Discover the geology of hoodoos at Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park sits at the highest elevation of Utah’s Mighty Five National Parks. The cooler temperatures at that elevation make for a more enjoyable summer visit and incredible snowy views during the winter. They are also responsible for the amazing rock formations, called hoodoos, that the park is known for.

The name is derived from a spiritual tradition called Hoodoo, in which certain natural forms are said to possess certain powers. Before Western explorers found the canyon, though, the geographical formations were the origin of many legends from Southern Paiute Native Americans who lived in the area. They told stories about ancient “Legend People” turned into stone by the trickster god Coyote as a punishment for bad deeds.

Learn more about the geology of Bryce Canyon and how the iconic rock spires, called hoodoos are formed.

Setting the Stage

50 million years ago, the foundation of Bryce Canyon was laid. Over time, layers of dust and particles cemented together to form layers of limestone, dolostone, mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.

Fast forward a few million years, and the North American tectonic plates and the Farallon plate come together in a head on collision. The North American Plate was pushed upward. In the last several million years, the North American Plate continued to rise and create the area known as the Colorado Plateau.

Bryce Canyon is in a “goldilocks zone” in terms of elevation. At a maximum of 9,115 ft above sea level, Bryce Canyon reaches both above and below freezing temperatures in the same night more than half of the days of the year. This is crucial to creating the Hoodoos.

Sculpting the Hoodoos

As temperatures rise and fall, rain and ice work together to weather and erode the rock. Weathering is breaking down the rock and erosion is transporting that broken rock away.

Remember the goldilocks zone, where temperatures are both above and below freezing in one night? That pattern is essential. On a night like that, rain water or melted snow seeps into cracks in the rocks. Then, hours later, when freezing temperatures arrive in the canyon, the water in the rocks will freeze. This causes the water to expand and put pressure on the surrounding rock to break apart.

From the original plateau, water and ice will begin wedging down and creating walls, thin sections of rock. Eventually, windows will form in the walls. Then, the supporting upper section of a window will collapse, creating an individual spire of rock, which we call a hoodoo.

The unique patterns of hoodoos come from different layers of rock that comprise the plateau. Each layer has a different chemical composition and responds more or less to the process of weathering and erosion.

Geological Time is Happening Now

As weathering and erosion continues, Bryce Canyon continues its cycle of formation and collapse. It’s not uncommon for features in the park to experience sudden changes as the rock splits apart.

Thousands of pounds of rock split from the canyon wall in the iconic Wall Street formation in December 2023.

In November 2016, one of the most iconic hoodoos, called The Sentinel, collapsed near Navajo Loop in the east part of the park.