What Are The Wahweap Hoodoos And Where Are They?
The Wahweap Hoodoos are located in southern Utah not too far from the northern Arizona border. They are pretty spectacular and pretty large hoodoos. The erosion patterns and the naturally eroded textures in the area are really cool and really spectacular.
They are located near the town of Big Water, Utah. The trailhead parking and the trail itself departs from near the town of Big Water. This is a hike you want to do when it is relatively dry and and has not rained for a while. The hike is mostly flat and a little over 10 miles round trip. There is little shade along the trail. It is easy to hike down the wrong canyon when hiking to the Wahweap Hoodoos. It’s harder to get hopelessly lost unless you keep walking way too far down the wrong canyon.
What Is It Like To Travel To The Wahweap Hoodoos?
Chances if you are planing to hike to the Wahweap Hoodoos you’ve done more research than most people. It’s not often that you see the Wahweap Hoodoos mentioned on social media. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them posted on Instagram. When people come to this area of the country they’ve got other places on their minds. Horseshoe Bend, The Wave, Bryce Canyon, Vermilion Cliffs, Buckskin Gulch, Antelope Canyon and maybe the Toadstool Hoodoos tend to grab all the attention. The Wahweap Hoodoos might be considered a nice hidden gem. When I hiked out to see them I was the only person out there.
If you want to hike to the Wahweap Hoodoos you’ll need to get out to this area of the country. The most popular way to get out there aside from a road trip would likely be to fly into the Las Vegas Airport. The St. George Utah airport is a bit closer and the Page, Arizona municipal airport is the closest airport to the Wahweap Hoodoos trail. From any of those airports you’ll wan to get a rental car. If you’ll be going to The Wave or driving other unpaved back roads in the area you may want to consider getting an SUV with AWD or 4WD. When dry and well maintained most roads are passable with a simple passenger car but under less than ideal conditions, something with higher clearance and AWD or 4WD may be desirable.
If you wan to to stay right where you will hike or close to it, you’ll want to stay in the small “town” of Big Water, Utah when you hike to the Wahweap Hoodoos. Choice Hotels has one hotel there. There isn’t much else there except what is usually the cheapest gas station around. If you want to stay in a larger town, you’ll want to stay in Page, Arizona or Kanab, Utah. Both have lots of hotels. There is a hostel in Kanab if you prefer cheaper shared lodging. Numerous campgrounds are located around and between the two towns as well.
When you hike the Wahweap Hoodoos Trail you’ll want to prepare for a hot dry hike with little to no shade. You’ll want to take as much water as you can and possibly a water filter like a Lifestraw Peak Series Collapsible Water Bottle if it is likely there were will any water along the trail to filter. A local BLM office may be able to provide info on the likelihood of water along the trail. Plan for a ten mile hike if you don’t take a wrong turn or walk down the wrong canyon.
What Does It Take To Get A Wall Art Quality Photo Of The Wahweap Hoodoos?
Like a lot of other incredible sights and rock formations in this area of the country, the formations are so cool, unique and even bizarre that it doesn’t take much to get wall art quality photos of them. The biggest thing you need to do to get wall art quality photos of the Wahweap Hoodoos is to find your way there safely and photograph them.
Once you are there, it’s up to you to get creative, pick out formations and textures that stand out and frame them up to create the most interesting photos possible. Sunrise or sunset may provide some cool color in the skies to jazz up photos of the Wahweap Hoodoos. I’ve only ever seen one photo with bright skies. It seems like the 5 mile remote hike to get there may discourage people from going out there before sunrise or staying till sunset. It is a pretty remote a desolate area. Camping out one night to catch sunset and sunrise might be an option to avoid hiking in or out in complete darkness.
What Is The Best Gear For Photographing The Wahweap Hoodoos?
When photographing the Wahweap Hoodoos, a good DSLR or mirrorless camera should do the trick. If you’re limited to one lens, a 24mm to 105mm zoom lens would be the best all around pick. Something in that range would enable you to get relatively closeup and distant shots of the hoodoos there. If you want to add another lens, I’d go with something even wider like a 17mm to 40mm zoom. I don’t think there is much use for anything longer than 100mm.
There is enough room in some spots and the landscape wide enough to make use of a panoramic camera or setup. If you have a lightweight panoramic setup you might want to bring it. When you factor in water for a 10-mile desert hike along with food and any other non camera gear, adding in a panoramic setup might be a bit much. This is especially true if this hike is planned for the dead of summer or any day when the temps might top out at 90 or more under sunny skies.
A tripod can help line up shots precisely as you would like to capture a scene. A circular polarizer is a nice lightweight addition that may help create a deeper blue color in the skies and create richer colors in the landscape.
