Dry Island Hoodoo Field EarthCache
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A hoodoo (also tent rock, fairy chimney, earth pyramid) is a tall thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland.
Please Note it is Illegal to disturb any fossils you might find while hiking in the park.
Tucked at the Northern Edge of the Alberta Badlands, Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park has some of the most stunning vista's and views in the Province.
Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park is named for two of its features, a "buffalo Jump" and a "dry island." About 700 years ago, aboriginal hunters used the cliffs to drive buffalo to their deaths so that they could harvest the meat and hides. And, over the millenia, erosion has created an isolated island ... one of the few places where it's possible to walk on grasslands as they were before the extensive cultivation that now characterize the region.
The park is notable for its features. The lands along the banks of the Red Deer River, which cuts through the park, are a rolling grassland and a rich cottonwood riparian habitat. Between these bottom grasslands and cottonwoods and the top rim of the valley are countless formations, sometimes called hoodoos, that have been sculpted by rain, wind, and ice over the millenia. While the grasslands are lovely, the sculpted canyon walls are breathtaking and unique.
Part of the terrain you are able to hike through in the steep Red Deer River Valley is perfect for creating Hoodoos.
Hoodoos 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. 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. (Geology purists do note that only a tall formation should be called a hoodoo; any other shape is called a 'hoodoo 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.
This location, is located half way up the northern edge of the valley carved by the Red Deer river, and is a good example of a Hoodoo field (many hoodoo's in the various stages of erosion).
TO LOG THIS CACHE: You will need to email the owner answers to the following questions.
1) How many Hoodoo's do you see that are fully formed?
2) How many Hoodoo's do you see that are forming in the area?
3) Please estimate the height of the highest Hoodoo.
You will also need to post a photo of you or your gps with a hoodoo from the site in the background. Sorry no photo, no log.
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