Marathon Pundit: Four Corners Furtherance: Red Canyon

Within Utah's Dixie National Forest is Red Canyon. This is not to be confused with the 2008 horror movie, Red Canyon, which was indeed filmed in Utah, but in Cainsville and Goblin State Park 75 miles away. Just as with my previous Four Corners Furtherance subject, Cedar Breaks, which offers a preview of Bryce Canyon National Park with its large amphitheatre, Red Canyons has hoodoos.

Hoodoos? They are tall cylindrical geologic structures with a hard rock cap that protects the softer rock below it. And the name? Well, if you think it comes from Charles Nelson Reilly's wicked magician character, Horatio HooDoo, in Lidsville, then you need to get out of the 1970s more often. A Dixie forest ranger told me it was chosen by geologists "because it was exotic, kind of like voodoo." The same can be said about Charles Nelson Reilly, who died in 2007, leaving the world a less festive place.

There is no entrance fee for Red Canyon or Dixie National Forest. Although there is a visitor center near the canyon on Utah State Route 12.

Next: Bryce Canyon

Earlier posts:

Cedar Breaks
Taylor Creek Trail
Kolob Canyons