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Park: Bighorn National Forest
Section: Photos
| Preview | Name | Overall | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Soil |  | |
 | Beef Trail Informational Sign | | Beef Trail The hillside below the cliffs is managed as a wildlife winter range. Elk and deer in the Big Horn Mountains live at high elevations during the summer, but move down to the lower areas during the winter. The Forest Service helps maintain this winter range by supervising use of domestic sheep and cattle, and by conducting periodic prescribed fires to encourage the growth of essential forage plants. Look on the hillside for the thin like of "Beef Trail", a livestock drive trail. This has been used for many years by domestic cattle and sheep traveling from their winter range in Shell Valley to the summer pastures high in the Bighorn National Forest. |
 | Copman's Tomb Informational Sign | | Copman's Tomb The red cliff faced to your left flanks Sunlight Mesa. At the top is Elephant Head Rock, so named because of its shape. The triangle-shaped mountain to the right is named Pyramid Peak. To your far right is a prominent rock-topped mountain called Copman's Tomb. Copman's Tomb is named after Wolfgang R. Copman, a pioneer who was fascinated by the Canyon's splendor, and asked that his ashes be scattered over the mountain when he died. At the bottom of Shell Canyon, Shell Creek flows as it has for the last million years, continuing to cut through these sedimentary and igneous rocks, deepening the Canyon. Shell Canyon was formed by this gradual process of stream erosion, cutting through layers of limestone, siltstone, shale, dolomite, and granite. The rolling landscape at the base of the cliffs was formed by slumping, the mass movement of soil and rocks from the cliffs into the valley. [Labels on top - from left to right] Elephant Head Rock Sunlight Mesa Pyramid Peak Copman's Tomb |
 | Shell Falls Entrance Sign | | |
 | Just Downstream of Shell Falls | | |
 | Copman's Tomb Informational Sign | | Copman's Tomb Copman's Tomb is about 1,000 feet higher than the surrounding area and was formed largely by erosion. The tomb is that part of the area that has not eroded away. Copman's Tomb is a prominent cliff between Cedar and Shell Creek named for Copman, an early settler and cattleman who, it is said, wished to be buried there. Though his wish was not granted, his name became permanently associated with this well known landmark. The slumping below Copman's Tomb occurred because of the failure of shale and poorly cemented sandstone between the granite and layers of dolomite. As Shell Creek cut its gorge down through these easily eroded beds, the weight of the overlying dolomite layers (strata) caused large slum blocks to form. These will continue to move down slope until they become stable. The final result is a whole series of slump-blocks - each successively lower and holding up the other. |
 | Copman's Tomb | | |
 | Elephant Head Rock Informational Sign | | Elephant Head Rock Elephant Head Rock was carved from fractured limestone by water and wind. Erosion proceeds along fractures more rapidly than in the rocks between. This results in pillar-like landforms. Elephant Head Rock is part of a formation which is a vast monocline. The monocline was formed when the Bighorn Mountain area was uplifted above the Big Horn River Basin area. The same rock units that form the top of the mountains are also found several thousand feet below the surface of the basin. |
 | Elephant Head Rock | | |
 | Just Downstream of Shell Falls | | To give you a sense of the scale, you can see someone in the overlook at the top of the photo. |
 | Shell Falls | | |
 | Shell Falls Informational Sign | | Shell Falls Waterfalls are somewhat unusual, and are formed only under certain conditions. Rivers and streams work hard to eliminate their waterfalls. Most waterfalls owe their existence to hard rock overlying soft rock strata. Shell Falls, however, owes its existence to tumbling water following a course of least resistance for countless years along two sets of joints of fractures, almost at right angles to each other. Above the falls the creek flows west along a fracture. Below the falls it follows a different fracture to the north. In time these fractures will be enlarged as the stream dislodges large blocks of granite and continues to wear away the sides and bottom of its channel. Since the Precambrian rock will erode more readily along fractures, more falls and rapids will form along Shell Creek's course because of the stream's erosive power. As you walk along the trail, notice the huge boulders being washed down stream by the turbulent waters. |
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