Fluvial Delusion
Utah
2005
Utah
2005
BW66007009
The slot canyons of the American Southwest are some of the most fascinating features of the high-desert landscape. Hidden from sight,
these unique streamways carve narrow and graceful sinuous incisions into rock formations such as the Cedar Mesa Sandstone and the
distinctively red Navajo Sandstone. At times these canyons are more than 100 feet deep, while being too narrow to even enter! I've traveled in
areas for years without knowing of some of these rugged passages existing just a mile or two away.
On hot summer days slot canyons are wonderful places to escape to, places to avoid the harsh heat of the day. But when the summer
monsoons come, these places of shelter can become places of extreme danger. Flash floods pour millions of gallons of water through these
narrow canyons, quickly flooding them and threatening any visitor who is not close to an escape route - refuge on a high bench or a pathway
out of the canyon. Remnants of these floods, in the form of large woody debris lodged tens of feet from the canyon floors, are reminders of
how deep and how fast moving these floods can be.
This photo was taken in a upper reach of Fortknocker Canyon. It is a composition of perspective, featuring a shallow but narrow stretch of slot
canyon falling away into the distance. Wonderful lines of dipping bedding planes set into the sandstone formation pull the eyes along canyon
walls and floor off into depths of the photograph.
these unique streamways carve narrow and graceful sinuous incisions into rock formations such as the Cedar Mesa Sandstone and the
distinctively red Navajo Sandstone. At times these canyons are more than 100 feet deep, while being too narrow to even enter! I've traveled in
areas for years without knowing of some of these rugged passages existing just a mile or two away.
On hot summer days slot canyons are wonderful places to escape to, places to avoid the harsh heat of the day. But when the summer
monsoons come, these places of shelter can become places of extreme danger. Flash floods pour millions of gallons of water through these
narrow canyons, quickly flooding them and threatening any visitor who is not close to an escape route - refuge on a high bench or a pathway
out of the canyon. Remnants of these floods, in the form of large woody debris lodged tens of feet from the canyon floors, are reminders of
how deep and how fast moving these floods can be.
This photo was taken in a upper reach of Fortknocker Canyon. It is a composition of perspective, featuring a shallow but narrow stretch of slot
canyon falling away into the distance. Wonderful lines of dipping bedding planes set into the sandstone formation pull the eyes along canyon
walls and floor off into depths of the photograph.
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