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  • Abstract pattern in Caverns of Sonora, Sutton County, Texas, USA. The world-class Caverns of Sonora have a stunning and sparkling array of speleothems (helictites, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, coral trees, and other calcite crystal formations). National Speleological Society co-founder, Bill Stephenson said, after seeing it for the first time, "The beauty of Caverns of Sonora cannot be exaggerated...not even by a Texan!" Geologically, the cave formed between 1.5 to 5 million years ago within 100-million-year-old (Cretaceous) Segovia limestone, of the Edward limestone group. A fault allowed gases to rise up to mix with aquifer water, making acid which dissolved the limestone, leaving the cave. Between 1 and 3 million years ago, the water drained from the cave, after which speleothems begain forming. It is one of the most active caves in the world, with over 95% of its formations still growing. Sonora Caves are on Interstate 10, about half-way between Big Bend National Park and San Antonio, Texas.
    1403TX-412_Caverns-of-Sonora_Texas.jpg
  • Tides have shaped sea sand into scalloped abstract patterns at Seaside, on the Oregon coast, USA
    08ORC-701.jpg
  • Abstract rock pattern on Munt Pers trail. Diavolezza, Switzerland, the Alps, Europe. If not afraid of heights atop Diavolezza Cable Car, don't miss the magnificent hike to rocky Munt Pers (gaining 265 meters over just 4 km round trip). The Swiss valley of Engadine translates as the "garden of the En (or Inn) River" (Engadin in German, Engiadina in Romansh, Engadina in Italian) and is part of the Danube basin.
    16SWIC-939.jpg
  • Abstract rock pattern on Munt Pers trail. Diavolezza, Switzerland, the Alps, Europe. If not afraid of heights atop Diavolezza Cable Car, don't miss the magnificent hike to rocky Munt Pers (gaining 265 meters over just 4 km round trip). The Swiss valley of Engadine translates as the "garden of the En (or Inn) River" (Engadin in German, Engiadina in Romansh, Engadina in Italian) and is part of the Danube basin.
    16SWIC-936.jpg
  • Abstract: A car hood reflects a lined pattern of a fiberglass roof, in Lima, Peru, South America.
    14PER2-010.jpg
  • Abstract flowstone pattern, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, in the Guadalupe Mountains, Chihuahuan Desert, southeast New Mexico, USA. Hike in on your own via the natural entrance or take an elevator from the visitor center. Geology: 4 to 6 million years ago, an acid bath in the water table slowly dissolved the underground rooms of Carlsbad Caverns, which then drained along with the uplift of the Guadalupe Mountains. The Guadalupe Mountains are the uplifted part of the ancient Capitan Reef which thrived along the edge of an inland sea more than 250 million years ago during Permian time. Carlsbad Caverns National Park protects part of the Capitan Reef, one of the best-preserved, exposed Permian-age fossil reefs in the world. The park's magnificent speleothems (cave formations) are due to rain and snowmelt soaking through soil and limestone rock, dripping into a cave, evaporating and depositing dissolved minerals. Drip-by-drip, over the past million years or so, Carlsbad Cavern has slowly been decorating itself. The slowest drips tend to stay on the ceiling (as stalactites, soda straws, draperies, ribbons or curtains). The faster drips are more likely to decorate the floor (with stalagmites, totem poles, flowstone, rim stone dams, lily pads, shelves, and cave pools). Today, due to the dry desert climate, few speleothems inside any Guadalupe Mountains caves are wet enough to actively grow. Most speleothems inside Carlsbad Cavern would have been much more active during the last ice age-up to around 10,000 years ago, but are now mostly inactive.
    1404NM-5031_Carlsbad-Caverns-NP.jpg
  • Abstract white ceiling pattern marbled with yellow in Caverns of Sonora, Sutton County, Texas, USA. The world-class Caverns of Sonora have a stunning and sparkling array of speleothems (helictites, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, coral trees, and other calcite crystal formations). National Speleological Society co-founder, Bill Stephenson said, after seeing it for the first time, "The beauty of Caverns of Sonora cannot be exaggerated...not even by a Texan!" Geologically, the cave formed between 1.5 to 5 million years ago within 100-million-year-old (Cretaceous) Segovia limestone, of the Edward limestone group. A fault allowed gases to rise up to mix with aquifer water, making acid which dissolved the limestone, leaving the cave. Between 1 and 3 million years ago, the water drained from the cave, after which speleothems begain forming. It is one of the most active caves in the world, with over 95% of its formations still growing. Sonora Caves are on Interstate 10, about half-way between Big Bend National Park and San Antonio, Texas.
    1403TX-439_Caverns-of-Sonora_Texas.jpg
  • Abstract white ceiling pattern marbled with yellow in Caverns of Sonora, Sutton County, Texas, USA. The world-class Caverns of Sonora have a stunning and sparkling array of speleothems (helictites, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, coral trees, and other calcite crystal formations). National Speleological Society co-founder, Bill Stephenson said, after seeing it for the first time, "The beauty of Caverns of Sonora cannot be exaggerated...not even by a Texan!" Geologically, the cave formed between 1.5 to 5 million years ago within 100-million-year-old (Cretaceous) Segovia limestone, of the Edward limestone group. A fault allowed gases to rise up to mix with aquifer water, making acid which dissolved the limestone, leaving the cave. Between 1 and 3 million years ago, the water drained from the cave, after which speleothems begain forming. It is one of the most active caves in the world, with over 95% of its formations still growing. Sonora Caves are on Interstate 10, about half-way between Big Bend National Park and San Antonio, Texas.
    1403TX-438_Caverns-of-Sonora_Texas.jpg
  • Abstract wall pattern in Caverns of Sonora, Sutton County, Texas, USA. The world-class Caverns of Sonora have a stunning and sparkling array of speleothems (helictites, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, coral trees, and other calcite crystal formations). National Speleological Society co-founder, Bill Stephenson said, after seeing it for the first time, "The beauty of Caverns of Sonora cannot be exaggerated...not even by a Texan!" Geologically, the cave formed between 1.5 to 5 million years ago within 100-million-year-old (Cretaceous) Segovia limestone, of the Edward limestone group. A fault allowed gases to rise up to mix with aquifer water, making acid which dissolved the limestone, leaving the cave. Between 1 and 3 million years ago, the water drained from the cave, after which speleothems begain forming. It is one of the most active caves in the world, with over 95% of its formations still growing. Sonora Caves are on Interstate 10, about half-way between Big Bend National Park and San Antonio, Texas.
    1403TX-400_Caverns-of-Sonora_Texas.jpg
  • Abstract ceiling pattern in Caverns of Sonora, Sutton County, Texas, USA. The world-class Caverns of Sonora have a stunning and sparkling array of speleothems (helictites, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, coral trees, and other calcite crystal formations). National Speleological Society co-founder, Bill Stephenson said, after seeing it for the first time, "The beauty of Caverns of Sonora cannot be exaggerated...not even by a Texan!" Geologically, the cave formed between 1.5 to 5 million years ago within 100-million-year-old (Cretaceous) Segovia limestone, of the Edward limestone group. A fault allowed gases to rise up to mix with aquifer water, making acid which dissolved the limestone, leaving the cave. Between 1 and 3 million years ago, the water drained from the cave, after which speleothems begain forming. It is one of the most active caves in the world, with over 95% of its formations still growing. Sonora Caves are on Interstate 10, about half-way between Big Bend National Park and San Antonio, Texas.
