A View of an Ampitheater at Bryce Canyon

This photograph was taken on the rim of the Bryce Canyon amphitheater . It is quite a spectacular view. The photograph shows the many hoodoos you... more

by Bruce Bley

Title

A View of an Ampitheater at Bryce Canyon

Artist

Bruce Bley

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

This photograph was taken on the rim of the Bryce Canyon amphitheater . It is quite a spectacular view. The photograph shows the many hoodoos you would see in the amphitheater.

Hoodoos in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah (2007).
A hoodoo (also called a tent rock, fairy chimney, and earth pyramid) is a tall, thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland. Hoodoos, which can range from 5-150 feet tall (1.5-45 meters), typically consist of relatively soft rock topped by harder, less easily eroded stone that protects each column from the elements. They generally form within sedimentary rock and volcanic rock formations.[citation needed]

Hoodoos are found mainly in the desert in dry, hot areas. 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.

Bryce Canyon National Park is a national park located in southwestern Utah in the United States. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Bryce is distinctive due to geological structures called hoodoos, formed by frost weathering and stream erosion of the river and lake bed sedimentary rocks. The red, orange, and white colors of the rocks provide spectacular views for park visitors. Bryce sits at a much higher elevation than nearby Zion National Park. The rim at Bryce varies from 8,000 to 9,000 feet (2,400 to 2,700 m).
The Bryce Canyon area was settled by Mormon pioneers in the 1850s and was named after Ebenezer Bryce, who homesteaded in the area in 1874.[3] The area around Bryce Canyon became a National Monument in 1923 and was designated as a National Park in 1928. The park covers 35,835 acres (55.99 sq mi; 145.02 km2)[1] and receives relatively few visitors compared to Zion National Park and the Grand Canyon, largely due to its remote location.
Bryce Canyon National Park is located in southwestern Utah about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of and 1,000 feet (300 m) higher than Zion National Park.[4][5] The weather in Bryce Canyon is therefore cooler, and the park receives more precipitation: a total of 15 to 18 inches (38 to 46 cm) per year.[6][7] Yearly temperatures vary from an average minimum of 9 �F (−13 �C) in January to an average maximum of 83 �F (28 �C) in July, but extreme temperatures can range from −30 �F to 97 �F (−34 �C to 36 �C).[7] The record high temperature in the park was 98 �F (37 �C) on July 14, 2002. The record low temperature was −28 �F (−33 �C) on December 10, 1972.[8]
The national park lies within the Colorado Plateau geographic province of North America and straddles the southeastern edge of the Paunsagunt Plateau west of the Paunsagunt Fault (Paunsagunt is Paiute for "home of the beaver").[9] Park visitors arrive from the plateau part of the park and look over the plateau's edge toward a valley containing the fault and the Paria River just beyond it (Paria is Paiute for "muddy or elk water"). The edge of the Kaiparowits Plateau bounds the opposite side of the valley.
Landscape with red and pink rocks with some snow .
Bryce Point
Bryce Canyon was not formed from erosion initiated from a central stream, meaning it technically is not a canyon. Instead headward erosion has excavated large amphitheater-shaped features in the Cenozoic-aged rocks of the Paunsagunt Plateau.[9] This erosion exposed delicate and colorful pinnacles called hoodoos that are up to 200 feet (61 m) high. A series of amphitheaters extends more than 20 miles (32 km) north-to-south within the park.[9] The largest is Bryce Amphitheater, which is 12 miles (19 km) long, 3 miles (4.8 km) wide and 800 feet (240 m) deep.[9] A nearby example of amphitheaters with hoodoos in the same formation but at a higher elevation, is in Cedar Breaks National Monument, which is 25 miles (40 km) to the west on the Markagunt Plateau.[5]
Rainbow Point, the highest part of the park at 9,105 feet (2,775 m),[10] is at the end of the 18-mile (29 km) scenic drive.[9] From there, Aquarius Plateau, Bryce Amphitheater, the Henry Mountains, the m).[7]

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July 5th, 2013