A highly unique area of geologic interest known as “Little Finland” is located within the newly created Gold Butte National Monument. Managed by the BLM, they have this to say about the Monument on their website for it: “Gold Butte National Monument covers nearly 300,000 acres of remote and rugged desert landscape in southeastern Nevada, where dramatically chiseled red sandstone, twisting canyons, and tree-clad mountains punctuate desolate stretches of the Mojave Desert. The brightly hued sandstone provides a stunning canvas for the area’s famously beautiful rock art, and the desert provides critical habitat. The area is popular for outdoor recreation, and visitors to the monument can hike to rock art sites, drive the Gold Butte Backcountry Byway to the area’s namesake mining ghost town, hunt desert bighorn sheep, or tour the area’s peaks and canyons on horseback.”

“Little Finland” is a somewhat misleading name, usually evoking thoughts of the Scandinavian country. The name actually refers to an area of highly eroded and sculpted sandstone that has formed what some call “fins,” which are here, thin layers of sandstone that have been chiseled by wind into fantastic shapes. We prefer to call it “Little Fin-land,” perhaps to help mitigate the false impression. Certainly, the extreme desert location bears no parallels to the northern country. This area of fins holds an unparalleled collection of weird and fantastic shapes that sit along the edge of a sandstone cliff that’s about half a mile long and just a few hundred feet wide. While it’s over a 30-mile drive on rough roads, hiking to the fins is easy. Just don’t visit during summer months when temperatures soar to well over 100 degrees! There is little shade. This particular sculpture reminded us of the gargoyles often found on centuries old cathedrals.

Photo taken October 2020.

At the far west end of Lake Powell is Wahweap Bay and a drainage called Wahweap Creek feeds into that bay. Several miles of hiking up Wahweap Creek brings one to an area of “hoodoos;” unique geologic formations of softer sandstone capped by a harder conglomerate rock. The harder rock delays the erosion of the strata immediately below it while unprotected strata to the side weathers and erodes more rapidly leaving behind these almost mystical cap-rock towers. They range in height from inches to 75 feet or more. We found one we call, “The Great Hoodini.” Some are quite colorful and others strangely shaped and even “twisted” in appearance as the one shown here.

Over the years we have made several excursions not only to the main fork of Wahweap Creek, but also some of the branches and an area to the west called “White Rocks,” more easily accessed from Church Well, UT. Over those trips we have roamed and discovered dozens, even hundreds of these hoodoos, some located in remote and difficult terrain to reach. A photo we stumbled across led us to some research on Google Earth and sent us on a search for this hoodoo in March of 2021. The angled supporting strata gives the appearance of this hoodoo being twisted on its base. It’s not all that large, standing at only about 8 feet, but it is certainly a rare find. We hope anyone who visits this place will exercise great care not to climb on this precariously perched rock and send it tumbling down.

A highly unique area of geologic interest known as “Little Finland” is located within the newly created Gold Butte National Monument. Managed by the BLM, they have this to say about the Monument on their website for it: “Gold Butte National Monument covers nearly 300,000 acres of remote and rugged desert landscape in southeastern Nevada, where dramatically chiseled red sandstone, twisting canyons, and tree-clad mountains punctuate desolate stretches of the Mojave Desert. The brightly hued sandstone provides a stunning canvas for the area’s famously beautiful rock art, and the desert provides critical habitat. The area is popular for outdoor recreation, and visitors to the monument can hike to rock art sites, drive the Gold Butte Backcountry Byway to the area’s namesake mining ghost town, hunt desert bighorn sheep, or tour the area’s peaks and canyons on horseback.”

