Bryce Canyon is another great National Park that has beauty beyond description, come experience the wonder during National Park Week.
Ebenezer Bryce, a Mormon pioneer assisted in the settlement of southwestern Utah and northern Arizona. He came to the area in 1875 to harvest timber and live. He settled behind what is now Bryce Canyon National Park, located in the southwestern part of the state of Utah. His neighbors would call the canyon behind his home “Bryce’s Canyon.” In 1928 it was given the designation of a state park. Bryce Canyon National Park is a small park, 56 square miles, by the standards of the National Parks.
What is famous about Bryce Canyon?
Bryce Canyon, with its acclaimed geology, countless colors of varying hues, and amphitheaters shaped as horseshoes, cut out the eastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau in southern Utah. With the power of nature the rainwater and the frost moisture dissolved to shape and affect the color of the limestone to create various shapes of “hoodoos,” slot canyons, windows, spires, and fins. The miraculous natural tinting of the stones and a power that is unexplanable, has colored and arranged capriciously the rocks to have created a wonderland landscape of mazes. Those that have taken a walk along this wonderland have experienced a memorable and exciting memory.
With the meadows located in the high elevations of the plateau, the foliage is abundant and the wildlife flourishes. The plateau has also been deemed as one of the world’s best air quality. The rim affords a panoramic view of approximately 200 miles in a three state radius. It is also known as one of the best stargazing locations due to a very small light sources.
The marvel of the “hoodoos” were described by the Paiutes as the “Legend People” that were turned to stone by Coyote. The geological term for “hoodoo” is a pillar of rock, usually fantastic shape, left by erosion. It is also known that “hoodoo” means to cast a spell.
Within the Bryce Canyon National Park, erosion has been created with the fun, whimsical “hoodoos.” Geologists have an answer, they state that millions of years ago whatever forces were present on Mother Earth, moved these cute enormous objects that were named Aquarius and Paunsaugunt Plateaus. Today, the rock layers of the Aquarius now reach 2,000 feet above the Paunsaugunt’s same layers.
The ancient rivers’ flow took to carving out the tops and formed the edges of the large rocks. Layers were removed and this brought about the chiseling and sculpted forms. This brought about the creation of the Paria Valley and then later caused the widening of the plateaus.
No matter what the cause, these wondrous shapes have certainly cast their spell for all that have ever visited, and those that wish to visit.
Come experience the beauty and wonder of this magnificent landscape that only exists in Bryce Canyon National Park.
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