…past windows to a blue world…
Thors Hammer
…and below towering hoodoos full of faces.
Then down switchbacks between the fins and into a different world.
Almost eye level with this amazing geology. Hoodoo, a pillar of rock, or, to cast a spell, maybe both.
Two Bridges
The oldest gray-brown rock at the bottom was deposited by repeated seaways during the Cretaceous Period between 144 to 65 million years ago.
For the next 25 million years, in the Tertiary Period, rivers and streams flowed into an ancient freshwater lake and deposited iron-rich, limy sediments that became reddish-pink rocks, the Claron Formation, from which the hoodoos are carved.
After uplift, the steep slopes along the plateau’s rim allow increased erosion scouring off softer rock, creating gullies with enough soil for pines and firs to reach for the sky.
…and leaving harder rock as fins…
…which continue to erode into hoodoos…
…of the most whimsical shapes.
Paiutes living in the area when settlers arrived from the east called hoodoos the “Legend People” whom Coyote had turned to stone.
Named after mormon Ebenezer Bryce who built his home and ranch in the Paria Valley in 1875 with the canyons in his back yard.
In 1923 President Harding proclaimed part of the area as Bryce Canyon National Monument and in 1928 legislation passed that changed it to a National Park.
After hiking down .7 miles (1.12 km) we began the assent into Wall Street. More to come.
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23 comments:
Hoodoo hysteria... Took us half the day to walk it cause it was so cool... Best part was sharing it with you!
I can't believe I missed Bryce when I was out there...
- Jazz
What great wonders of nature you have access to, no wonder you two are all smiles.
I love seeing you so happy my friend.
Nature surely is the greatest sculptress on earth!
Oh, what memories your photos brought back, Gaelyn! It is definitely one of the most beautiful, breathtaking places in the world! And, like Arija, I love seeing you so happy! Have a wonderful week!
Sylvia
Wow those rocks and the colours are amazing. I would not like to be at the bottom though if the head off of one of Thor's hammers should decide to tumble!! Diane
I enjoyed this post soooo much! I've just finished watching Ken Burn's The National Parks: America's Best Idea so I was really in the groove to see more. Will have to read your earlier ones as well. Cheers, Elaine from southwestern Ontario, Canada
Don't we live in a magnificent country? Your shots of Bryce are so different from my Sierra photos. It has been too long since we have visited that area, we need to go back with our digital cameras.
Oh my, Gaelyn. The colors, the stories, the shapes, the history. My head and heart can't hold it all in. How do you live amongst such beauty without exploding from sheer joy? Wow. This was just rich.
Gaelyn, those pillars are like statues on watch. We have not been to Bryce but yearz ago I was fortunate to have been to Moab... phenomenal place just as this. Beautiful photos. Thank you.
Extraordinary, another place I have to visit one of these days.
Wow - the air is so clear, the colours sparkle. It looks as if you are on another planet. Gorgeous gorgeous!
Oh, wow, the colors, the shapes...I'm a comin....
The scenery in the southwest parks always takes my breath away! You captured the beautiful feeling of this area! I think its so wonderful you guys have been getting out and enjoying these amazing places!
As always, these pictures take my breath away with their beauty Gaelyn. How I wish I could go back there again. I missed so much on my last trip.
The pictures are stunning, but I can't imagine what it must look like in person. What a breathtaking place with such interesting legends attached to it.
Wow,
grandiose immagini rocciose !
( non vorrei trovarmi sotto una di queste rocce, nel caso dovessero cadere ! )
Buona giornata :)
Myriam
Gaelyn: That is a marvelous place to visit. I am glad to be there through your photos.
The fantastic red sculptor which is nature!
The rhino head is cool!! I wonder if I'll ever get to see it up close and personal.
Wonderful photos, Gaelyn! The trails in Bryce are like a fairyland to me. I loved walking around these hoodoos. Seeing the pines growing there is cool. What a great place!
Spectacular photos!!
The hoodoos do look a little like people carved into stone. I like that thought.
Lovely photos. Bryce is a grand place to visit.
OMG---Total beauty. Wonderful pictures. Maybe I will get out that way sometime. I hope!!!
Lookee--I found you again. I try everyday and now, like magic, here you are. Thanks for visiting my blog and keeping on keeping on. MB
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