“Little Finland” is a somewhat misleading name, usually evoking thoughts of the Scandinavian country. The name actually refers to an area of highly eroded and sculpted sandstone that has formed what some call “fins,” which are here, thin layers of sandstone that have been chiseled by wind into fantastic shapes. We prefer to call it “Little Fin-land,” perhaps to help mitigate the false impression. Certainly, the extreme desert location bears no parallels to the northern country. This area of fins holds an unparalleled collection of weird and fantastic shapes that sit along the edge of a sandstone cliff that’s about half a mile long and just a few hundred feet wide. While it’s over a 30-mile drive on rough roads, hiking to the fins is easy. Just don’t visit during summer months when temperatures soar to well over 100 degrees! There is little shade. When we saw this sculpture, the first thought that came to mind was “How in the world was this formed?” so, we just named it “How?” Photo taken Oct. 2020

In extreme southern Utah and northern Arizona, between Page, AZ and Kanab, UT is the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument and the Paria Canyon – Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness. That designated wilderness is home to Coyote Buttes and the now world-famous “Wave” formation, Cottonwood Cove, Paw Hole, and White Pocket. These are all areas with concentrations of unique Navajo sandstone formations. Buckskin Gulch also is part of that wilderness area and the lower 12 miles of that gulch is considered one of the world’s longest “slot” canyons down to where it joins Paria Canyon.

The upper section of Buckskin Gulch is a wide open, usually dry, sandy wash surrounded by colorful sandstone domes and cones fractured into hexagonal, pentagonal or similar shapes that seem to compare to photos of an intact brain, hence we and others call them “brain rocks.” There are also areas of colorful, cross-bedded layering and fins that create protruding layers from the surrounding sandstone at various angles. These too can provide very interesting photography. We first discovered these quite a few years ago, before internet photos were being posted and had long planned to get back and photograph some more. We finally made the return trip April 2021 and spent an entire day exploring more of this extraordinary locale.

At the far west end of Lake Powell is Wahweap Bay and a drainage called Wahweap Creek feeds into that bay. Several miles of hiking up Wahweap Creek brings one to an area of “hoodoos;” unique geologic formations of softer sandstone capped by a harder conglomerate rock. The harder rock delays the erosion of the strata immediately below it while unprotected strata to the side weathers and erodes more rapidly leaving behind these almost mystical cap-rock towers. They range in height from inches to 75 feet or more. We found one we call, “The Great Hoodini.” Some are quite colorful and others strangely shaped and even “twisted” in appearance as the one shown here.

Over the years we have made several excursions not only to the main fork of Wahweap Creek, but also some of the branches and an area to the west called “White Rocks,” more easily accessed from Church Well, UT. Over those trips we have roamed and discovered dozens, even hundreds of these hoodoos, some located in remote and difficult terrain to reach. A photo we stumbled across led us to some research on Google Earth and sent us on a search for this hoodoo in March of 2021. The angled supporting strata gives the appearance of this hoodoo being twisted on its base. It’s not all that large, standing at only about 8 feet, but it is certainly a rare find. We hope anyone who visits this place will exercise great care not to climb on this precariously perched rock and send it tumbling down.

A highly unique area of geologic interest known as “Little Finland” is located within the newly created Gold Butte National Monument. Managed by the BLM, they have this to say about the Monument on their website for it: “Gold Butte National Monument covers nearly 300,000 acres of remote and rugged desert landscape in southeastern Nevada, where dramatically chiseled red sandstone, twisting canyons, and tree-clad mountains punctuate desolate stretches of the Mojave Desert. The brightly hued sandstone provides a stunning canvas for the area’s famously beautiful rock art, and the desert provides critical habitat. The area is popular for outdoor recreation, and visitors to the monument can hike to rock art sites, drive the Gold Butte Backcountry Byway to the area’s namesake mining ghost town, hunt desert bighorn sheep, or tour the area’s peaks and canyons on horseback.”

