Kodachrome Basin State Park, Utah
A myriad of tourists visit Zion and Grand Canyon National Parks each year. Many add in the time to visit out-of-the-way Bryce Canyon NP. A small percentage of them continue past Bryce to discover the delights of SB 12 on the way to Capitol Reef. But very few ever take the 9 mile one-way road that ends at Kodachrome Basin State Park. That is just fine with the Idiots! When it is impossible to reserve campsites 6 months in advance in the big national parks, the Idiots can usually find days available at the lovely campground at Kodachrome.
A few years back the Idiots spent a solid week in Kodachrome, never moving The Beast, just walking and reading and enjoying the down time. This trip they were able to schedule 3 nights and two “down days.”
The Idiots are experienced with mountain weather, so they should have known what it meant when shortly after getting set up in their campsite a storm moved in with heavy rain and high winds, rocking them to sleep... then waking during the night to silence. That hush on the landscape always means just one thing...
Snow! The Idiots woke to a magical landscape... Utah slickrock and canyon cedars covered in several inches of snow. The snow continued until about 10 AM... the pictures were taken when the sun emerged about 11... and the snow was all gone by noon.
Leave it to scientists to take some of the romance out of the silence of snow. Various substances are assigned values from 0 to 1 based on how well they absorb sound. The porous structure of snow, with its six-sided flat crystals with lots of air spaces, gives it excellent sound absorption qualities with values ranging from .5 to .9.
But there is also the poetry...
“Cold and silence. Nothing quieter than snow. The sky screams to deliver it, a hundred banshees flying on the edge of the blizzard. But once the snow covers the ground, it hushes as still as my heart.”
Laurie Halse Anderson
A couple hours later, unpacking the bike rack, Idiot He found a thin sheet of ice that resembled antique glass.
Kodachrome Basin State Park has all the typical features of canyon country... eroded buttes, banded sandstone, towering cliffs, and hoodoos... rocks in every shade of color from white through yellow and red to rich browns. But there is one geologic phenomenon that makes Kodachrome stand out – over 60 chimneys.
Most of the towers and hoodoos in Canyon Country are formed by erosion. A “cap” of harder rock protects a segment while the softer rock erodes below it, sometimes resulting in complex, fascinating shapes.
Chimneys are much rarer. Over eons, mineral rich slurry was forced up through cracks in the overlaying sandstone and as the fluid solidified, the resulting rock was harder than the surrounding stone. As the sandstone erodes, these chimneys are left towering above their surroundings. The tallest is over 170 feet tall! Each chimney has its own unique character. Visitors can explore many of these features within short walks from the campground.
Ah... blessed “down time”! No phone reception or internet... no miles to cover... no tasks to accomplish. Sit and think - or just sit. Read – or not. Walk and take pictures – or not. Play some games at the picnic table... eat some chocolate and peanuts and a Stroopwafel and the last Idaho Spud Bar from The World's Largest Candy Store on day one... “livin' large” in Canyon Country!
