From the country's deepest canyon to sacred volcanic towers in the sky, these rock formations are as mesmerizing as they are grand
12 Famous Rock Formations in America That’ll Blow Your Mind
Updated on May 21, 2025
Paria Canyon-Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness
Location: Utah and Arizona
The Paria Canyon-Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness is one of the country’s last great wild refuges, a 112,500-acre maze of backcountry canyons, cliffs, deserts and plateaus untouched by man. You’ve probably seen pictures of The Wave—it’s so popular, there’s a lottery to obtain access—or even Buckskin Gulch, one of the world’s longest slot canyons. Avid hikers, campers and photographers know this area is a gold mine for off-grid adventures. Don’t expect any facilities here!
You’ll need a permit for day-hiking or overnight trips in Paria Canyon or Buckskin Gulch. Only 20 permits are administered per day, and they need to be reserved four months in advance. When you’re here, often there will be no trail—you just hike and hike and hike to your heart’s content.
Valley of Fire State Park
Location: Nevada
Forty thousand acres of orange-red Aztec sandstone give this hard-to-believe-it’s-real state park its fitting name, while the 150-million-year-old landscape puts most parks of its class to shame. An easy day trip from Las Vegas, its famous rock formations, including Pink Canyon and the Beehives, look like they’d be at home on Mars. This is Nevada’s first and oldest state park for a reason.
A 1.5-mile round-trip trek will take you out to the impossibly scenic Fire Wave, which is a win for both your eyes and your desktop’s wallpaper. The short-and-sweet Petroglyph Canyon Trail, which is under a mile, is lined with incredible Puebloan rock art—some of which is more than 2,000 years old. You can visit both Craters of the Moon and the Valley of Fire on a Route 93 border-to-border road trip.
Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument
Location: New Mexico
About an hour from Albuquerque, gigantic cones of pumice, ash and tuff deposits spring up out of the landscape. These famous rock formations are the result of volcanic eruptions 6 to 7 million years ago that blanketed the land in 1,000 feet of earthen debris. The rocks look like perfect tents—some towering up to 90 feet tall!
For an easy (yet incredibly scenic) trek, look to the Cave Loop Trail. For something more difficult—and rewarding—aim for the 1.5-mile Canyon Trail. It winds upward through a slot canyon to the mesa’s top, with views of three different mountain ranges (Sangre de Cristo, Jemez and Sandia) stealing the show.
Colorado National Monument
Location: Colorado
Rising right out of Grand Junction, Colorado National Monument is a smorgasbord of the Southwest’s best rock formations. Whether you’re hiking, biking or driving, you’ll see plenty of red-rock canyons, sandstone towers and spectacular tunnels. For more incredible sights, nearby McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area boasts the second-highest concentration of rock arches in the world, along with countless spires, hoodoos and alcoves.
The 23-mile Rim Rock Drive takes you deep into the monument and along canyon walls before descending into the valley, making it a breathtakingly scenic drive (and far less nerve-racking than the Million Dollar Highway). Stretch your legs on one of the half-dozen trails that are less than a mile long, making for varied experiences and incredible views, without the need to test your limits.
Monument Rocks
Location: Kansas
The nation’s first National Natural Landmark, the Monument Rocks in western Kansas showcase the kind of surprise the prairie is capable of. Seventy-foot blocks of chalk somehow landed right in the middle of scrubby ranchlands, remnants of an ancient sea that filled middle America 80 million years ago. The rock formations—don’t touch them, as they erode easily—are chock-full of fossils too.
Where will you find them, exactly? Drive up Gove County Roads 14 and 16 (largely packed gravel) until you see the Stonehenge-like structures. Snap a few photos, try to make out which formation is Charlie the Dog and see if you can spot any fossils with the naked eye.
Cedar Breaks National Monument
Location: Utah
Bryce Canyon’s smaller, higher-elevation cousin (about 1,500 feet higher, at 10,000 feet) offers much the same experience as Bryce—but without the crowds. Cedar Breaks’ red-rock amphitheater is a half-mile deep, with hoodoos and spires cascading downward until the painted cliffs turn into spruce and fir forests. To avoid snowshoeing in (the main road closes to cars come winter), road-trip to Utah between June and October for prime viewing of this famous rock formation.
