# Giant Rock, and other anomalous places you’ve been **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** vacation-travel\ **Created:** [June 15, 2026, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rock-and-other-anomalous-places-you-ve-been/1030917 "2026-06-15T19:45:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rock-and-other-anomalous-places-you-ve-been/1030917/21 "2026-06-17T14:32:16Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > There’s a similar collection of seaside concretions south of Point Arena CA called [“Bowling Ball Beach”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Ball_Beach). I’ve wanted to check it out for a while but haven’t been able to time my visit to a low enough tide. Thanks for this. I’ve marked it on my map for when I’m up there. > [@JohnGalt](#): > > After a family trip to the Black Hills and Yellowstone and points in between, I asked my kids what their favorite thing was, besides this thing: Independence Rock WY (Oregon Trail landmark) Thanks for this too. I’ll be near there in August so I might be able to visit. > [@DrDeth](#): > > I have been to Vasquez rocks= you can see where Kirk fought the Gorn, etc- I was there recently in SoCal and it brought back some good Star Trek memories. > [@JohnGalt](#): > > On the Yellowstone trip, a bit west of Casper, we saw the sign for Hell’s Half Acre Cool. I’ll be near there in August and might be able to swing by there. • Another favorite area of mine is in eastern Washington state called the Channeled Scablands (or the Ice Age Floods of Glacial Lake Missoula). I’ve visited once but would like to return. The landscape is very interesting, especially in light of the massive, violent forces that carved out those lands. When I visited, that’s when I went to that Yeager Rock glacial erratic I mentioned in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rock-and-other-anomalous-places-you-ve-been/1030917/22 "2026-06-17T16:39:25Z")
Sandstone Pinnacles in Western Australia’s [Nambung National Park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nambung_National_Park). [![](https://live.staticflickr.com/1296/1308493099_5a093fea2e_c.jpg) ](https://live.staticflickr.com/1296/1308493099_5a093fea2e_c.jpg) The park also has some [stromatolites](https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210117-stromatolites-the-earths-oldest-living-lifeforms), which are impressive in concept but not as cool as driving through the “forest” of pinnacles. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rock-and-other-anomalous-places-you-ve-been/1030917/23 "2026-06-17T17:19:31Z")
I’ve been to a few otherworldly landscapes. Craters of the Moon, Pinnacles, Haleakakala. Reno. But the craziest one I’ve ben to personally is Blue Basin in Oregon. Near the Painted Hills and John Day Fossil Beds, it’s a smallish canyon carved into an unremarkable, brown plateau. You can’t see it from the trailhead, but walk the trail for about a quarter mile, you turn a corner and suddenly _everything_ is a turquoise blue in ruggedly eroded canton walls that would be dramatic even in an ordinary color. Blue Basin, Oregon [Blue Basin, Oregon - Album on Imgur](https://imgur.com/a/KIpzuGh) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rock-and-other-anomalous-places-you-ve-been/1030917/24 "2026-06-17T17:23:12Z")
The American southwest is full of these sorts of things. Pinnacles, spires and hoodoos. It’s truly a geologist’s paradise. One odd thing among the many I’ve seen was the Okavango Delta. The Okavango River has no outlet to any body of water. It simply just ends in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana. It does have flood stages during the rainy season, but the river still just ends. ---
**Author:** ![mtnmatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@mtnmatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mtnmatt)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rock-and-other-anomalous-places-you-ve-been/1030917/25 "2026-06-17T17:27:36Z")
Within the Cape Cod National Seashore, in Eastham, MA, is Doane Rock, a giant boulder on what is otherwise pretty much a sandbar: > **[Doane Rock](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doane_Rock)** > > Doane Rock is a glacial erratic located in Eastham, Massachusetts on the grounds of the Cape Cod National Seashore. It is the largest exposed boulder on Cape Cod. It stands 18 feet (5.5 m) high and extends below the ground an estimated 12 feet (3.7 m). > This boulder is named after Deacon John Doane, one of Eastham's original settlers. It has also been called Enochs or Enos rock for the deacon's son, as well as Great Rock. The rock was left by the glaciers (Laurentide Ice Sheet; 18,000–12,000... It was a lot of fun to climb around on as a kid ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2026, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rock-and-other-anomalous-places-you-ve-been/1030917/26 "2026-06-17T17:56:52Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > But the craziest one I’ve ben to personally is Blue Basin in Oregon. Near the Painted Hills and John Day Fossil Beds…_everything_ is a turquoise blue in ruggedly eroded canton walls that would be dramatic even in an ordinary color. I wouldn’t call John Day Fossil Beds is “under rated” but maybe “under the radar” for casual visitors. As cool as the multicolored hills and canyon walls are, my best memory is of a late afternoon hike after a thunderstorm had passed through. The crickets had come alive and the air was full of the scent of sagebrush. It was one of those “moments of zen” you hope for but can never really plan. