1Ernesto

Salt & Pepper Hoodoos

Look above the fir trees at Utah’s Red Canyon to find the famous out-of-this-world geology, called hoodoos. Not to be confused with the folk magic of the same...
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Look above the fir trees at Utah’s Red Canyon to find the famous out-of-this-world geology, called hoodoos. Not to be confused with the folk magic of the same name, the hoodoos in this photograph are some of Red Canyons trademark rock spires, these two are often referred to as the Salt & Pepper Shakers. Millions of years of erosion and weathering have carved the colorful limestone rock of the Claron Formation into bizarre shapes and seemingly impossibly stacked structures. The totem-pole-like hoodoos are more abundant here in this region of Utah than anywhere else in the world.
A hoodoo is a tall, spindly structure that forms within sedimentary rock and protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland. Hoodoos form over millions of years of erosion in areas where a thick layer of soft rock is covered by a thin layer of hard rock. Over time, hoodoos form as a small cap of the hard layer protects a cone of softer rock underneath from erosion.
Hoodoos can be a squat 5 feet (1.5 meters) tall or soar to 150 feet (45 m). Depending on the minerals found within the different rock types, hoodoos often have lively color patterns.

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