4/3/12 – Toadstools Trail

We drove to a BLM Visitor Center at Big Water, UT, in Grand Staircase-Escalante Natl Monument.  (Yeah, I'd never heard of it either!  It's even more confusing when they abbreviate it to GSENM.)  You can't tell from this picture but the building is shaped like an ammonite fossil.  Lots of dinosaur fossils have been found nearby.  I suppose it easier to build something that looks like a spiral shell than a T-Rex.

The Toadstools Trail heads out through a sandy wash along the Paria (rhymes with Maria) Rimrocks to the Toadstools and Hoodoos.

Toadstools look like big rock formations with another rock balanced on top. They're formed when the different layers of rock erode at different times because the bottom later is softer rock. They come in red and white, most with black caps on top, which make them look like giant mushrooms. Since they’re non-edible, they call them toadstools. Hoodoos don't have capstones.  

 There's a bit through the badlands that's kind of interesting. 

Then you see the hoodoo garden up on the hill. 

You have to hunt to find the second trail past the red toadstools to the white ones.  It's a bit of a scramble but well worth the hike.

 Link to lots more pictures of toadstools:  Toadstool Trail