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rock-and-other-anomalous-places-you-ve-been/1030917/27 "2026-06-22T15:15:02Z")
There’s also Pilot Mountain in NC: > **[Pilot Mountain (North Carolina)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_Mountain_%28North_Carolina%29)** > > Pilot Mountain, a monadnock rising to a peak 2,421 feet (738 m) above sea level, is one of the most distinctive natural features in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is a remnant of the ancient chain of Sauratown Mountains. > U.S. Route 52 passes through the town of Pilot Mountain near the mountain, which is about 20 miles northwest of Winston-Salem, and the city of Mount Airy is 14 miles farther north. > Pilot Mountain has two distinctive features, named Big Pinnacle and Little Pinnacle. Big... ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rock-and-other-anomalous-places-you-ve-been/1030917/28 "2026-06-22T15:32:44Z")
I’m pretty impressed with White Sands, New Mexico. The park road goes through the dunes that are ‘unnaturally’ white – but there they naturally are – and there’s quite the feeling that it would be far too easy to get hopelessly lost by hiking among them for any distance. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rock-and-other-anomalous-places-you-ve-been/1030917/29 "2026-06-22T16:18:36Z")
All those years, Sheriff Taylor got the name wrong — “Sarah, get me Mount Pilot.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rock-and-other-anomalous-places-you-ve-been/1030917/30 "2026-06-22T18:54:53Z")
> [@Civil\_Guy](#): > > I’m pretty impressed with White Sands, New Mexico. The park road goes through the dunes that are ‘unnaturally’ white – but there they naturally are – and there’s quite the feeling that it would be far too easy to get hopelessly lost by hiking among them for any distance. One of my favorite places! WSNP, White Sands National Park. WSNP is gypsum sand, and is very slippery. You can literally surf the dunes — people go sledding on plastic disks or pieces of cardboard and slide down the dunes. One year I got a back country camping pass and me and my brother and our 5 kids sledded on the dunes all night long. I really like WSNP! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2026, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rock-and-other-anomalous-places-you-ve-been/1030917/31 "2026-06-23T11:52:00Z")
**Delicate Arch** in Arches National Park in Utah. Been up to the arch twice. One of my all-time favorite rock formations > **[Delicate Arch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delicate_Arch)** > > Delicate Arch is a 52-foot-tall (16 m) freestanding natural arch located in Arches National Park, near Moab in Grand County, Utah, United States. The arch is the most widely recognized landmark in Arches National Park and is depicted on Utah license plates and a postage stamp commemorating Utah's centennial anniversary of admission to the Union in 1896. The Olympic torch relay for the 2002 Winter Olympics passed through the arch. > Because of its distinctive shape, the arch was known as "the Cha... There’s a story that someone mixed up the names of Delicate Arch and Landscape Arch, both in Arches Park. I don’t buy it, but agree that the names work better the other way around. “landscape arch” looks so thin and delicate that it ought to fall apart at any moment: > **[Landscape Arch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landscape_Arch)** > > Landscape Arch is a natural arch in Arches National Park, Utah, United States. It is among the longest natural rock arches in the world. > The arch is among many in the Devils Garden area in the north of the park. Landscape Arch was named by Frank Beckwith who explored the area in the winter of 1933–1934 as the leader of an Arches National Monument scientific expedition. The arch can be reached by a 0.8 mi (1.3 km) graded gravel trail. > The Natural Arch and Bridge Society (NABS) considers Lands... Arches National Park, by the way, has over 300 natural arches in it, alhough some are only arches by technicality. The structures in the park feature prominently in the opening scenes of _Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade_, starting with the rock that the Paramoun logo fades into. