day 9, part 2, Coyote Buttes

[low_delta]

Coyote Buttes requires permits to get into, since the features are so fragile. 20 people per day. Ten permits given out ahead of time, by lottery, and ten given out by lottery to walk-ins the day before. North Coyote Buttes is where one finds The Wave, an iconic landform that draws people from all over the globe. The day I was there to get a permit, there were nearly 100 people there, hoping to get in. I was going to give it a shot, but by the time I got there, had decided I wouldn't bother trying, and would instead go to South Coyote Buttes. From what I had seen, it was just as spectacular, in its own way. I was one of only two people who got a permit for it that morning, though several more people showed up while I was there.

Here's my post about this day: link.

It started out cloudy, but the sun came out after a while, and went away around the time I was finished there. I think I spent about three hours, maybe less, and saw one pair of people when I was out there, but a few more, and a few more cars in the parking area when I got back.

This landscape has to be seen to be believed. It's just bizarre. Alien. Almost like aliens, in some cases. The layers, the colors, the twisted, folded layers of stone, the layers of stone with layers of color going the opposite direction. Amazing.

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Here's the view of the edge of it, as you're walking toward it.

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With the exception of the ones I desaturated for effect, I tried to keep the colors as natural as possible. Yes, the rock really was bright yellow.

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Alien!

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Someone please explain to me how the layers of color can go in a different direction than the layers of rock.

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Crazy tie dye!
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I kept taking pictures of this area, over and over, trying to get a good shot.

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This makes me think of a cross between a battleship and an ice cream cone.

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A twisted chess piece.

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Check that out. SRSLY, WTF!

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Through this whole trip, I kept saying "wow" to myself, over and over. This day more than usual. The terrain never really got old, but I did kinda get tired of saying "wow." After a while, it was just laughable. When I fix up photos, I open about fifty images, pick out the good ones and fix them up. Then I open another fifty and do it again. After a couple of hours of this, I started getting tired of it. How do you pick out a few representative pictures, when nothing is anything like anything else? I wasn't actually spending much time on most of the images, but it still took me about three and a half hours. I kept thinking, when is this going to end?!

Comments

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

If an artist had designed all that on purpose they couldn't have done any better than what I'm seeing here. I can see why you have so many photos and every one is worth it. Some look like carved figures or sculptures.
No. 6 looks like there's a turkey head coming out of the rock.
:D

[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

I thought #21 kind of looks like a chicken head.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I thought #20 (same rocks as 21) looks like a vulture sitting on top.

[ranunculus.livejournal.com]

#41 is a Wizard´s hat.

Thank You.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

:-)

[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

#51 is a book blown open.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

A chicken with its beak in the air!

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Yup...seen from farther away it looks like a buzzard!

These really ARE cool!
:)

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Sitting on top of the rock to the right!

[kateyleigh.livejournal.com]

Beautiful! In the end, well worth the 'Wows' and the hours. :)

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I think so. :-) Thanks.

[(Anonymous)]

I have always loved "painted desert" sandstone / metamorphic / conglomerate / sedimentary rocks. It is fascinating to see the bent/twisted contours in the sandstone itself. Much of the bending looks similar to seismic/pressure-related bending in quartz / granite rocks around the Sierras near home.

I would submit this theory: as the rocks formed under pressure, seismic activity was partially responsible for the deformations. When those seismic events occurred, fissures may have opened in the rocks - perhaps under stream beds, or aquifers - allowing mineral-laden water to intrude. The intrusions eventually filled-in with new/additional minerals, discoloring the sandstones along-side the fissures. As it is more recent than the sandstone itself, and was somewhat filtered by the sandstone as it intruded, the mineral penetration / intrusion was "held in check", creating the bands of color at odd angles to the natural layering from sedimentation.

Either that or the earth is a giant easter-egg, and that was where the wax allowed the dyer to create a tie-die effect... :-)

[marswalker.livejournal.com]

Woops - that last anon comment was me...

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I believe these formations were originally dunes. I'm not certain, but it seems likely, given that they're all sandstone, and also that dunes are a common cause of cross-bedding. A dune is created with the angled layering, and as it's worn away, new layers are formed up against the old layers.

That's a pretty good hypothesis about minerals leaching through the sandstone. I'm gonna go with that.