    1403TX-378_Caverns-of-Sonora_Texas.jpg
  • Abstract pattern in Caverns of Sonora, Sutton County, Texas, USA. The world-class Caverns of Sonora have a stunning and sparkling array of speleothems (helictites, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, coral trees, and other calcite crystal formations). National Speleological Society co-founder, Bill Stephenson said, after seeing it for the first time, "The beauty of Caverns of Sonora cannot be exaggerated...not even by a Texan!" Geologically, the cave formed between 1.5 to 5 million years ago within 100-million-year-old (Cretaceous) Segovia limestone, of the Edward limestone group. A fault allowed gases to rise up to mix with aquifer water, making acid which dissolved the limestone, leaving the cave. Between 1 and 3 million years ago, the water drained from the cave, after which speleothems begain forming. It is one of the most active caves in the world, with over 95% of its formations still growing. Sonora Caves are on Interstate 10, about half-way between Big Bend National Park and San Antonio, Texas.
    1403TX-357_Caverns-of-Sonora_Texas.jpg
  • Abstract pattern in Caverns of Sonora, Sutton County, Texas, USA. The world-class Caverns of Sonora have a stunning and sparkling array of speleothems (helictites, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, coral trees, and other calcite crystal formations). National Speleological Society co-founder, Bill Stephenson said, after seeing it for the first time, "The beauty of Caverns of Sonora cannot be exaggerated...not even by a Texan!" Geologically, the cave formed between 1.5 to 5 million years ago within 100-million-year-old (Cretaceous) Segovia limestone, of the Edward limestone group. A fault allowed gases to rise up to mix with aquifer water, making acid which dissolved the limestone, leaving the cave. Between 1 and 3 million years ago, the water drained from the cave, after which speleothems begain forming. It is one of the most active caves in the world, with over 95% of its formations still growing. Sonora Caves are on Interstate 10, about half-way between Big Bend National Park and San Antonio, Texas.
    1403TX-334_Caverns-of-Sonora_Texas.jpg
  • Abstract helictite pattern in Caverns of Sonora, Sutton County, Texas, USA. The world-class Caverns of Sonora have a stunning and sparkling array of speleothems (helictites, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, coral trees, and other calcite crystal formations). National Speleological Society co-founder, Bill Stephenson said, after seeing it for the first time, "The beauty of Caverns of Sonora cannot be exaggerated...not even by a Texan!" Geologically, the cave formed between 1.5 to 5 million years ago within 100-million-year-old (Cretaceous) Segovia limestone, of the Edward limestone group. A fault allowed gases to rise up to mix with aquifer water, making acid which dissolved the limestone, leaving the cave. Between 1 and 3 million years ago, the water drained from the cave, after which speleothems begain forming. It is one of the most active caves in the world, with over 95% of its formations still growing. Sonora Caves are on Interstate 10, about half-way between Big Bend National Park and San Antonio, Texas.
    1403TX-305_Caverns-of-Sonora_Texas.jpg
  • Tides have shaped sea sand into scalloped abstract patterns at Seaside, on the Oregon coast, USA
    08ORC-700.jpg
  • An abstract pattern of orange-yellow sandstone decorates Crack Canyon, on federal BLM land in San Rafael Swell, near Goblin Valley State Park, Utah, USA. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior that administers American public lands.
    1503SW3-098_Crack-Canyon_pattern.jpg
  • Abstract helictite pattern in Caverns of Sonora, Sutton County, Texas, USA. The world-class Caverns of Sonora have a stunning and sparkling array of speleothems (helictites, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, coral trees, and other calcite crystal formations). National Speleological Society co-founder, Bill Stephenson said, after seeing it for the first time, "The beauty of Caverns of Sonora cannot be exaggerated...not even by a Texan!" Geologically, the cave formed between 1.5 to 5 million years ago within 100-million-year-old (Cretaceous) Segovia limestone, of the Edward limestone group. A fault allowed gases to rise up to mix with aquifer water, making acid which dissolved the limestone, leaving the cave. Between 1 and 3 million years ago, the water drained from the cave, after which speleothems begain forming. It is one of the most active caves in the world, with over 95% of its formations still growing. Sonora Caves are on Interstate 10, about half-way between Big Bend National Park and San Antonio, Texas.
    1403TX-417_Caverns-of-Sonora_Texas.jpg
  • Abstract puff-ball pattern in Caverns of Sonora, Sutton County, Texas, USA. The world-class Caverns of Sonora have a stunning and sparkling array of speleothems (helictites, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, coral trees, and other calcite crystal formations). National Speleological Society co-founder, Bill Stephenson said, after seeing it for the first time, "The beauty of Caverns of Sonora cannot be exaggerated...not even by a Texan!" Geologically, the cave formed between 1.5 to 5 million years ago within 100-million-year-old (Cretaceous) Segovia limestone, of the Edward limestone group. A fault allowed gases to rise up to mix with aquifer water, making acid which dissolved the limestone, leaving the cave. Between 1 and 3 million years ago, the water drained from the cave, after which speleothems begain forming. It is one of the most active caves in the world, with over 95% of its formations still growing. Sonora Caves are on Interstate 10, about half-way between Big Bend National Park and San Antonio, Texas.
    1403TX-383_Caverns-of-Sonora_Texas.jpg
  • Orange and white sandstone erodes into abstract patterns in Zion National Park adjoins Springdale, Utah, USA.
    11UT1-2170_Zion-NP-Utah.jpg
  • Flowstone forms abstract shapes in Mammoth Cave National Park, which was established in 1941 in Edmonson County, Kentucky, USA and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981 and international Biosphere Reserve 1990. With over 390 miles (630 km) of passageways, the Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave System is the longest known in the world. Mammoth Cave developed in thick Mississippian-aged limestone strata capped by a layer of Big Clifty Sandstone. Descending limestone layers include the Girkin Formation, Saint Genevieve Limestone, and Saint Louis Limestone.
    10MAM-062.jpg
  • Abstract concrete: broken cement and rebar skeleton of former industry decays in Anacortes, on Fidalgo Island in Skagit County, Washington, USA. From 1892-1930s, the site hosted sawmills and a box factory, followed by the Anacortes Veneer mill in 1939, becoming Custom Plywood from 1962-1990s, until destroyed by fire. A few years after this 2005 photo was taken, a clean-up from 2011-2013 ecologically restored the site back to coastal marsh. Changing economic cycles have brought the area back to nature.
    05WHI-20105.jpg
  • A colorful abstract pattern of 250 million-year-old Grindelwald limestone is exposed in a tunnel of the boardwalk within Gletscherschlucht along the White Lütschine river gorge, in Grindelwald, Switzerland, Europe. The Lower Grindelwald Glacier last extended through Gletscherschlucht gorge in 1855 and has receded very rapidly, melting back more than 3.75 kilometers as of 2014. Consistent with a pattern global warming, the glacier may entirely disappear by 2100. From Gletscherschlucht hotel restaurant, a wooden walkway leads over raging water through galleries and rocky tunnels over 1000 meters into the ravine, under 100-meter-high cliffs. You can walk to Gletscherschlucht in 35 minutes from the center of Grindelwald or take the bus.
