Researching the word “hoodoo” online, the only posts appearing typically have to do with spirituality. What’s that about??
It is all confusing, with various definitions and “rules” dependent on a person’s heritage, life journey, and level of involvement in the spiritual practices of hoodoo. To learn more, check this out. Searching on your own, you’ll find many more perspectives of the practice today.
It all started with enslaved Africans in the USA from 1776-1861. Enslaved people facing unimaginable suffering were unwilling to have their mental or spiritual identity eradicated. They created hoodoo, and kept it secret from their slaveholders, to continue their spiritual beliefs, traditions, and practices. It evolved over time incorporating indigenous botanical knowledge and some features of other cultures and religions.
However, we are interested in hoodoos as defined in geology. No concrete connection seems to exist between spiritual and geologic hoodoo. I found this written by the National Park Service regarding Bryce Canyon which offers a possibility. They tied the name to the Southern Paiute native tribes’ word for “scary” or “spirit” pronounced “oo’doo”. On the African-American spiritual side, hoodoo means to bewitch, and that may be true of the beauty in Bryce. Who is right? No idea and let’s focus on the geology of hoodoos.
So, what is a hoodoo anyway? They are rock formations, typically spires, of relatively soft sandstone rock capped with harder to erode rock. Their size and shape can greatly vary. We may see them as balanced rocks atop a spire, toadstools, or even large mounds as below. Hoodoos range in height from about 5 feet to 150 feet.
In April 2017 I visited Bryce but never wrote a blog. Between the snow, the crowds, and doing my knee in hiking Zion, it was a very short yet gorgeous visit. The Visitor Center at Bryce, just inside the only entrance gate, sits at 7,894 feet. The trails I wanted to explore were at Rainbow Point, at the end of the gorgeous 17-mile drive from the Visitor Center and just over 9,100 feet. With two to three feet of snow everywhere, safety required closing the trails and my knee could not take the other demanding trails. It was time for an alternative. Happily I found another amazing Utah state park. Kodachrome Basin State Park has hoodoos and arches galore.
Above is a toadstool hoodoo just over five feet high in Garden of the Gods near my home. This rock is different from much found in Utah, but the process that created this hoodoo is the same. A harder layer of rock (often white sandstone) atop a softer rock layer which erodes more rapidly from rain, ice, and wind. Check out this well-written explanation of hoodoo formation by the Bryce Park Staff.
So there you have it! We have gorgeous, awe-inspiring hoodoos that never disappoint.
Until next time my friend. Oh, and watch for falling rocks, the signs are everywhere!
Incredible photographs, such dramatic landscapes enhanced by wind, weather and time. Thanks also for acknowledging indigenous roots of hoodoo. We aren’t as connected to the land as the First Peoples were, but you inspire us to get out and get connected!
Thanks so much my friend.