Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, USA, 23rd October 2014.

This is from a viewpoint in Bryce National park, 8,000 to 9,000 feet above sea level (or 2,400 to 2,700 metres).  We arrived in mid afternoon and the light could be better but the image does give you a good overview.

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The little shapes that poke up like statues are called hoodoos.  The proliferation of the hoodoos is caused by freezing and thawing cycles in winter, causing splitting in the rocks.  Because of the high elevation it is very cold with ice and snow in winter.

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It looks like a desolate wasteland but you may be able to notice that there are a few houses in the second valley.

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We were lucky to catch the Bryce hoodoos while they are still there.  They are eroding away very fast, at about a metre every 200 years, and within only 600,000 years they will all be gone.

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Unfortunately, some of the first eight or so of these images are not as sharp as they could be.  Being used to a DSLR and not having mirror bounce with the Fuji camera, I thought I could get away without a remote release.  When I later found they were unsharp due to tripod movement, I started using the camera timer.  You won’t notice the unsharpness on this page but many of them are not worth printing.

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I find an ambiguity of scale here.  They might be bonsais but they’re not.

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We went away to have dinner and came back for the sunset….

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The pink, orange and white hoodoos and spires are part of the Claron Formation which is limestone, 40 to 50 million years old.

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