    16SWIC-607.jpg
  • Explore the beautiful slot of Ding Canyon on BLM land in the San Rafael Swell, near Goblin Valley State Park, Utah, USA. As part of the Colorado Plateau, the San Rafael Swell is a giant dome-shaped anticline of sandstone, shale, and limestone (160-175 million years old) that was pushed up during the Paleocene Laramide Orogeny 60-40 million years ago. Since then, infrequent but powerful flash floods have eroded the sedimentary rocks into valleys, canyons, gorges, mesas, and buttes. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior that administers American public lands.
    1503SW-0780_Ding-Canyon.jpg
  • Explore the beautiful slot of Ding Canyon on BLM land in the San Rafael Swell, near Goblin Valley State Park, Utah, USA. As part of the Colorado Plateau, the San Rafael Swell is a giant dome-shaped anticline of sandstone, shale, and limestone (160-175 million years old) that was pushed up during the Paleocene Laramide Orogeny 60-40 million years ago. Since then, infrequent but powerful flash floods have eroded the sedimentary rocks into valleys, canyons, gorges, mesas, and buttes. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior that administers American public lands.
    1503SW-0777_Ding-Canyon.jpg
  • A colorful abstract pattern of 250 million-year-old Grindelwald limestone is exposed along the boardwalk within Gletscherschlucht in the White Lütschine river gorge, in Grindelwald, Switzerland, Europe. The Lower Grindelwald Glacier last extended through Gletscherschlucht gorge in 1855 and has receded very rapidly, melting back more than 3.75 kilometers as of 2014. Consistent with a pattern global warming, the glacier may entirely disappear by 2100. From Gletscherschlucht hotel restaurant, a wooden walkway leads over raging water and through galleries and rocky tunnels over a kilometer into the cool ravine, beneath 100-meter-high cliffs. You can walk to Gletscherschlucht in 35 minutes from the center of Grindelwald or take the bus.
    16SWIC-592.jpg
  • Scottish Parliament Building was opened 2004 in the Holyrood area of the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh, in the United Kingdom, Europe. The abstract modernist structure was designed by Catalan architect Enric Miralles (1955–2000). Scottish Parliament had previously dropped out of existence from 1707 through 1999. The original Parliament of Scotland was the national legislature of the independent Kingdom of Scotland, existing from the early 1200s until the Kingdom of Scotland merged with the Kingdom of England under the Acts of Union 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. Scottish Parliament disappeared with the creation of the Parliament of Great Britain at Westminster in London. Following a Scottish referendum in 1997, the current Parliament was convened by the Scotland Act 1998, which sets out its powers as a devolved legislature, which first met in 1999. The Scottish Parliament has the power to legislate in all areas that are not explicitly reserved to Westminster.
    17SC1-4453_Scotland.jpg
  • Scottish Parliament Building was opened 2004 in the Holyrood area of the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh, in the United Kingdom, Europe. The abstract modernist structure was designed by Catalan architect Enric Miralles (1955–2000). Scottish Parliament had previously dropped out of existence from 1707 through 1999. The original Parliament of Scotland was the national legislature of the independent Kingdom of Scotland, existing from the early 1200s until the Kingdom of Scotland merged with the Kingdom of England under the Acts of Union 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. Scottish Parliament disappeared with the creation of the Parliament of Great Britain at Westminster in London. Following a Scottish referendum in 1997, the current Parliament was convened by the Scotland Act 1998, which sets out its powers as a devolved legislature, which first met in 1999. The Scottish Parliament has the power to legislate in all areas that are not explicitly reserved to Westminster.
    17SC1-4445_Scotland.jpg
  • A colorful abstract pattern of 250 million-year-old Grindelwald limestone is exposed along the boardwalk within Gletscherschlucht in the White Lütschine river gorge, in Grindelwald, Switzerland, Europe. The Lower Grindelwald Glacier last extended through Gletscherschlucht gorge in 1855 and has receded very rapidly, melting back more than 3.75 kilometers as of 2014. Consistent with a pattern global warming, the glacier may entirely disappear by 2100. From Gletscherschlucht hotel restaurant, a wooden walkway leads over raging water and through galleries and rocky tunnels over a kilometer into the cool ravine, beneath 100-meter-high cliffs. You can walk to Gletscherschlucht in 35 minutes from the center of Grindelwald or take the bus.
    16SWIC-606.jpg
  • A colorful abstract pattern of 250 million-year-old Grindelwald limestone is exposed along the boardwalk within Gletscherschlucht in the White Lütschine river gorge, in Grindelwald, Switzerland, Europe. The Lower Grindelwald Glacier last extended through Gletscherschlucht gorge in 1855 and has receded very rapidly, melting back more than 3.75 kilometers as of 2014. Consistent with a pattern global warming, the glacier may entirely disappear by 2100. From Gletscherschlucht hotel restaurant, a wooden walkway leads over raging water and through galleries and rocky tunnels over a kilometer into the cool ravine, beneath 100-meter-high cliffs. You can walk to Gletscherschlucht in 35 minutes from the center of Grindelwald or take the bus.
    16SWI-6246.jpg
  • Scottish Parliament Building was opened 2004 in the Holyrood area of the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh, in the United Kingdom, Europe. The abstract modernist structure was designed by Catalan architect Enric Miralles (1955–2000). Scottish Parliament had previously dropped out of existence from 1707 through 1999. The original Parliament of Scotland was the national legislature of the independent Kingdom of Scotland, existing from the early 1200s until the Kingdom of Scotland merged with the Kingdom of England under the Acts of Union 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. Scottish Parliament disappeared with the creation of the Parliament of Great Britain at Westminster in London. Following a Scottish referendum in 1997, the current Parliament was convened by the Scotland Act 1998, which sets out its powers as a devolved legislature, which first met in 1999. The Scottish Parliament has the power to legislate in all areas that are not explicitly reserved to Westminster.
    17SC1-4443_Scotland.jpg
  • A colorful abstract pattern of 250 million-year-old Grindelwald limestone is exposed along the boardwalk within Gletscherschlucht in the White Lütschine river gorge, in Grindelwald, Switzerland, Europe. The Lower Grindelwald Glacier last extended through Gletscherschlucht gorge in 1855 and has receded very rapidly, melting back more than 3.75 kilometers as of 2014. Consistent with a pattern global warming, the glacier may entirely disappear by 2100. From Gletscherschlucht hotel restaurant, a wooden walkway leads over raging water and through galleries and rocky tunnels over a kilometer into the cool ravine, beneath 100-meter-high cliffs. You can walk to Gletscherschlucht in 35 minutes from the center of Grindelwald or take the bus.
    16SWIC-596.jpg
  • A colorful abstract pattern of 250 million-year-old Grindelwald limestone is exposed along the boardwalk within Gletscherschlucht in the White Lütschine river gorge, in Grindelwald, Switzerland, Europe. The Lower Grindelwald Glacier last extended through Gletscherschlucht gorge in 1855 and has receded very rapidly, melting back more than 3.75 kilometers as of 2014. Consistent with a pattern global warming, the glacier may entirely disappear by 2100. From Gletscherschlucht hotel restaurant, a wooden walkway leads over raging water and through galleries and rocky tunnels over a kilometer into the cool ravine, beneath 100-meter-high cliffs. You can walk to Gletscherschlucht in 35 minutes from the center of Grindelwald or take the bus.