What Is The Story Behind This Wahweap Hoodoo Wall Art Photo?
Back in 2012, I embarked on my second full year of national park road tripping. Back in 2011 I got the initial taste of the wonders of southern Utah. I got lucky to discover The Wave and actually get permits for it and knew for sure that I wanted to return to this area of the country. In 2012 I went back and got another permit for The Wave. I planned to spend a fair amount of time in the area because it could take a lot of in person lottery tries to actually get a permit for The Wave. When looking through various local publications I saw photos of the Wahweap Hoodoos and decided I had to go see them.
My lodging budget at the time was essentially zero. Most nights were spent sleeping in random places in the Subaru Outback with the drivers seat leaned back as far as it would go. There was too much gear in the back of the car to actually lay down and sleep back there. At that time, this wasn’t the hotbed of tourism that it is today. Finding a place to pull over and sleep (for free) wasn’t too hard so long as you were outside the boundaries of any official National Park land. The Lone Rock campground was a cheap backup inside Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The Wal-Mart parking lot in Page, Arizona was my go to spot if I was going to be exploring sights close to Page.
It was July of 2012 the first time I hiked out to the Wahweap Hoodoos. I stopped at one of the Glen Canyon visitor centers to get directions and ask about the hike. Where was the trailhead? What did it take to get there? Was the Subaru Outback sufficient to drive to the trailhead? What were the road like?
It sounded like the drive to the trailhead would be manageable. It seemed like it would be a better road than House Rock Valley road, the one that goes down to The Wave. I’d have to drive to the little town of Big Water and take some unpaved roads to get there. There was a wash I’d have to cross that may have water in it. The wash did have some water running through it. Should I drive through it or not? I got out and poked around in the water int eh wash to see if it seemed like it was solid enough to prevent the car from sinking into it. It seemed solid. I proceeded to quickly drive through it and was able to park a bit closer to the trailhead.
Of course it was ridiculously hot in July. This meant I’d have to take A LOT of water. The Wahweap Hoodoos trail is about 10 miles round trip. It’s mostly flat but offers little if any shade. I set out with camera gear, some snacks, about 6 liters of water on my back a flashlight and a LifeStraw in case there was any water back there and a need to filter it to drink. The forecast was for partly cloudy skies and little to no chance of rain. I didn’t bother to take any rain gear.
The hike to the Wahweap Hoodoos would be considered a back country hike in my opinion. There was little to nothing to mark the way. The info I had noted a few landmarks and splits in the trail. There were some old fence type things along the way I had to go around or under.
While walking along the wash area there was a split in the trail. As best I could tell I was supposed to stay to the left and I did. After about 2.5 hours of hiking I figured the Wahweap Hoodoos should be coming into view. I was on the lookout mainly for the formation in the photo highlighted in this article or others I’d seen in the brochures. I did come across some hoodoos but hey were small and didn’t look anything like the one in this photo. They didn’t have the smoothly eroded contour lines around them. Did I walk by them? Was I on the right trail? Why wasn’t I there after close of three hours of hiking?
I didn’t have a GPS and I didn’t have a topo map. I had brochures, directions from the park service folks and map from them. As that point, none of that helped me find the hoodoos I was looking for. Back in 2011 I was hiking at Natural Bridges National Monument. I took a wrong turn there and wandered 5 or so miles down White Canyon. Darkness fell, I had no water, little food, no pants and was very ill prepared to spend the night back there as the desert temperatures dropped into the 40’s at night. I remained calm and obviously did make it back out. It was the one time I thought there was a very good chance I’d die.
Ever since that experience I’ve been much more cautious when hiking in the desert or any wilderness area that is new to me and not well marked. When looking for the Wahweap Hoodoos, I did continue on another mile or so. By around 3pm I still hasn’t found what I was looking for and decided to turn back. If things went relatively smoothly and I didn’t get lost there was still enough water in tow to make it back with some to spare.
Disappointed and a little frustrated that I’d hiked all that was in the desert heat, I started the walk of shame back to the car. Unlike What Canyon that had a bunch of canyon splits to choose from on the way back out, this area didn’t present those problems. I could just walk and retrace my steps. In some areas the ground was soft enough that I could use my footprints from the way in as a guide to get back out. Fortunately this misguided adventure was frustrating but not particularly dangerous or scary.
When I got back closer to the car, I did run into a few people who had been out on the Wahweap Hoodoo hike. They’d actually found the Wahweap Hoodoos! We compared notes as to what we had seen ad where we’d hiked. It became apparent that I’d simply taken the wrong split not too far into the hike and been walking up the wrong wash. It didn’t take away the disappointment of not finding the Wahweap Hoodoos but at least I had a pretty good idea of where I’d gone wrong.
