Bryce Canyon National Park

Pop Quiz: What does a person go to Bryce Canyon National Park to see?

Answer: Hoodoos!

A hoodoo is a rock formation where the edge of a canyon gets worn down to a fin (which is a slab of rock sticking out from the canyon wall) and then the fin gets cut off, leaving a freestanding piece of rock behind.

Additionally, since these rock formations are comprised of layers of different types of rock, sometimes lower layers erode faster than upper layers, leaving what can look like a thin column holding up a boulder.

It's hard to tell from this distance, but there are a whole bunch of hoodoos in there

As with many of the parks, cities, and other random landmarks in Utah, Bryce Canyon National Park is named for an early Mormon settler. In this case it was Ebenezer Bryce, who was one of the first white people to settle in and around the canyon. Also as with many of the parks, cities, and other random landmarks in Utah, Bryce Canyon had a Native American name long before it was taken away from them and renamed by white people.

Why anyone would try to settle here is a mystery to me. As beautiful as the landscape is, it's equally harsh and desolate. It's not good for much of anything. Early settlers had a little success grazing livestock, but that's about it. And most of them eventually gave up and moved on to greener pastures, literally.

One neat byproduct of hoodoo formations is the slot canyons between them. A slot canyon is just a canyon in which the walls are close together. You can see Asher standing in one above.

Bonus fact: If drowning is your thing, slots canyons are a great way to do it if a storm pops up. These things can fill with rushing water very quickly – there are signs everywhere warning people of this fact – and if they fill when you are in them, there is no way out. You get to the highest ground that you can and pray it is high enough. And because they may fill due to a storm miles away, a blue sky overhead doesn't mean you are safe. The parks with slot canyons post the day's forecast, and they want everyone who will be hiking in the canyons to check it.

Fortunately, there was no chance of rain during our visit, so we did one really neat hike down into the hoodoos and slot canyons. This has been one of the kids' favorite hikes at any park so far, and they are not shy about complaining or letting us know which hikes they hate, so that's saying something given their apparently very high standards!