    16SWIC-595.jpg
  • A colorful abstract pattern of 250 million-year-old Grindelwald limestone is exposed along the boardwalk within Gletscherschlucht in the White Lütschine river gorge, in Grindelwald, Switzerland, Europe. The Lower Grindelwald Glacier last extended through Gletscherschlucht gorge in 1855 and has receded very rapidly, melting back more than 3.75 kilometers as of 2014. Consistent with a pattern global warming, the glacier may entirely disappear by 2100. From Gletscherschlucht hotel restaurant, a wooden walkway leads over raging water and through galleries and rocky tunnels over a kilometer into the cool ravine, beneath 100-meter-high cliffs. You can walk to Gletscherschlucht in 35 minutes from the center of Grindelwald or take the bus.
    16SWIC-594.jpg
  • A colorful abstract pattern of 250 million-year-old Grindelwald limestone is exposed along the boardwalk within Gletscherschlucht in the White Lütschine river gorge, in Grindelwald, Switzerland, Europe. The Lower Grindelwald Glacier last extended through Gletscherschlucht gorge in 1855 and has receded very rapidly, melting back more than 3.75 kilometers as of 2014. Consistent with a pattern global warming, the glacier may entirely disappear by 2100. From Gletscherschlucht hotel restaurant, a wooden walkway leads over raging water and through galleries and rocky tunnels over a kilometer into the cool ravine, beneath 100-meter-high cliffs. You can walk to Gletscherschlucht in 35 minutes from the center of Grindelwald or take the bus.
    16SWI-6245.jpg
  • A white dike intrudes into blue-gray rock forming an abstract tree shape with yellow lichen suggesting leaves. My favorite hike in the Bishop Creek watershed goes from South Lake to Long Lake and Saddlerock Lake, looping back via a steeper, poorly marked route to Ruwau Lake, Chocolate Lakes, and Bull Lake, in John Muir Wilderness, Inyo National Forest, Sierra Nevada, California, USA. The rewarding semi-loop is 9 miles with 2220 feet cumulative gain. An easier walk is 7.2 miles round trip with 1500 feet gain to Saddlerock Lake, out and back via beautiful Long Lake.
    1507CAL-5106.jpg
  • Glass reflecting an abstract pattern of cumulus clouds obscures rows of bottles seen behind. These prominent windows front the finest home in Bodie, owned by James Stuart Cain from the 1890s - 1940s. Bodie is now California's official state gold rush ghost town. Jessie McGath originally built this house for his new wife in 1879, and JS Cain bought it in the 1890s. Cain moved to Bodie when he was 25 and built an empire starting with putting lumber barges on Mono Lake and transporting timber to support mine shafts, stoke boilers for machinery, build & heat buildings, and cook food. Cain eventually took control of the Stamp Mill though court action and went on to be the principal property owner and one of the richest men in town. Bodie State Historic Park lies in the Bodie Hills east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Mono County, near Bridgeport, California, USA. After W. S. Bodey's original gold discovery in 1859, profitable gold ore discoveries in 1876 and 1878 transformed "Bodie" from an isolated mining camp to a Wild West boomtown. By 1879, Bodie had a population of 5000-7000 people with 2000 buildings. At its peak, 65 saloons lined Main Street, which was a mile long. Bodie declined rapidly 1912-1917 and the last mine closed in 1942. Bodie became a National Historic Landmark in 1961 and Bodie State Historic Park in 1962. This image was stitched from two photos to increase pixel count and potential print size.
    1507CAL-2563-64pan_Bodie-CA.jpg
  • A white salt crust forms an abstract pattern over orange-red sandstone in Crack Canyon, in San Rafael Swell, near Goblin Valley State Park, Utah, USA.
    1503SW3-055_Crack-Canyon_pattern.jpg
  • A colorful abstract pattern of 250 million-year-old Grindelwald limestone is exposed along the boardwalk within Gletscherschlucht in the White Lütschine river gorge, in Grindelwald, Switzerland, Europe. The Lower Grindelwald Glacier last extended through Gletscherschlucht gorge in 1855 and has receded very rapidly, melting back more than 3.75 kilometers as of 2014. Consistent with a pattern global warming, the glacier may entirely disappear by 2100. From Gletscherschlucht hotel restaurant, a wooden walkway leads over raging water and through galleries and rocky tunnels over a kilometer into the cool ravine, beneath 100-meter-high cliffs. You can walk to Gletscherschlucht in 35 minutes from the center of Grindelwald or take the bus. (This image has been rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise for artistic effect.)
    16SWIC-593.jpg
  • Lower Antelope Canyon (or "the Corkscrew") is a beautiful slot canyon in Antelope Canyon Navajo Tribal Park, near Page, Arizona, USA. Antelope Canyon is the most-visited and most-photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest. Flash floods and other erosion have carved Navajo Sandstone into this natural rock cathedral.
    11AZ1-2236-37pan_Lower-Antelope-Cany...jpg
  • Exterior facade, glass window patttern. Seattle Public Library, designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, finished in 2004. Address: 1000 Fourth Ave, Seattle, Washington 98164, USA.
    04LIB-015-outside-tree-wall-pattern.jpg
  • Lower Antelope Canyon (or "the Corkscrew") is a beautiful slot canyon in Antelope Canyon Navajo Tribal Park, near Page, Arizona, USA. Antelope Canyon is the most-visited and most-photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest. Flash floods and other erosion have carved Navajo Sandstone into this natural rock cathedral.
    11AZ3C-5071_Lower-Antelope-Canyon.jpg
  • Lower Antelope Canyon (or "the Corkscrew") is a beautiful slot canyon in Antelope Canyon Navajo Tribal Park, near Page, Arizona, USA. Antelope Canyon is the most-visited and most-photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest. Flash floods and other erosion have carved Navajo Sandstone into this natural rock cathedral.
    11AZ3C-5042_Lower-Antelope-Canyon.jpg
  • Lower Antelope Canyon (or "the Corkscrew") is a beautiful slot canyon in Antelope Canyon Navajo Tribal Park, near Page, Arizona, USA. Antelope Canyon is the most-visited and most-photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest. Flash floods and other erosion have carved Navajo Sandstone into this natural rock cathedral.
    11AZ1-2202_Lower-Antelope-Canyon.jpg
  • Lower Antelope Canyon (or "the Corkscrew") is a beautiful slot canyon in Antelope Canyon Navajo Tribal Park, near Page, Arizona, USA. Antelope Canyon is the most-visited and most-photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest. Flash floods and other erosion have carved Navajo Sandstone into this natural rock cathedral.
    11AZ1-2190_Lower-Antelope-Canyon.jpg
  • Cracked pattern mud near Ben Reifel Visitor Center in Badlands National Park, South Dakota, USA. The intricately carved cliff of the Badlands Wall constantly retreats as it erodes and washes into the White River Valley below.
    20.10US1-0600.jpg
  • Colorful wavy sandstone layers are revealed in the slot of Little Wild Horse Canyon. San Rafael Swell Recreation Area, Utah, USA. Hike a classic loop from Little Wild Horse Canyon to Bell Canyon, in the San Rafael Reef. This great walk (an 8.6-mile circuit with 900 feet gain) is a short drive on a paved road from Goblin Valley State Park. The hike via fascinating narrow slot canyons and open mesas requires some scrambling over rocks, possibly through shallow water holes (which were dry for us on Sept 20, 2020 but wet in April 2006). Thanks to the greatest legislative victory in the history of SUWA (Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance), in 2019, Congress passed the Emery County Public Land Management Act, which declared 663,000 acres of wilderness, including Little Wild Horse Canyon Wilderness, in San Rafael Swell Recreation Area, Utah, USA. The Navajo and Wingate sandstone of the San Rafael Reef was uplifted fifty million years ago into a striking bluff which now runs from Price to Hanksville, bisected by Interstate 70 at a breach fifteen miles west of the town of Green River.
