SHEEP ROCK, shown on center-left skyline in [figure 29]. (Fig. 31)
West of the road between the petrified dunes and The Windows section, the Entrada Sandstone, particularly the Dewey Bridge Member, has been weathered into grotesque spires and pinnacles resembling the so-called “hoodoos and goblins” in Goblin Valley State Park, just north of Hanksville, Utah. Typical examples of “hoodoos and goblins” are shown in [figure 33] (near stop 8). It seems reasonable to assume that some of these spires are the skeletal remains of former arch abutments. From here may be seen North and South Windows and Turret Arch on the skyline to the northeast (figs. [37]-[40]).
PETRIFIED SAND DUNES, looking northeast from park road 2.7 miles north of Courthouse Wash. The Navajo Sandstone was once a huge sandpile of dunes laid down by winds during an arid interval, so it is interesting to note that the irregularly weathered sandstone once again resembles a pile of crossbedded dunes. See also [figure 35]. (Fig. 32)
“HOODOOS AND GOBLINS,” weathered from Dewey Bridge Member, viewed northwest from park road about 2½ miles north of Courthouse Wash. (Fig. 33)
The Windows Section
The Windows section, one of the most beautiful parts of the park, once was the only readily accessible part of the former monument and is still the only collection of arches seen by many visitors who either do not have or do not take time to travel farther north. All the arches and erosion forms are on or near a high crest called Elephant Butte (Dane, 1935, p. 126, 127), which separates Salt Valley from the Courthouse syncline. The ridge also marks the south edge of several minor anticlines and synclines termed by Dane the “Elephant Butte folds.”
