Little Wild Horse Slot Canyon

We haven't ever hiked a slot canyon before, but I've always wanted to! Little Wild Horse is near Goblin Valley, and everything I read said it was a good place for families and little kids, so we were excited to try it out. I thought, based on its designation as an "easy" or "beginner" slot canyon that it probably wouldn't be as cool as some of the "advanced" canyons (the kinds you have to rappel into or whatever)—but I thought it was great! Beautiful narrow slots, and gorgeous light streaming down from above, and interesting sand dune lines and ripple marks on the rocks. I can hardly imagine how there could be a more beautiful place! Here's some information about how slot canyons are formed. We read that there are more of them in Utah than in any other place on earth!

It was really hot the day we went, and the slot sections were SO nice—you could even feel the cooler air coming off the rock walls before you walked in. There were some really narrow squeezes, but nothing TOO difficult, and even Goldie (who is three) managed it all okay, with a couple boosts here and there when we had to climb over big rocks. I was walking with her most of the time, and there were a few places when squeezing myself, and the camera around my neck, AND Goldie, through the  rocky passages was a bit tricky. But we just took it slow and we were fine.

I would LOVE to hike this again on a cool fall day. It's on our list of places to revisit for sure!

The hike starts out in this wide sandy wash. This was the hottest part! It was a relief to get into the (relatively) shady canyon area.

We carried our lunch up just past the wide part, then ate and left our cooler there to pick up on the way down. There were just a few of these large overhanging rocks to provide shade.

The children were constantly climbing up rocks and into little holes. They were so pleased with themselves! I always tell them they are free to climb around and explore as long as they are in front of me and not behind! So they're constantly racing ahead to give themselves time. It keeps everyone going. And I'm usually coming last with the baby or the smallest ones, so it's not too hard to stay ahead of me! :)

At one point I was walking through a section of canyon and I thought I heard someone giggle, but no one else heard it so I thought I was imagining things. A few minutes later I caught up to Sam and said "Where's Goldie?" She was gone! We went back and found her coming up the trail alone, laughing to herself and saying "I was hiding." Eeek! We had to make a new rule that everyone has to come out and reveal themselves when I come by!

I love the graceful, scalloped shapes these walls make. Can you spy Daisy?

Here's one of the narrowest sections. Tiny Goldie just walked on through, but most of us couldn't even get our feet to fit on that tiny floor! We had to walk along on the walls.

Sam, doing the bulk of the work holding that heavy, heavy Theodore.

I loved the view looking up too!

Smooth waves and scoops.

I love how rich the colors are as you go in and out of light and darkness, too. Those reds and oranges in the rocks glow like fire!

Tiny girl and big rocky walls

Goldie found this dead lizard. Poor little guy.

Such a cool rock "doorway"

These sweeping upward fins are so amazing! See little running Junie for scale.

Hot. We sought out any little shade we could find.

More fins and holes, and Marigold. This Goldie was really the best little hiker. Cheerful, talkative, brave. I loved being with her.

Something about that little tiny speck of light you can see through the winding slot section really made me love this part. I think it just makes it feel like a secret little tunnel.

Here's one of those ripple-marked rocks I was talking about in this post. You can tell from these rocks that this area was an ancient beach. It is so strange to stand in this hot, dry place and imagine a sea lapping onto sand right here millions of years ago!

These smooth, sheer walls are amazing!

Teddy finally fell asleep for a short time, which was a great relief to everyone. He looks so sweet, doesn't he? Certainly not like someone who would SCREAM a bloodcurdling scream of frustration and anger every few moments while awake! Never.

More creamy, wavy scallops.

Such great colors!

Arches, Hoodoos, and other strange rock formations

Before we went to Goblin Valley, we talked about some of the unique geologic features in Southern Utah. It's fascinating how the right conditions came together to produce these amazing formations! You can read more about how arches are formed here, about the Bryce Canyon hoodoos here and here, about the San Rafael Swell here, about slot canyons here, and about Goblin Valley here. And those are only a few of the interesting places nearby!

Then, we made a "sand clay" similar to this one (I didn't use alum in mine) and the children formed their own rock features. They loved doing this.

Erosion, Mountains, Rivers, Canyons

It's hard when posting about this subject, as it was when teaching it, to sort things into discrete subjects. Erosion and weathering are inextricably linked with canyon formation, and mountains and plate tectonics go together, but erosion goes with mountains too, and you can't separate rivers and water erosion. I'll do my best to place related topics in the same post, but if you need more ideas, you can check the tags at the bottom of the post too.

We did several small activities to demonstrate water erosion and weathering. We poured a small stream of water into a pan filled with sediment, then inclined the pan and watched how the water moved. We could see the gradual wearing of a channel, as well as the spreading out of the water into as it slowed or the slope decreased. We talked about deltas and alluvial fans (here is a page with related activities), as well as meanders and oxbow lakes.

Next we observed the effects of wave erosion on coastlines. We buried several cylinders of clay (representing layers of harder rock) in a pile of sand (the softer rock). Then we filled the rest of the pan with water and gently rocked the pan back and forth to make waves:

As you can see, the waves gradually picked up the sediment on the coastline and deposited it farther out, leaving a smoothed-out coastline and exposing the rock stacks. Some of the stacks were even left standing alone in the water. We've seen lots of examples of these types of stacks when we go to the beach (Haystack Rock in Oregon, for example). Some even form arches.

We watched the carving action of water as it runs down a channel. We formed several "canyons" in the yard, and saw that the river deposits sediments downstream in deltas as well. This is an even better way to observe meanders, as a slope evens out.

And of course we made play-doh mountains of various sorts: fold mountains, fault-block mountains, volcanic mountains, etc.

You can find several other erosion and weathering activities at the bottom of this post.

Here are some illustrations of anticlines and synclines.

You can also see examples of mountains in the Plate Tectonics post.

Here's a cute landforms flipbook to make.