Description of Utah’s Remarkable Bryce Canyon
Bryce Canyon National Park, is one of the most striking and unique areas on earth. Bryce is located in Southeastern Utah, 80 miles from Cedar City, and 125 miles from St. George.
The unique character of Bryce comes from the monumental, bright red, orange and white outdoor pinnacles, called hoodoos. These hoodoos are like stalagmites in a cave without a ceiling, pointing to the heavens above. Bryce Canyon is a misnomer; it is not actually a canyon, but an amphitheater which is the remnants of formations on a lake and stream bed.
These hoodoos were built in deposits of sediments in streams and lakes from 63 to 40 million years ago. They are topped by a harder stone which helps keep the hoodoos from eroding. Hoodoos can be up to 200 feet tall. Bryce has more hoodoos than any other place on earth.
The beauty of Bryce is visually stunning with the orange range of colors adorned by the green foliage of a variety of pine and many other trees. The sky is usually clear and bright blue. It is also incredible to see in the winter snowy background, when one can traverse the park in snowshoes.
At night the sky at Bryce is also unusually clear with a view of 7500 stars, whereas 2500 stars are normally viewed in the United States.
This amphitheater with an audience of the orange pinnacles, was created by freeze-thaw activity along with water and wind erosion of sedimentary rocks in the lake and river beds. There is a series of amphitheaters in the area spreading out for 20 miles or so, but Bryce Canyon is the largest. Smaller versions of these acres of spires can also be found near Cedar City and up in Cedar Canyon.
Bryce is located in central Utah near Panguitch. Zion National Park can be seen from Bryce, which is at a higher elevation of 8000 to 9000 feet at the rim of Bryce Canyon. Bryce is made of orange, red and white sedimentary rocks compared to the mostly white Navajo Sandstone of Zion.
Bryce was made a national monument in 1923 and a national park in 1928. The park covers 56 square miles (145km.).
Early Human History of Bryce Canyon
Little is known about the earliest inhabitants of the park, but they are thought to go back 10,000 years. South of the park, artifacts for the Basket-maker Anasazi have been found. Artifacts have also been found for the Pueblo-period Anasazi, and the Fremont culture which dates up to the mid-12th century. Petroglyphs are seen throughout the park, which are several thousand years old.
About the time that the ancient ones disappeared from the area, the Paiutes moved into the park area. The Paiutes developed a mythology about the hoodoos, believing that they had been the Legend people that the trickster Coyote turned to stone. I
n the late 18th and early 19th centuries, European explorers and settlers began to reach the area. Bryce was named after a Mormon Scottish settler named Ebenezer and Mary Bryce. Said Ebenezer about the hoodoos of Bryce that it was "helluva place to lose a cow." (Kiver, 1999)
Sources
- Kiver, Eugene P.; Harris, David V. (1999). Geology of U.S. Parklands (5th ed.). New York: Jonh Wiley & Sons
- Bryce Canyon National Park
- Bryce Canyon. NPS.gov
Paula I. Nielson - Paula I. Nielson, Ph.D., holds credentials and interests in anthropology, archaeology, religion, the Middle East and Asia.
