Big Desert Moon

by Mitch Shindelbower

Title

Big Desert Moon

Artist

Mitch Shindelbower

Medium

Photograph

Description

Ponderosa pines surround the red sandstone hoodoos populating Red Canyon in abundance. At 7,400 feet elevation, this miniature Bryce Canyon is a prime area for cross country skiing, sledding, horseback riding, ATV off-road adventures, mountain biking, and cool summer hikes. Part of the Dixie National Forest, Red Canyon winds along nearly four miles of Scenic Byway 12 and is located just twelve miles outside of Bryce Canyon National Park.

The landscape’s famous hoodoos (also called tent rocks, fairy chimneys, and earth pyramids – or as the French call them, “ladies with hairdos”) can be explored by many different trails throughout the canyon’s winding, desert roads. Sculpted from Claron limestone from ages of water and wind erosion, the abundance of hoodoos in Southern Utah are a popular attraction for tourists around the world.

The five mile, paved bike trail that runs through Red Canyon takes visitors on a scenic route through ponderosa pine forests to the great Paunsagunt Plateau, with access to the Grand View Trail, and the famous Thunder Mountain Trail.
Red Canyon is certainly not as famous as the area’s Wild West legends, like Butch Cassidy, but his infamous crimes are well known throughout the area, and his childhood home was a cabin nearby, in Circleville. Western lore tells of a time when old Butch got into a scuffle at a town dance in Panguitch over a girl. Believing he killed the man from a hard blow, Cassidy fled to the craggy sweep of desert, today known as Red Canyon. The man he hit lived, but a dangerous gang of handlers were dispatched to find him. Butch managed to elude the posse by hiding out along the rugged road that is now famously known as the Cassidy Trail. The story has left Red Canyon with a shadow of the infamous western outlaw, and the area’s locals aren’t quick to forget it.

Uploaded

July 7th, 2021

Colors

Embed

Share

Tags