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2026, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rock-and-other-anomalous-places-you-ve-been/1030917/32 "2026-06-23T12:12:11Z")
Ruby Falls, a towering underground waterfall, in the Chattanooga area. Imposing, and going on a guided tour of the caves is fun. BUT DO NOT WANDER AWAY FROM THE GUIDES OR THE TOUR ROUTE! > **[Ruby Falls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Falls)** > > This is an accepted version of this page > > > Ruby Falls is a 85 feet (26 m) tall\[dubious – discuss\] waterfall in Ruby Falls Cave of Lookout Mountain, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. The cave is commercialized with electric lights, paved foot trails, and an elevator for access. The waterfall may only be visited by guided tour. > About 300 to 360 million years ago (in the Carboniferous Period, at the end of the Paleozoic Era), the eastern Tennessee area was covered with a shallow sea, th... ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2026, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rock-and-other-anomalous-places-you-ve-been/1030917/33 "2026-06-23T12:26:01Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > One of my favorite places! WSNP, White Sands National Park. > > WSNP is gypsum sand, and is very slippery. You can literally surf the dunes — people go sledding on plastic disks or pieces of cardboard and slide down the dunes. One year I got a back country camping pass and me and my brother and our 5 kids sledded on the dunes all night long. I’ve never been to WSNP but you can do the same at Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. The two times I’ve been there I’ve seen quite a few people dune surfing. Speaking of which, GSDNP is anomalous in one way: it has a cyclical movement of the sands, which is how so much sand making up the dunes stays in one place. A small creek moves through the valley, but it does not have enough volume to make it all the way to the next stream. And the prevailing winds blow back right up the valley. So the creek carries the sand downstream, but it dries out and deposits the sand, whereupon the wind will pick it up again and blow it back up the valley. The two times I went there, the creek was running well enough that you had to step through it to get to the dunes, and you could see it carrying some sand particles if you looked close enough. I also appreciate that in GSDNP, the park realizes that the dunes are ephemeral enough that they don’t force you to stay on marked trails and thus can wander wherever you want within the dunes. ---
**Author:** ![Stana\_Claus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stana_claus/32/13874_2.png) [@Stana\_Claus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stana_Claus)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2026, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rock-and-other-anomalous-places-you-ve-been/1030917/34 "2026-06-23T13:30:54Z")
Following the mentions of Arches, White Sands, and Great Sand Dunes National Parks, I’d like to add my personal favorite in that area, Bryce Canyon NP. It’s not a big as some of the others, but to me and my wife it has more beauty and awe inspiring vistas packed into that smaller area. For an enormous numbers of hoodoos, don’t skip [Goblin Valley State Park](https://stateparks.utah.gov/parks/goblin-valley/). It’s not that far from Aches NP and the other Utah NPs. But for sheer unexpected weirdness, it’s hard to beat [Monument Rocks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_Rocks_(Kansas)) in the middle of nowhere Kansas. Large rock formations standing in an otherwise flat, featureless plain. As for interesting geologic anomalies in the eastern US, the [boulder fields at Hickory Run State Park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hickory_Run_State_Park) in PA is pretty cool. And as long as you’re in the Poconos, [the Ringing Rocks](https://www.visitbuckscounty.com/listing/ringing-rocks-park/453/)are another interesting geologic oddity. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2026, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rock-and-other-anomalous-places-you-ve-been/1030917/35 "2026-06-23T13:43:31Z")
