Every now and then, as I search across Arizona for things of an unusual nature, something pops up as a complete surprise, something I’d never heard about even though I thought I’d seen ’em all. Several of them did that to me recently as I wandered across the northern part of the state, and they involve elephants. Or things that evoke mental images of elephants.

They’re actually rock formations, but they look like elephant feet. Great big elephant feet.

Two of them stand along Highway 160, at Tonalea some 20 miles east of Tuba City on the Navajo Reservation. They’re giant sandstone pillars and they look so much like elephant feet that you don’t even have to squint your eyes to get the picture. The fact that the pillars are grayish white and brownish red instead of gray does not affect the illusion. Nor does the fact that they’re about 20 feet tall make any difference. Who knows how big them desert-stompers were billions of years ago?

The others are just outside of Williams at a lovely place called, quite naturally, Elephant Rocks Golf Course. The entryway to the club house is guarded by huge gray boulders that give the course its name because they most certainly look like the feet of an oversized mammoth that may have called the place home a million years ago. Maybe even longer than that. The rocks are nestled between the Ponderosa pines that surround the course, which is a dandy place to escape Arizona’s summer heat because it’s green and it’s located at 7,000 feet above sea level.

Golfers and archeologists can call 928-635-4935 for tee ties and information.