Fantasy Canyon, south of Vernal in Utah’s Uintah County, was once home to the intricate Teapot Formation, a uniquely shaped sandstone figure that originated from sediments deposited in Lake Uinta about 40 million years ago during the Eocene. The fragile formation collapsed several years ago.
Fantasy Canyon lies along the northeastern edge of the Colorado Plateau, at the geologically young end of Utah’s Grand Staircase. The sandstone here is exceptionally soft and therefore highly vulnerable to weathering and erosion. The combination of intense summer thunderstorms and wind erosion has sculpted this remarkable landscape into an extraordinary variety of delicate forms, offering unequaled opportunities for photography.
For a fleeting moment, the setting sun engulfed the normally gray formation in a deep orange glow. Only one year after this photograph was taken, the Teapot Formation collapsed. Such fragile structures can be created and destroyed by the relentless forces of erosion, particularly during episodes of torrential rainfall.
