I took a side trip to Kodachrome Basin State Park this afternoon. What a cool place.
The park is famous for it’s columns of cemented sandstone that stretch in come cases hundreds of feet into the air. Geologists believe that they were once hot springs like those in Yellowstone and that they cooled off and filled with sediment. Then the earth around them eroded, leaving them standing there. They call them ‘sand pipes’ and the park has over sixty of them.
Besides the sand pipes there are other red formations that jut from the desert floor. The combination makes for some very interesting forms.
There are some great hiking trails in the park. I took time for the Sentinel and Shakespeare Arch trail. The trail was refreshingly primitive, not the kind of heavily manicured ones you see in the national parks. There were a couple of places where you had to watch your step and you also had to pay attention or you might have gotten lost. Like I said, it was very refreshing. You had a feeling of being closer to the countryside.
They have a super nice campground. It’s extremely well cared for and situated among some juniper trees with a few cotton woods thrown in for good measure. It’s very pleasant. And I’m told they have hot showers – and they’re free.
As for photography, the basin faces south with high walls to the east and west. So it’s neither a good sunrise or sunset location. But in the fall the sun was low enough in the early afternoon to cast some interesting and satisfying shadows on the rocks.
The road to the park leads south out of Cannonville (about 20 miles east of Bryce Canyon on Utah 12).
Actually, Cannonville isn’t quite as remote as this picture makes it look. It actually has buildings besides that shack out there in the meadow.
There are a number of places along the road that remind me why I like Utah so much.
And this one’s for my kid.
The whole experience was very satisfying and I’ll definitely return. I’d love to camp there and explore all the trails. And I’d recommend it to anyone who was in the area.
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