    20.10US1-0424.jpg
  • Scalloped sandstone in Peekaboo Gulch in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah, USA. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos.
    20.10US1-0052-54-Pano.jpg
  • Lago Pollone reflects the Pollone Glacier, near El Chalten, in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, Patagonia, South America. We hiked the scenic Rio Electrico Valley to Refugio Piedra del Fraile ("Stone of the Friar", 14.5 km round trip). From the refuge, a rewarding day hike visits Lago Pollone (8.5 km round trip with 320 m gain).
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  • The icy blue face of Perito Moreno Glacier melts into Lake Argentino, in Los Glaciares National Park, near El Calafate, Argentina, Patagonia, South America. The spectacular Perito Moreno Glacier is one of 48 glaciers fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice Field (the world's third largest reserve of fresh water). Lago Argentino is the biggest freshwater lake in Argentina and reaches as deep as 500 meters (1640 feet). Its outlet, the Santa Cruz River, flows into the Atlantic Ocean. Despite most glaciers worldwide retreating due to global warming, Perito Moreno Glacier has been a relatively stable exception for the past hundred years. Located 78 kilometers (48 mi) from El Calafate, the glacier was named after explorer Francisco Moreno, a pioneer who studied the region in the 1800s and defended the territory of Argentina in the conflict surrounding the international border dispute with Chile. Los Glaciares National Park is honored on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
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  • Visit the impressive Marble Chapel Nature Sanctuary (Capillas de Mármol) via popular boat tours from Bahía Manso on General Carrera Lake, near Puerto Rio Tranquilo, Chile, Patagonia, South America. This beautiful Chilean Nature Sanctuary sculpted by water and wind has three main geological formations: the Cathedral, the Chapel, and the Cave. You can join a Marble Caves tour in Puerto Río Tranquilo; or save money and time by driving directly 8 km south to Bahía Manso, via a pot-holed very steep side road, where we spontaneously joined a 2-hour tour boat on short notice. The best time is a sunny summer morning in calmer waters. The side road to Bahía Manso was nervously passable with our 2-wheel-drive compact car, but 4WD might be required to return back up if wet.
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  • Sandstone rock pattern. In Capitol Reef National Park, we hiked impressive sandstone gorges from Chimney Rock Trailhead over to Spring Canyon and down to a car shuttle at Highway 24 (10 miles one way with 1100 ft descent and 370 ft gain), Torrey, Utah, USA.
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  • Aerial view of Carroll Glacier, in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska, USA. Flightseeing from Skagway or Haines is a spectacular way to see Glacier Bay. We were bedazzled by Mountain Flying Service's 1.3-hour West Arm tour from Skagway. Glacier Bay is honored by UNESCO as part of a huge Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage site shared between Canada and the United States. In 1750-80, Glacier Bay was totally covered by ice, which has since radically melted away. In 1794, Captain George Vancover found Icy Strait on the Gulf of Alaska choked with ice, and all but a 3-mile indentation of Glacier Bay was filled by a huge tongue of the Grand Pacific Glacier, 4000 feet deep and 20 miles wide. By 1879, naturalist John Muir reported that the ice had retreated 48 miles up the bay. In 1890, "Glacier Bay" was named by Captain Beardslee of the U.S. Navy. Over the last 200 years, melting glaciers have exposed 65 miles of ocean. As of 2019, glaciers cover only 27% of the Park area. Since the mid 1900s, Alaska has warmed 3 degrees Fahrenheit and its winters have warmed nearly 6 degrees. Human-caused climate change induced by emissions of greenhouse gases continues to accelerate warming at an unprecedented rate. Climate change is having disproportionate effects in the Arctic, which is heating up twice as fast as the rest of Earth.
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  • Aerial view of fast-melting Carroll Glacier, in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska, USA. Flightseeing from Skagway or Haines is a spectacular way to see Glacier Bay. We were bedazzled by Mountain Flying Service's 1.3-hour West Arm tour from Skagway. Glacier Bay is honored by UNESCO as part of a huge Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage site shared between Canada and the United States. In 1750-80, Glacier Bay was totally covered by ice, which has since radically melted away. In 1794, Captain George Vancover found Icy Strait on the Gulf of Alaska choked with ice, and all but a 3-mile indentation of Glacier Bay was filled by a huge tongue of the Grand Pacific Glacier, 4000 feet deep and 20 miles wide. By 1879, naturalist John Muir reported that the ice had retreated 48 miles up the bay. In 1890, "Glacier Bay" was named by Captain Beardslee of the U.S. Navy. Over the last 200 years, melting glaciers have exposed 65 miles of ocean. As of 2019, glaciers cover only 27% of the Park area. Since the mid 1900s, Alaska has warmed 3 degrees Fahrenheit and its winters have warmed nearly 6 degrees. Human-caused climate change induced by emissions of greenhouse gases continues to accelerate warming at an unprecedented rate. Climate change is having disproportionate effects in the Arctic, which is heating up twice as fast as the rest of Earth.
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  • Decaying wood strip pattern on a cabin window shutter. Chicken, Alaska, USA. Chicken is one of the few surviving gold rush towns in Alaska. Mining and tourism keep it alive in the summer, and about 17 people stay through the winter. Gold miners settling here in the late 1800s wanted to name it after the local ptarmigan birds, but couldn't agree on the spelling, so instead called it Chicken to avoid embarrassment. A portion of Chicken including early 1900s buildings and the F.E. Company Dredge No. 4 (Pedro Dredge) is listed as the Chicken Historic District on the National Register of Historical Places. Chicken can be reached via Chicken Airport or Alaska Route 5, the Taylor Highway, which is not maintained from mid-October through mid-March.
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  • Old rust pattern. Paddlewheel graveyard, Yukon River Campground, Dawson City, Yukon, Canada. Explore the ruins of seven historic paddlewheel boats discarded in the woods along the banks of the Yukon River. Directions: On foot or auto, take the free George Black Ferry to West Dawson and the Top of the World Highway. Turn right into Yukon River campground and park at its northern end. Walk through the yellow gate, turn left, and walk downstream a few minutes to the Paddlewheel graveyard. Please respect this site, which is protected under the Yukon Historic Resources Act. Dawson City was the center of the Klondike Gold Rush (1896–99), after which population rapidly declined, in Yukon, Canada. Dawson City shrank further during World War II after the Alaska Highway bypassed it 300 miles (480 km) to the south using Whitehorse as a hub. In 1953, Whitehorse replaced Dawson City as Yukon Territory's capital. Dawson City's population dropped to 600–900 through the 1960s-1970s, but later increased as high gold prices made modern placer mining operations profitable and tourism was promoted. In Yukon, the Klondike Highway is marked as Yukon Highway 2 to Dawson City.
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  • Sand dune pattern. Sunrise on Mesquite Flat Dunes, near Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley National Park, California, USA. This dune field includes three types of dunes: crescent, linear, and star shaped. Polygon-cracked clay of an ancient lakebed forms the floor. Mesquite trees have created large hummocks that provide stable habitats for wildlife.