While you can’t hike down into the amphitheater, you can hike along the rim and through the meadows and forests. Catch the sunset at one of the viewpoints, and stick around for one of the ranger-led star parties—the skies up here are bright, bright, bright.
Hells Canyon
Location: Idaho and Oregon
Ten miles wide and 7,993 feet deep, Hells Canyon is the country’s deepest river gorge—and far deeper than the Grand Canyon. Carved by the powerful Snake River just a few million years ago, this remote and untamed region remains untouched, with no bridges spanning its vast expanse. The Hells Canyon Scenic Byway follows the Idaho side of the rift and offers a few great vistas, but the true Hells Canyon experience is found at the river bottom, on a jet boat or whitewater raft zooming across the water.
Craters of the Moon
Location: Idaho
Boasting 618 square miles of nothing but lava, Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve does nothing if not live up to its name. Some 2,000 to 15,000 years old—practically fresh in geologic terms—this Idaho monument contains nearly every volcanic rock formation possible: cinder cones, lava rivers, lava tubes, spatter cones, tree molds and nearly endless lava beds.
When you visit, climb up Inferno Cone for great views, explore the half-mile Caves Trail to wander through lava tubes and scope out the North Crater Flow Trail near the visitor center. And definitely make sure to set up shop at Lava Flow Campground. Craters of the Moon is the country’s only dark-sky preserve, with unparalleled views of the Milky Way every cloudless night.
Garden of the Gods
Location: Colorado
Just outside Colorado Springs, 300-million-year-old, 300-foot-tall sandstone rock formations jut out of pinyon-juniper woodlands, drawing you and your eye away from nearby Pikes Peak. Paths wind up, around and in between them, like a true “garden” you can meander, contemplate and touch. The park has 15 miles of trails, each leading you to red giants that will dwarf you in size and grandeur. A 7-mile scenic loop—with multiple parking lots and picnic areas—gives you a 360-degree look at this natural wonder. It’s free to the public, so go early to beat the crowds.
Cathedral Spires
Location: South Dakota
Tucked into one of the country’s best state parks, the Cathedral Spires of South Dakota’s Custer State Park couldn’t be further in appearance from the Great Plains. Part of the larger Needles complex, these immense granite spires stand like a singing congregation, rising 500 feet out of the dense greenery of the Black Hills.
Want to immerse yourself in this heavenly scenery? A difficult 1.5-mile hiking trail takes you in among the high towers of granite, the trailhead found just off the aptly named Needles Highway. Bring a light picnic for the end of the trek and watch for wildlife. The 7.4-mile hike up Black Elk Peak offers similarly fantastic views.
Devils Tower
Location: Wyoming
Northern Plains Indians consider Devils Tower sacred, and you’ll know why when you see it. It looks like little else on the planet—hexagonal columns of phonolite, once molten lava, climbing nearly 1,000 feet into the air. It was the first national monument in the country, and it was also the backdrop for Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The 1.3-mile Tower Trail circumnavigates the base, and four other trails provide unique perspectives on the laccolith. Visit in summer and you’ll notice intrepid climbers tackling its vertical walls.
Mono Lake
Location: California
California’s Mono Lake is unique in a few ways: It’s one of the oldest lakes on the continent; it has no outlets; it’s saltier than the ocean; and it’s full of tufa towers, solid calcium carbonate spires that form where freshwater springs meet the lake’s alkaline waters. It’s also full of brine shrimp, which means the bird-watching here is glorious.
What should you do there, besides enjoy the scenery? Launch your kayak in between the tufa towers at Navy Beach, go for a stroll along the boardwalks of the South Tufa Area, relax on the beach and wait for the bird show or hop in the water—because of the dense saltwater, you might just float like an ice cube.
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Sources:
- U.S. Department of the Interior: “Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness Area”
- Nevada State Parks: “Valley of Fire State Park”
- U.S. Department of the Interior: “Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument”
- National Park Service: “Colorado – National Monument Colorado”
- The University of Kansas: “Monument Rocks”
- National Park Service: “Cedar Breaks – National Monument Utah”
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: “Hells Canyon National Recreation Area”
- National Park Service: “Craters Of The Moon – National Monument and Preserve Idaho”
- Colorado Springs – Olympic City U.S.A.: “Garden of the Gods”
- National Park Service: “Cathedral Spires and Limber Pine Natural Area”
- National Park Service: “Devils Tower – National Monument Wyoming”
- California State Parks: “Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve”
