Bryce Canyon is an incredible scenic spectacle. The park is a vast showcase of colorful rock pinnacles and spires, known as “hoodoos,” which rise from a series of natural amphitheaters stretching across the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The view of these hoodoos, which are seemingly every shape and size, is breathtaking for all visitors, no matter if it is their first or 100th time in the park. Many formations bear fanciful names according to what they supposedly look like, including “The Poodle,” “Queen Victoria,” and perhaps the park’s most notable hoodoo, “Thor’s Hammer.” These hoodoos, combined with incredible visibility and surrounding spruce, pine, and fir forests, make for a truly picturesque atmosphere.

Capitol Reef National Park is a hidden treasure filled with cliffs, canyons, domes, and bridges in the Waterpocket Fold, a 65-million-year-old geologic monocline (a wrinkle on the earth) extending almost 100 miles long and six miles wide. To see it from the air is truly astounding!

The sandstone labyrinths with unusual rock shapes and slot canyons offer some of the best hiking and backpacking in the world. The monument is also named for the series of topographic benches and cliffs that, as its name implies, step progressively up in elevation from south to north.

The Waterpocket Fold is the major geologic feature that defines Capitol Reef National Park. It is a buckle in the earth's surface, almost 100 miles long, running north-south from Thousand Lake Mountain down to Lake Powell. Along The Fold, rocks have been pushed upward and erosion has cut through the layers, creating deep narrow canyons and interesting formations.