“Little Finland” is a somewhat misleading name, usually evoking thoughts of the Scandinavian country. The name actually refers to an area of highly eroded and sculpted sandstone that has formed what some call “fins,” which are here, thin layers of sandstone that have been chiseled by wind into fantastic shapes. We prefer to call it “Little Fin-land,” perhaps to help mitigate the false impression. Certainly, the extreme desert location bears no parallels to the northern country. This area of fins holds an unparalleled collection of weird and fantastic shapes that sit along the edge of a sandstone cliff that’s about half a mile long and just a few hundred feet wide. While it’s over a 30-mile drive on rough roads, hiking to the fins is easy. Just don’t visit during summer months when temperatures soar well over 100 degrees! There is little shade. The formation in this photo is just one of the hundreds of unusual shapes. The four-fingered figure to the right reminded us of a hand, thus, “Stonehand,” a play on Stonehenge. Oct 2019

For years, as we drove through St. George to Las Vegas and on to Santa Barbara where our daughter attended college, we would pass the signs for Valley of Fire State Park, located northeast of Vegas. Seems like we never had the opportunity to stop, but finally, in October of 2020, we were able to spend a day visiting this seeming protrusion of deeply colored red Aztec sandstone rock, surrounded by desolate and bland stretches of the Mohave desert with its limestone hills. The 40,000 acre park is served by a visitor center and campground. In the 1920s the name was coined by a AAA official traveling through the park at sunset. This person purportedly said that the entire valley looked like it was on fire; hence the name.

The main park road leads to a picnic and parking area in what is called, “The White Domes.” This is perhaps the most intriguing and colorful area of the park with strong contrasts between the red, Aztec sandstone and other sandstone devoid (or leached out) of the iron oxides that create the red color. In places, colorful banding occurs with reds, tans, yellows and orange colors all alternated between layers and near vertical “fins” of protruding rock. This photo is just one of many fascinating representations of those fins and colors, taken right at sunset. As explained by a geologist friend of ours, what is seen here are “cross cutting fractures that are filled with a secondary mineralization, subsequent to the deposition of the sandstone.”

A visit to Capitol Reef National Park in mid-March of 2017 took us to a section of the park we had never visited before. The “Cathedral Valley” drive took us on a 57 mile- long, graded, dirt road loop that shows an entirely different perspective of this unusual national park. The section of park that most visitors see from the paved highway is certainly remarkable with towering, highly eroded sandstone peaks and cliffs and deeply entrenched, carved canyons that twist and turn their way into a complex maze.

The Cathedral Valley section of the park is largely a vast, wide open desert landscape of mostly sandstone, sand dunes and scarce vegetation. But punctuating this lunarscape at several locations are the weathered remnants of great peaks and cliffs, now eroded into gigantic monoliths, several of which are referred to as “temples.” These towering giants may soar up to 400 feet high and display varying hues as the sun makes its journey across the sky. Some of the names given to a few are: Jailhouse Rock, Temple Rock, Walls of Jericho, and pictured here, the Temples of the Sun, Moon and Stars. The drive to view these formidable formations can be completed in a day.

The Wahweap hoodoos have become very well known and many make the 4.5 mile hike up the wash from the nearest trailhead to photograph these spectacular towers. While probably a hundred or more hoodoos can be found in the three main coves, the hoodoo pictured here is likely the tallest of the entire group. We estimate a good 35 feet from the lowest point of the base, perhaps even more.

So what is a "hoodoo?" Though they may come in a variety of shapes and sizes, a hoodoo is usually a spire of some form of sandstone or softer rock, often capped by a harder rock. The harder rock erodes at a slower rate than the softer rock below. Centuries of mostly water erosion and freeze-thaw cycles erode away the surrounding softer rock layer leaving a spire that's protected by the harder caprock, delaying its erosion.

