When I first heard of and saw images of Paul Bunyan’s Woodpile, I just knew I had to explore this place! So I did – about 10 days ago. By the way, you can click any image to see it larger.
In case you don’t know the legend of Paul Bunyan, he was a giant lumberjack and mythical hero of the lumber camps in American Canadian folklore. His tall tales revolve around his superhuman labors. One story claims that Paul Bunyan created Lake Superior by scooping out a huge hole to store water for his logging operations. Another told of Paul Bunyan creating the Grand Canyon by dragging his massive axe behind him while walking.
So what is the woodpile? Basically, it is an amazing ancient volcanic formation that looks like giant stacks of firewood. There are “stacks” of wood close to a huge wall with a window toward the top that is amazing!
Paul Bunyan’s Woodpile is almost literally in the middle of nowhere, Utah. It took me almost 2 hours to drive the almost 90 miles from Sandy, Utah, which is where I live, to get there.
The hike to the woodpile itself is short. I didn’t even do 3 miles round trip from the trailhead and that included exploring this amazing volcanic formation and climbing all over it. Once I got to the trailhead it was a pretty quick 1 mile hike to the formation – and much of really did look like giant of stacks firewood!
Once I got to this unreal geological formation I wandered around it and even climbed up a section – that was fun! I also walked across a large woodpile and got a pretty fun video of that. See both below.
OK, so just what is Paul Bunyan’s Woodpile?
“A geologic curiosity – rare in Utah – the “Woodpile” is a cluster of lava logs formed about 30 million years ago during the Eocene Period. The “logs” were formed when a lava flow cooled into orderly columnar joints having 3 to 6 sides. The columns measure about a foot in diameter and up to 15 feet in length. This formation was on the rim of the caldera that collapsed due to a void left when lava flowed out from under the caldera. Basin and range faulting caused the formation to tilt onto its side. Erosion has exposed the formation we now see.” Source: US Department Of The Interior BLM. Click HERE to learn more.
If you want to learn about the formation of Paul Bunyan’s Woodpile, which happened around 30 million years ago, click HERE for information from the Utah Geological Survey. Want to visit? Click for the Paul Bunyan’s Woodpile location on a map.
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