> [@Stana\_Claus](#): > > Following the mentions of Arches, White Sands, and Great Sand Dunes National Parks, I’d like to add my personal favorite in that area, Bryce Canyon NP. It’s not a big as some of the others, but to me and my wife it has more beauty and awe inspiring vistas packed into that smaller area. I love Bryce, and have been there numerous times. One time we camped there and hiked through. The appearance of the sandstone changes during the day, depending on how sunlight hits it. Bryce, by the way, is one of the homes of the “hoodoos” – those formations where the top of a column might remain relatively unchanged because it’s hard, but the softer parts underneath get eaten away. The kind of thing you see of i n the distance in Roadrunner cartoons. I was amazed at how fragile the sandstone is – if you simply rub your finger across it part of it will crumble away. So don’t rub your fingers across it. Also, don’t feed the squirrels, no matter how much they beg and how cute they look. > **[Bryce Canyon Hoodoos: A Guide to the Park’s Signature Feature | Under Canvas®](https://www.undercanvas.com/blog/bryce-canyon-hoodoos-a-guide-to-the-parks-signature-feature/)** > > Set in the heart of Utah's red-rock country, Bryce Canyon National Park stands out as one of the state's "Mighty Five" national parks. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2026, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rock-and-other-anomalous-places-you-ve-been/1030917/36 "2026-06-23T14:59:39Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > There’s a story that someone mixed up the names of Delicate Arch and Landscape Arch, both in Arches Park. I don’t buy it… Cool. I’ve hiked to Landscape Arch. But not yet to Delicate Arch. Arches NP is in the heart of some beautiful country! Moab UT right there, and Canyonlands National Park too. Utah has so much to see! And Monument Valley is one of my absolute favorite places and not too far away. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2026, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rock-and-other-anomalous-places-you-ve-been/1030917/37 "2026-06-23T15:02:13Z")
I’ve camped at Bryce too and it is a unique experience to be able to see the hoodoos from the trail at nighttime and sunrise. Speaking of fragile, I haven’t experienced that myself at Bryce but my nephew did notice the friability of the soft tuff in Bandelier National Monument - that when he rubbed his hand across the stone, bits of sand-sized tuff came off. That same softness allowed the Native Americans to easily carve artificial caves in the cliffside (as opposed to building them out in the open or under rock shelters like I see elsewhere in old dwelling sites of the southwest.) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2026, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rock-and-other-anomalous-places-you-ve-been/1030917/38 "2026-06-23T15:24:12Z")
Oregon has the Bellevue Erratic, a 90 ton rock that traveled some 500 miles on an iceberg during one of the great Missoula ice age floods. It sits on top of a 250 foot hill, with no other rock formations nearby. [Palouse Falls](https://www.google.com/search?q=palouse+falls&rlz=1C1UEAD_enUS1148US1148&oq=palouse+falls&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgAEAAYjwIyBwgAEAAYjwIyEAgBEC4YkQIYsQMYgAQYigUyEwgCEC4YrwEYxwEYkQIYgAQYigUyBwgDEAAYgAQyBwgEEAAYgAQyBwgFEAAYgAQyBwgGEAAYgAQyBwgHEAAYgAQyBwgIEAAYgAQyBwgJEAAYgATSAQgyNDQ0ajBqOagCBrACAfEFwYAM0n6i09A&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8) in Washington may look at first like just another waterfall, but this is also a remnant of the Missoula Floods, and the size of the plunge pool and the ensuing canyon is evidence of that mega-event. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2026, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rock-and-other-anomalous-places-you-ve-been/1030917/39 "2026-06-24T05:20:09Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Oregon has the Bellevue Erratic Thanks. I looked that up and this is the same erratic that is at the Erratic Rock State Natural Site in Yamhill County posted above. > [@Chefguy](#): > > [Palouse Falls](https://www.google.com/search?q=palouse+falls&rlz=1C1UEAD_enUS1148US1148&oq=palouse+falls&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgAEAAYjwIyBwgAEAAYjwIyEAgBEC4YkQIYsQMYgAQYigUyEwgCEC4YrwEYxwEYkQIYgAQYigUyBwgDEAAYgAQyBwgEEAAYgAQyBwgFEAAYgAQyBwgGEAAYgAQyBwgHEAAYgAQyBwgIEAAYgAQyBwgJEAAYgATSAQgyNDQ0ajBqOagCBrACAfEFwYAM0n6i09A&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8) in Washington Cool, want to go! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2026, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rock-and-other-anomalous-places-you-ve-been/1030917/40 "2026-06-24T12:19:01Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > Thanks. I looked that up and this is the same erratic that is at the Erratic Rock State Natural Site in Yamhill County posted above. Oopsy. > [@Bullitt](#): > > Cool, want to go! It really is quite a sight. We happened upon it completely by accident while transiting across the Scablands (also worth seeing) to Walla Walla. Ended up staying in the smaller of the two campgrounds there for a couple of days. I highly recommend reading “Bretz’s Flood”. He was the geologist who first posited that that area was the result of catastrophic flooding as opposed to the general consensus that it took place over millennia. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rock-and-other-anomalous-places-you-ve-been/1030917.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-rock-and-other-anomalous-places-you-ve-been/1030917.md?page=3)