A row of hoodoos at Bryce Canyon National Park
Formed millions of years ago, it is one of Washington’s most unusual and natural phenomenon. It is located just a few miles southeast of Winthrop, Washington off Highway 20, is a spectacular canyon called Pipestone Canyon. Pipestone Canyon features conglomerates, sandstones, siltstones and shale that have eroded into stone columns called 'hoodoos.'
So what, exactly, is a hoodoo?
Hoodoos are tall thin spires of rock that protrude from the bottom of arid basins and badlands. They are composed of soft sedimentary rock and are topped by a piece of harder, less easily-eroded stone that protects the column from the elements. They are mainly located in the desert in dry, hot areas.
Hoodoos are most commonly found in the High Plateaus region of the Colorado Plateau and in the Badlands regions of the Northern Great Plains (both in North America). 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 the state of Utah.
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. Minerals deposited within different rock types cause hoodoos to have different colors throughout their height.
But these look a lot like the pinnacles at Peshastin Pinnacles State 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 pinnacle or spire, on the other hand, has a smoother profile or uniform thickness that tapers from the ground upward. (Geology purists do note that only a tall formation should be called a hoodoo; any other shape is called a 'hoodoo rock'.)
|
Arches National Park, Utah, United States
|
|
Peshastin Pinnacles State Park,
west of Wenatchee, Washington,
United States
|
|
David Parker on Chumstick Snag
(not in Peshastin State Park, but nearby)
|
TO CLAIM THIS EARTHCACHE:
- Looking at Pipestone Canyon estimate the height of the canyon from its lowest point to its highest point.
- From where you are standing how many distinct hoodoos can you count?
- Describe some of the different colors you see in the hoodoo's alternating layers. Why do you see different colors in the hoodoos?
- Please take a picture of yourself or your group holding your GPS at a location of your choice with the Piperock Canyon and the hoodoos in the background.
- Please email (do not log) the answers to the above questions 1-3 to Three Bottles and then post your picture with your 'found it' log.
FUN FACTS:
Fossil hunters can often be seen digging in an open area 500 feet or more above the canyon floor. Fossils are abundant and can be discovered in most sections of the canyon walls. The discovery of leafy plants indicates that while the area was not truly tropical many centuries ago, it was quite warm.
WED Enterprises (now Walt Disney Imagineering) notably based the design of the Disneyland version of the popular Big Thunder Mountain Railroad around a series of hoodoos, although these were constructed out of steel and concrete.