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  • Polygon-cracked clay of an ancient lakebed forms the floor of Mesquite Flat Dunes, near Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley National Park, California, USA.
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  • Artist's Palette geologic formation on Artists Drive, Death Valley National Park, California, USA. More than 5 million years ago, multiple volcanic eruptions deposited ash and minerals across the landscape, which chemically altered over time into a colorful paint pot of elements: iron, aluminum, magnesium, and titanium.
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  • Sandstone rock pattern. Courthouse Towers, Park Avenue Trail, in Arches National Park, Moab, Utah, USA.
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  • Palette Spring, Mammoth Hot Springs. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA.
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  • Climbers ascend Devils Tower National Monument. Bear Lodge Mountains, Black Hills, Wyoming, USA. Devils Tower is a butte of intrusive igneous rock exposed by erosion in the Bear Lodge Mountains, part of the Black Hills, near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County. Devils Tower (aka Bear Lodge Butte) rises dramatically 1267 feet above the Belle Fourche River, standing 867 feet from base to summit, at 5112 feet above sea level. Devils Tower was the first United States National Monument, established on September 24, 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt.
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  • The Culloden Battlefield visitor center is run by the National Trust for Scotland, near Inverness, United Kingdom, Europe. The Battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746 was part of a religious civil war in Britain and was the final confrontation of the Jacobite rising of 1745. It was the last pitched battle on British soil, and in less than an hour about 1500 men were slain – more than 1000 of them Jacobites. After an unsuccessful Highland charge against the government lines, the Jacobites were routed and driven from the field. Today, strong feelings are still aroused by the battle and the brutal aftermath of weakening Gaelic culture and undermining the Scottish clan system. Three miles south of Culloden village is Drumossie Moor, often called Culloden Moor, site of the battle. Culloden is in Scotland 5 miles east of Inverness, off the A9/B9006, directed by brown signs.
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  • Kalalau Valley cliffs seen from Pihea Trail, Na Pali Coast, Kauai, Hawaii, USA. The potholed Pihea Trail traverses a spectacular cliff edge of Na Pali-Kona Forest Reserve, overlooking the Kalalau Valley in Na Pali Coast State Park down to the Pacific Ocean, a breathtaking 4000 feet below, on the island of Kauai. Slippery wet clay makes this a challenging hike of 2.6 miles round trip with 500 feet gain to Pihea Peak. (Optionally continue past Pihea Peak to Alaka'i Swamp Trail.) Pihea Trail begins at Pu'u O Kila Lookout at the end of the road in Koke'e State Park.
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  • Ancient wood at Glacier Pass. Backback to Mirror Lake in Eagle Cap Wilderness,  Wallowa–Whitman National Forest, Wallowa Mountains, Columbia Plateau, northeastern Oregon, USA. Hike 7.3 miles from Two Pan Trailhead (5600 ft) up East Lostine River to camp at popular Mirror Lake (7606 ft). Day hike to Glacier Lake via Glacier Pass (6 miles round trip, 1200 ft gain). Backpack out 8.7 miles via Carper Pass, Minam Lake and West Fork Lostine. From September 11-13, 2016 Carol and I walked 22 miles in 3 days.
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  • Tidal sand pattern. Double Bluff State Park (Useless Bay Tidelands), Whidbey Island, Washington, USA. While the tidelands are a State Park, the upland portion is Double Bluff Park, operated by the Friends of Double Bluff and Island County, including an off-leash dog park.
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  • A reflection of a great blue heron (in the Ardeidae family of birds) hunting for fish from a boat along the Cheshiahud Lake Union Loop in Seattle, Washington, USA.
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  • Hike from Pontresina up Roseg Valley to Fuorcla Surlej for stunning views of Piz Bernina and Piz Rosegg, finishing at Corvatsch Mittelstation Murtel lift. Walking 14 km, we went up 1100 meters and down 150 m. Optionally shorten the hike to an easy 4 km via round trip lift. Pontresina is in Upper Engadine, in Graubünden (Grisons) canton, Switzerland, the Alps, Europe. The Swiss valley of Engadine translates as the "garden of the En (or Inn) River" (Engadin in German, Engiadina in Romansh, Engadina in Italian).
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  • In Findeln (formerly called Findelen), admire authentic Walser houses, barns, and stores built of larch timber blackened by the sun, above Zermatt, in the Pennine Alps, Switzerland, Europe. The Walser people are named after Wallis (Valais), the uppermost Rhône valley, where they settled from the 900s in the late phase of the migration of the Alamanni (confederation of Germanic tribes) crossing from the Bernese Oberland. From Zermatt, a popular walk is the Five Lakes Trail from Sunnegga Express funicular. Although especially nice for families, the 5-Seenweg loop hike is aesthetically marred with ski slope infrastructure throughout (5 dammed artificial lakes, power lines, lifts, dusty roads, snow-making sprinklers, etc). Visually, the most aesthetic features are the old wood buildings in upper Findeln, and the reflecting lakes of Grindjisee and Stellisee.
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  • The Matterhorn (4478 m/14,692 ft) rises above Zmutt Valley. From Zermatt, hike the scenic Höhbalmen Höhenweg loop via Bergrestaurant Edelweiss, Trift Hut and Zmutt, in the Pennine Alps, Switzerland, Europe. With delightful views of alpine meadows, peaks and glaciers, this strenuous walk went up and down 1200 meters over 21.6 km (13.4 miles).
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  • Kandersteg is a great base for hiking in Switzerland. For example: an epic hike from Selden in Bern canton traverses Lötsch glacier and Lötschen Pass (German: Lötschenpass, Swiss German: Lötschepass) to neighboring Lötschental in Valais canton; hiking poles recommended. The walk starts with a reserved Postbus ride from Kandersteg to Selden (in Gasterntal / Gasteretal / Gasterental), climbs 1350 meters, descends 925 m, and ends 13 km later at Lauchernalp lift station, which descends to Wiler in Lötschental, to reach Goppenstein via Postbus, back to Kandersteg via train. You can also reverse the route or stay overnight in dorms at Lötschepass hut.
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  • Explore the elegant subway and slot of Leprechaun Canyon in North Wash, between Hanksville & Hite, Utah, USA. Desert varnish coats the Triassic-Jurassic sandstone. Directions: from Hanksville, drive 26 miles south on Highway 95 to the junction with Utah 276 and stay left on H95 for another 2.0 miles across a wash, then park on the left (east) along a short road within the first 100 feet before its sandtrap end. Walk up the wash of Leprechaun Canyon 2 miles round trip to a subway which narrows to a tight squeeze called Belfast Boulevard. Manganese-rich desert varnish requires thousands of years to coat a rock face that is protected from precipitation and wind erosion. The varnish likely originates from airborne dust and external surface runoff, including: clay minerals, oxides and hydroxides of manganese (Mn) and/or iron (Fe), sand grains, trace elements, and usually organic matter. Streaks of black varnish often occur where water cascades over cliffs protected from wind. Varnish color varies from shades of brown to black. Manganese-poor, iron-rich varnishes are red to orange, and intermediate concentrations are shaded brown. Manganese-oxidizing microbes may explain the unusually high concentration of manganese in black desert varnish, which can be smooth and shiny where densest. Nearby, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area is just 8 miles south on H95.