Photo taken September, 2009. Wahweap hoodoos are located near Page, AZ, in a section of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

The Wahweap hoodoos have become very well known and many make the 4.5 mile hike up the wash from the nearest trailhead to photograph these spectacular towers. While probably a hundred or more hoodoos can be found in the three main coves, the hoodoos pictured here are located in the main cove that sports the tallest of all the hoodoos.
When you look at these unique formations, they present the appearance of being very deliberately made. It’s as though someone precisely shaped each pedestal/column and then selected a caprock and carefully placed it atop the pedestal. So how did they actually come to be? Though they may come in a variety of shapes and sizes, a hoodoo is usually a spire of some form of sandstone or softer rock, often capped by a harder rock. The harder rock erodes at a slower rate than the softer rock below. Centuries of mostly water erosion and freeze-thaw cycles erode away the surrounding softer rock layer leaving a spire that's protected by the harder caprock above, delaying the erosion of the column below.
Photo taken September, 2009. Wahweap hoodoos are located near Page, AZ, in a section of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Let your imagination run wild. What do you see here?

This unusual formation was found in the Cottonwood Cove section of Coyote Buttes. It was only a little over a foot tall and is completely natural - a fantastic demonstration of the forces of erosion. One can't help but wonder how this formation came to be. It's amusing shape reminded us a little bit of an abstract elephant, but like laying on your back with a friend alongside and watching clouds, each may see something different.

Photo taken September, 2009.

In the same Cottonwood Cove area as in the previous photo, which is a part of the southern section of Coyote Buttes, there are any number of fantastic shapes to be found. Hiking far back into the "cove" and then beginning a climb out, we found this formation. For some reason, erosional processes caused this one particular layer of sandstone to erode into this series of scalloped plates, less than an inch thick but protruding out well over a foot. It reminded us a little of the plates on a Stegosaurus.

The old saying, "truth is stranger than fiction," seems to have some application here. Who would imagine something like this?

Photo taken September 2009.

No other place we've been can rival Goblin Valley State Park in Utah for its collection of incredible formations referred to as "hoodoos" and "goblins." The main valley is littered with them and one could spend days trying to photograph all the unusual shapes.

This HDR image captures one such hoodoo with a hint of the Henry mountains in the background, still holding some late spring snow, and a beautiful, blue, Utah sky with wispy clouds.

Image was taken in the early morning, April, 2011.

Still in Goblin Valley State Park in central Utah, we found this collection of "goblins," standing neatly in a row, just like they wanted their picture taken. So we obliged and took this HDR image in the later evening after the sun had set. The high gray clouds added a surreal effect to the stark scene. One could easily spend days photographing these shapes here, many of which border on the bizarre.

Photo taken April, 2011.

One of the most recognizable symbols of Utah's canyon country, Delicate Arch, in Arches National Park, rises from the surrounding sandstone slickrock defying logical explanation.

After a warm winter's day exploring a technical canyon route in the "Fiery Furnace," we headed over to the Delicate Arch trail to see if we could obtain some evening photos. But we didn't want just the standard view that uses the arch to frame out a section of the distant LaSal Mountains. Instead, we explored around and found a position across a ravine on the west side of the arch that would provide a less seen angle. High, dark clouds were obscuring the evening sun, but we knew from experience that just before the sun set, it might break below the cloud deck and briefly illuminate the arch. As you can see, we were not disappointed and the result was this HDR image that gives the golden slickrock an almost liquid appearance, enhanced by the gray cloud background.

Photo taken late January 2015.

The Wahweap hoodoos have become very well known and many make the 4.5 mile hike up the wash from the nearest trailhead to photograph these spectacular towers. While probably a hundred or more hoodoos can be found in the three main coves, the hoodoo pictured here is located in another area outside of but close to Wahweap Wash. That area is called “White Rocks” and is located north of Big Water, a small settlement NW of Page, AZ.

Most of the hoodoos observed throughout this region usually have a single caprock/stone, pitched at an angle that represents the slope angle at the initial stages of erosion leading to the eventual formation of the hoodoo. This particular hoodoo has two caprocks, one precariously perched on top of the other. It felt a little dangerous to approach and stand at the base of this 30 foot-tall hoodoo. The large caprocks above seemed to teeter and left us with a certain apprehension that we might be crushed if something should shake them off the pedestal.

Photo taken February 2014 by Carrie Cooney.