Hoodoo

Today’s new word –  Hoodoo.  No, not voodoo (you are thinking about Halloween), but hoodoo.  A hoodoo is a tall thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland.  Essentially, it is a tall column of hard rock where the softer rock has eroded away, leaving these dramatic rock columns, see below picture.   Yesterday we hiked the Lighthouse Trail in Palo Duro Canyon to reach a very dramatic hoodoo, known as the Lighthouse.

I certainly feel like we did more than the disclosed 2.72 miles to get to it, especially since the trail ends at the base of the Lighthouse where you cannot even see it.  So you have to climb an additional at least half mile to get to the above view of the actual Lighthouse and its companion.  I also will brag that I continue to climb and got up to the ridge for a very windy but amazing view of the canyon.  Note to self – the path that looks easier at the bottom is not always the best route to choose.   Really a life lesson, right?!  When we got to the end of the trail, we chose a path that had smaller rocks at the bottom but which grew in difficulty around the turn.  On the way down, we took the “harder” path which would ended up being a few hard steps up large rocks at the beginning, but a smooth sandy path to the top.