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  • Admire fanciful hoodoos, mushroom shapes, and rock pinnacles in Goblin Valley State Park, in Emery County between the towns of Green River and Hanksville, in central Utah, USA. The Goblin rocks eroded from Entrada Sandstone, which is comprised of alternating layers of sandstone (cross-bedded by former tides), siltstone, and shale debris which were eroded from former highlands and redeposited in beds on a former tidal flat. As part of the Colorado Plateau, the San Rafael Swell is a giant dome-shaped anticline of rock (160-175 million years old) that was pushed up during the Paleocene Laramide Orogeny 60-40 million years ago. Since then, infrequent but powerful flash floods have eroded the sedimentary rocks into valleys, canyons, gorges, mesas, and buttes.
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  • Find fascinating Jurassic sandstone rock patterns in Wild Horse Canyon on federal BLM land in the San Rafael Swell (160-175 million years old), Utah, USA. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior that administers American public lands.
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  • A limb of driftwood lodges high in the slot of Crack Canyon, on federal BLM land in San Rafael Swell, near Goblin Valley State Park, Utah, USA. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior that administers American public lands.
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  • Hike through Grand Wash, in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, USA. Capitol Reef National Park is centered upon the 100-mile-long Waterpocket Fold, the steep eastern limb of the Circle Cliffs Uplift, formed in Late Cretaceous time, during the Laramide Orogeny. Pressure caused by the subduction of the Farallon Plate beneath the North American Plate along the west coast caused several huge folds like this in southeast Utah, USA. Steeply tilted Triassic and Jurassic rocks form the hogbacks of the Waterpocket Fold and Capitol Reef, which is built of dark-red dune-formed Wingate Sandstone, thinly bedded river deposits of the Kayenta Formation, crested by the massive, white, dune-formed Navajo Sandstone. Honeycomb weathering: rainwater soaks into sandstone, dissolves its cement, and redeposits it near the surface as the water evaporates, forming a resistant outer layer, pockmarked with holes into the soft inner layers enlarged by wind and moisture.
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  • Navajo Sandstone (fossilized cross-bedded sand dune of the Jurassic period) exfoliates into a pattern along Rim Overlook Trail in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, USA. Iron oxides (hematite and goethite) bled through the Navajo sandstone layers to paint the rock yellow, orange, and brown. Capitol Reef National Park is centered upon the 100-mile-long Waterpocket Fold, the steep eastern limb of the Circle Cliffs Uplift, raised in Late Cretaceous time, during the Laramide Orogeny. Pressure caused by the subduction of the Farallon Plate beneath the North American Plate along the west coast caused several huge folds like this in southeast Utah, USA.
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  • Peeling trunks of white birch trees grow in front of fall foliage colors reflected in Upper Hadlock Pond, in Acadia National Park, on Mount Desert Island, near Bar Harbor, Maine, USA. Hike granite peaks and enjoy Atlantic coastal scenery. Originally created as Lafayette National Park in 1919, the oldest National Park east of the Mississippi River, it was renamed Acadia in 1929. During the last glacial maximum 21,000 years ago, glaciers measuring up to 9,000 feet thick cut into granite ridges, sculpting the fjord-like Somes Sound.
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  • Moss drapery on branches. Lynn Canyon is a municipal park established in 1912 at 3663 Park Road, in North Vancouver, British Columbia, V7J 3G3, Canada. Phone 604-990-3755.
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  • Bloedel Conservatory is a domed lush paradise where you can experience the colors and scents of the tropics year-round, within Queen Elizabeth Park, atop the City of Vancouver’s highest point. Bloedel Conservatory, Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Address: 4600 Cambie St. From Little Mountain (501 feet), see panoramic views over the city crowned by the mountains of the North Shore. A former rock quarry has been converted into beautiful Queen Elizabeth Park with flower gardens, public art, grassy knolls. In Bloedel Conservatory, more than 200 free-flying exotic birds, 500 exotic plants and flowers thrive within a temperature-controlled environment. A donation from Prentice Bloedel built the domed structure, which was dedicated in 1969 "to a better appreciation and understanding of the world of plants," and is jointly operated by Vancouver Park Board and VanDusen Botanical Garden Association.
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  • Support timbers decay in stone wall at Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico, USA. Pueblo Bonito is a monumental public building (Puebloan Great House) occupied from around 828 to 1126 AD, now preserved in Chaco Canyon. The huge D-shaped complex of Pueblo Bonito enclosed two plazas with dozens of ceremonial kivas, plus 600 rooms towering 4 and 5 stories above the valley floor. The functions of this building included ceremony, administration, trading, storage, hospitality, communications, astronomy, and burial, but few living quarters. Chaco Culture NHP hosts the densest and most exceptional concentration of pueblos in the American Southwest and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, located in remote northwestern New Mexico, between Albuquerque and Farmington. From 850 AD to 1250 AD, Chaco Canyon advanced then declined as a major center of culture for the Ancient Pueblo Peoples. Chacoans quarried sandstone blocks and hauled timber from great distances, assembling fifteen major complexes that remained the largest buildings in North America until the 1800s. Climate change may have led to its abandonment, beginning with a 50-year drought starting in 1130.
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  • Eroded badlands of Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness, south of Farmington, in San Juan County, New Mexico, USA. This fantasy world of strange rock formations is made of interbedded sandstone, shale, mudstone, coal, and silt. These rock layers have weathered into eerie hoodoos (pinnacles, spires, and cap rocks). This was once a riverine delta west of an ancient sea, the Western Interior Seaway, which covered much of New Mexico 70 million years ago. Swamps built up organic material which became beds of lignite. Water disappeared and left behind a 1400-foot (430 m) layer of jumbled sandstone, mudstone, shale, and coal. The ancient sedimentary deposits were uplifted with the rest of the Colorado Plateau, starting about 25 million years ago. Waters of the last ice age eroded the hoodoos now visible. The high desert widerness of Bisti is managed by the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
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  • Icicles freeze over a splashing stream in Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park, Washington, USA.
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  • Green and purple-tinged prickly pear cactus / Opuntia genus forms a thorny pattern along Lower Calf Creek Falls trail, in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, Utah, USA.
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  • The Remarkable Rocks form fantastic shapes in Flinders Chase National Park, Kangaroo Island, South Australia. The Remarkable Rocks began as magma injected into a sedimentary rock layer and crystallized into a single granite monolith a few kilometers below the earths surface. Subsurface weathering cracked the granite along joint planes and created corestones. Erosion peeled away the surface and revealed the corestones, which were sculpted asymmetrically by the affects of rain and prevailing southerly winds.
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  • Blue dikes infuse yellow orange sedimentary rocks at Dawson Pass in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. Since 1932, Canada and USA have shared Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, which UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site (1995) containing two Biosphere Reserves (1976). Rocks in the park are primarily sedimentary layers deposited in shallow seas over 1.6 billion to 800 million years ago. During the tectonic formation of the Rocky Mountains 170 million years ago, the Lewis Overthrust displaced these old rocks over newer Cretaceous age rocks.
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  • Billion-year-old sedimentary rock erodes into orange patterns in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. Rocks in the park are primarily sedimentary layers deposited in shallow seas over 1.6 billion to 800 million years ago. During the tectonic formation of the Rocky Mountains 170 million years ago, the Lewis Overthrust displaced these old rocks over newer Cretaceous age rocks. Since 1932, Canada and USA have shared Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, which UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site (1995) containing two Biosphere Reserves (1976).
