Blown away by the rock wall of dinos, we headed back into Utah to see a place that Shiz marked on the map a long time ago, Fantasy Canyon. Neither of us could really remember much about the place, save that when Shiz was doing research she eagerly grabbed a pen and marked this place. That’s always a good sign, so we figured it was worth a visit.
It most certainly was.
The canyon is pretty easy to find, but the road out there is rough and bumpy. BLM operates Fantasy Canyon and you are more than welcome to park in the parking lot (well, no signs say no to, at least), so that’s what we did. It gave us the afternoon and the next morning to explore, and though the canyon is actually pretty small, the time required to soak it all in helped tremendously.
Because it’s a magical place.
The title for this post, Nature’s China Shop, refers to this canyon’s nickname, a nod to how fragile these formations are. Surprisingly, there’s no obviously marked path – more of a suggestion of one – which to me seems to invite people to climb all over the hoodoos and break them. As someone visiting and wanting to see all of it, the temptation is strong, as is the desire to rationalize that one step that will get you to a better vantage point.
All in all, though every visitor that we saw treated the place with respect and did what everyone wants to do here, gawk at neat rocks.
Since we stayed the night, it gave Shiz the chance to take star pictures with the rocks, which were made all the more eerie by the light of oil rigs surrounding the area.