We hung out, chatted for a while and then went out separate ways. While I didn’t make it to the Wahweap Hoodoos, I now had the lay of the land, knew what it took to drive out to he trailhead and was mentally preparing for another hike out thee to photograph the Wahweap Hoodoos.
Sweaty, stinky and tired, I hopped in the car and headed over to the Wahweap RV Campground at Lake Powell. This was my go to place to access the Internet, use the coin op showers, make some ramen noodles with an electric kettle using the power outlets in the laundromat and plug in the laptop to edit and upload photos. After a few hours hanging out in the laundromat there for said purposes and taking a shower, it was back to the Page, Arizona Wal-Mart parking lot to drift off for the night.
The next day I took it easy and went to a variety of sights that required little exertion. Horseshoe Bend was the sunset stop, the Toadstool Hoodoos were an easy and familiar hike and photo stop during the day and I spent some time around Lake Powell just taking the in the sights and relaxing around the lake. After Horseshoe Bend for sunset and a stop at the Taco Bell for some “real” food, I headed back to the Wal-Mart parking lot to get some sleep and get ready for a return to the Wahweap Hoodoos.
Despite the warm night and the bright sun piercing the windows of the car early the next morning, I slept in a bit late. The 10 mile hike two days prior with a ton of water and photo gear in tow left me a little tired and sore. I wandered aimlessly around Wal-Mart looking for something appealing to eat and finally headed back to the Wahweap Hoodoo trailhead.
It was another scorcher of a day with bright July sun. Just like last time I loaded up on water, packed some snacks, took a flashlight, grabbed the camera gear and headed off up the wash. When I came to the hanging fence thing I made sure to take the split to the right up the wash to the Wahweap Hoodoos. They didn’t exactly jump out at me. There were a few different areas with hoodoos up there but I did eventually find the “queen” as I called it, the one in this photo.
Most hoodoos look pretty similar, They are different colors and they form in different concentrations. You’ll find huge amphitheaters of hoodoos at places like Bryce Canyon National Park and isolated hoodoos all over the place. What you don’t usually find is the smooth ghost like patterns or erosion around the hoodoos like you do at the Wahweap Hoodoos.
Once I found the hoodoo I was looking for it was a time to slow down, find a little bit of shade to sit down and cool off and then frame up as many cool photos as possible. The smooth looking textured surface around the Wahweap Hoodoos is surprisingly strong. It was possible do climb around the area while leaving minimal if any trace that I’d walked around up in the bed of hoodoos. Like The Wave or anywhere else, a substantial increase in the number of people doing so would degrade the area. This spot seemed to get such light foot traffic that a few hikers wandering around in between the formations would not harm anything.
In this general area, there are lots of other hoodoos. Some were up on cliffs and ledges that one could hike up to while others maintained more precarious perches and could only be seen from a distance without a fair amount of effort to get up close to them. After about 3 hours in the hoodoo areas, I’d gotten quite a few photos, had a chance to let the feet and the rest of the body rest and was ready to hike back to the car.
The hike back to the car was leisurely and uneventful. The route was easy to follow and I had plenty of time to wander around, take some photos of anything interesting along the way back and get there with plenty of daylight left to light the way. Once back at the car, I was exhausted. I chowed down on some pop tarts, drank some more water, put everything back in the car, sat down to rest and then woke up the next morning with the sun beating down through the windshield. I’d passed out and slept through the night. That wasn’t the plan but sometimes it happens and out in the wilderness it doesn’t much matter if it does.
In What Formats Is The Wahweap Hoodoos Wall Art Print Available?
This print is available in sizes up to 40×60 inches on paper, canvas, metal, acrylic and wood. It comes in matte and glossy finishes. If it will be hung in an area with diffused lighting then any of the mentioned print types will look great. Anything shiny or reflective like metal or acrylic will look really bright. Anything matte will be a bit more subdued. If you’ll be hanging it in an area with bright direct natural or artificial light, a matte finish will probably look better as it will not show much glare or reflect the surrounding environment.
It come on high quality shower curtains that can be paired with bath towels for a complete bathroom look and also comes on Sherpa fleece blankets that can bring a nice look, comfort and warmth to any room or campsite.
If you need a bag for grocery or other shopping now that many stores are doing away with the disposable plastic bags, this image comes on a variety of hefty canvas tote bags. They make great shopping bags that will last for years and can even be used as beach bags. You can show of this image on a cel phone case or even order it on a variety of apparel items if you’d like to wear it.
The pandemic made jigsaw puzzles a big hit. If you’re not hooked on jigsaw puzzles, this image can be ordered on a 500 or 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle that will probably keep you busy for at least a couple hours depending on how good you are at jigsaw puzzles.
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