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  • A kerosene lamp hangs in a glass window of a late 1800s cabin preserved at the outdoor history museum of Nevada City, Montana, USA. Nevada City was a booming placer gold mining camp from 1863-1876, but quickly declined into a virtual ghost town. This fascinating town inspires you to imagination what life must have been like in early Montana when gold was discovered at nearby Alder Gulch. More than 90 buildings from across Montana have been gathered for preservation at Nevada City, mostly owned by the people of the State of Montana, and managed by the Montana Heritage Commission. In 2001, the excellent PBS television series "Frontier House" used one of the buildings and its furnishings to train families in re-creating pioneer life. A miner's court trial and hanging of George Ives in the main street of Nevada City was the catalyst for forming the Vigilantes, a group of citizens famous for taking justice into their own hands in 1863-1864. Directions: go 27 miles southeast of Twin Bridges, Montana on Highway 287.
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  • The "Fire Wave" is a one mile round trip walk in the White Domes area of Valley of Fire State Park, the oldest state park in Nevada (dedicated in 1935). Starting more than 150 million years ago, great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs were compressed, uplifting, faulted, and eroded to form the park's fiery red sandstone formations. The park also boasts fascinating patterns in limestone, shale, and conglomerate rock. The park adjoins Lake Mead National Recreation Area at the Virgin River confluence, at an elevation of 2000 to 2600 feet (610-790 m), 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Las Vegas, USA. Park entry from Interstate 15 passes through the Moapa Indian Reservation. (Panorama stitched from 12 photos.)
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  • Sunrise light strikes Thor's Hammer and other orange and white hoodoos in Bryce National Park, Utah, USA. Bryce is actually not a canyon but a giant natural amphitheater created by erosion along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The ancient river and lake bed sedimentary rocks erode into hoodoos by the force of wind, water, and ice.
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  • Sunrise light strikes orange and white hoodoos in Bryce National Park, Utah, USA. Bryce is actually not a canyon but a giant natural amphitheater created by erosion along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The ancient river and lake bed sedimentary rocks erode into hoodoos by the force of wind, water, and ice.
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  • Sunrise light strikes orange and white hoodoos in Bryce National Park, Utah, USA. Bryce is actually not a canyon but a giant natural amphitheater created by erosion along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The ancient river and lake bed sedimentary rocks erode into hoodoos by the force of wind, water, and ice.
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  • Flash floods have eroded a slot of Navajo sandstone into a natural cathedral at Lower Antelope Canyon, in Antelope Canyon Navajo Tribal Park, near Page, Arizona, USA. (The older spelling "Navaho" is no longer used by the Navajo, an American Indian group who call themselves Diné, or Dineh, "The People.") For licensing options, please inquire.
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  • The last orange and yellow leaves drop in early November at the unique Natural Tunnel State Park, near Duffield, Virginia, where both a train and a river share the same natural limestone cave, measuring 850 feet (255 meters) long. The railroad has used this tunnel since 1890. Natural Tunnel began forming during the early Pleistocene Epoch and was fully formed by about one million years ago. The Glenita fault line running through the tunnel, combined with moving water and naturally forming carbonic acid may have formed Natural Tunnel through the surrounding limestone and dolomitic bedrock. After the tunnel formed and the regional water table lowered, Stock Creek diverted underground, then later took the path of least resistance through the Natural Tunnel, through Purchase Ridge, flowing south to join the Clinch River. Daniel Boone is believed to have been the first white man to see it. William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) dubbed it the "Eighth Wonder of the World"; and the tunnel has been a tourist attraction for more than a century. Natural Tunnel State Park was created in 1967, and opened to the public in 1971. For a time, a passenger train line ran through Natural Tunnel, and today, the railroad still carries coal through it to the southeast USA. Published in "Light Travel: Photography on the Go" book by Tom Dempsey 2009, 2010.
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  • Glacier-scoured rock pattern near Burro Pass, in Hoover Wilderness of Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, Eastern Sierra Nevada, Mono County, California, USA.
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  • Sky and mountains lit by sunset reflect in a wavy pond south of Nutter Lake in Hoover Wilderness of Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, Eastern Sierra Nevada, Mono County, California, USA.
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  • Yellow green and purple rock pattern along the trail to Shadow Lake (7.5 miles, 1200 ft gain) in Ansel Adams Wilderness, Inyo National Forest, Sierra Nevada, Mammoth Lakes village, California, USA.
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  • Sandstone patterns along trail to Zebra Slot Canyon, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah, USA. From Hole-in-the-Rock Road, hike east on a well-trodden but unmarked path, 5 miles round trip with 450 feet total gain to Zebra Slot.
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  • Rock pattern at Little Redfish Lake. Sawtooth National Recreation Area, Idaho, USA. The Sawtooth Range (part of the Rocky Mountains) are made of pink granite of the 50 million year old Sawtooth batholith. Sawtooth Wilderness, managed by the US Forest Service within Sawtooth National Recreation Area, has some of the best air quality in the lower 48 states (says the US EPA), except when compromised by forest fires.
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  • Popcorn sandstone pattern in Bell Canyon. Hike a classic loop from Little Wild Horse Canyon to Bell Canyon, in the San Rafael Reef, Utah, USA. This great walk (an 8.6-mile circuit with 900 feet gain) is a short drive on a paved road from Goblin Valley State Park. The hike via fascinating narrow slot canyons and open mesas requires some scrambling over rocks, possibly through shallow water holes (which were dry for us on Sept 20, 2020 but wet in April 2006). Thanks to the greatest legislative victory in the history of SUWA (Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance), in 2019, Congress passed the Emery County Public Land Management Act, which declared 663,000 acres of wilderness, including Little Wild Horse Canyon Wilderness, in San Rafael Swell Recreation Area, Utah, USA. The Navajo and Wingate sandstone of the San Rafael Reef was uplifted fifty million years ago into a striking bluff which now runs from Price to Hanksville, bisected by Interstate 70 at a breach fifteen miles west of the town of Green River.
    20.10US1-0482.jpg
  • The honeycomb weathering on this vertical sandstone wall is a type of tafoni. Hike a classic loop from Little Wild Horse Canyon to Bell Canyon, in the San Rafael Reef, Utah, USA. This great walk (an 8.6-mile circuit with 900 feet gain) is a short drive on a paved road from Goblin Valley State Park. The hike via fascinating narrow slot canyons and open mesas requires some scrambling over rocks, possibly through shallow water holes (which were dry for us on Sept 20, 2020 but wet in April 2006). Thanks to the greatest legislative victory in the history of SUWA (Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance), in 2019, Congress passed the Emery County Public Land Management Act, which declared 663,000 acres of wilderness, including Little Wild Horse Canyon Wilderness, in San Rafael Swell Recreation Area, Utah, USA. The Navajo and Wingate sandstone of the San Rafael Reef was uplifted fifty million years ago into a striking bluff which now runs from Price to Hanksville, bisected by Interstate 70 at a breach fifteen miles west of the town of Green River.
    20.10US1-0397.jpg
  • Zebra Slot Canyon, Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, Utah, USA. From Hole-in-the-Rock Road, hike east on a well-trodden but unmarked path, 5 miles round trip with 450 feet total gain to Zebra Slot.
    20.10US1-0243.jpg
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