Little Fin-land Gargoyle

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.