Welcome to the Hoodoos!
📳📶 Beware the spotty reception of the Park. I recommend you downloaad this cache for offline use if possible before arriving.
🦁 Mountain Lions frequent the area so be alert and bring bearspray with you at all times.
Logging Requirements:
Search nearby for a fallen rock. You will have to find one where the inside of the rock is visible. Examine it, and answer the following questions. Along with your answers you will have to send a photo of the rock you were examining for proof and answer confirmation. ie No rock no credit.
1. Question: What is the porosity (in percentage) of the travertine rock you found?
2. Question: What is its color?
3. Question: Can you see any calcium carbonate crystals?
4. Photo: Take a picture near the posted coordinates of your favorite angle of the Hoodoos with yourself, a trinket, a thumbs up, etc and post it in your log. You are not required to be visible in the photo but it must contain something that verifies that you did not take the photo from online.
About the Hoodoos:
The Yellowstone Hoodoos which you are at now are not actual hoodoos. Hoodoos refer to a sedimentary rock which forms a pinnacle shape due to the existence of a hard, heavily erosion resistant rock capping a shaft of softer rock beneath it, forming a spire. For an example of real hoodoos, visit Bryce Canyon National Park. These Hoodoos are large boulders which were once a part of the nearby Terrace Mountain. They were once a part of a large hot spring just as those still working in Mammoth Hot Springs. However, the Terrace Mountain hot spring dried up and the travertine rock detached, cascading down the mountain forming the impressive field of boulders known as the hoodoos.
Travertine Rock:
Travertine rock is a sedimentary rock, more specifically a form of limestone, formed by the constant chemical precipitation and subsequent layering of calcium carbonate minerals usually found in springs, rivers, or lakes. Travertine rock is very common in Yellowstone, and especially the Mammoth Hot Springs Area due to the large amount of thermal hot springs in the area. The Hoodoos are travertine rock becuase they came from a once active hot spring.
Porosity:
Travertine rock can have as low as 2% porosity if it is quite ancient, and if it is being freshly created, as the ones in Mammoth Hot Springs are, they can have close to 80% porosity.
Color:
When seen in hot springs they can look quite impressive due to the variety of organisms and heat resistant lichens that grow on them, but here at the Hoodoos you can see them in their pure form without the colorful lichens. Their colors are still unique and impressive however, ranging from white to cream to reddish pink.
Disclaimer: The hoodoos are a natural land under National Park Service protection and theerefore you are NOT permitted to take anything. Adhere to leave no trace practices.
Have fun in the Hoodoos!
Sources:
- Pictures taken by GriffinTamer88 of Hoodoos rock
https://www.yellowstoneexplored.com/hoodoos-yellowstone
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travertine
- https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/photosmultimedia/0004hoodoos.htm