My
Trip West
For the last two weeks, I
have been on a western vacation; this is the seventh time that I have rode
across our great country to see the wonderful sights; I will share some of the
locations that I recently visited in the order.
Nearly all the national parks, monuments, and privately owned
destinations had a video about the features and history of these special places. If you tour the west in the future, be sure
to watch the documentary films on each of the sites you visit; the shows are
short but very informative and will help you see and appreciate these geological,
geographical, and historical areas of interest.
Painted
Desert and Petrified Forest National Monument
The vistas of the various
colors of the Painted Desert are the design of the great artist above. Though now arid and desolate, the Petrified
Forest was at one time a great forest; the huge trees that remain are now stone
and create a remarkable landscape. Be
sure to walk among the stone giants that once grew in very humid regions but
are now frozen in time in a desert of remarkable beauty.
Meteor
Crater
Meteor Crater is privately
owned and the cost for admission is $16.00 per person; but if you are
interested in seeing the best preserved impact crater, it is worth the
cost. The crater is a mile wide and some
700 feet deep. You can stand on the
crater’s rim and imagine the colossal collision that occurred to create this
vast hole.
Sunset
Volcano National Monument
Just north of Flagstaff,
Arizona is a series of volcanic peaks; one of those is the Sunset Volcano where
you can walk among the lava fields and feel the cinders beneath your feet. Walking trails allow you a first-hand view of
the volcano area; informative signs tell of the history of the area and the
people that once called the place home.
Grand
Canyon National Park
Desert View on the south rim
is my favorite place in the Grand Canyon.
The first time I visited the Grand Canyon, the western portion was my
favorite spot; but, that end of the south rim has been so commercialized it has
lost most of its original grandeur. Tour
buses from Las Vegas and Flagstaff fill the area with foreign visitors and the
crowds are difficult for me to deal with; but it is the Grand Canyon and is a
sight to behold.
Mesa
Verde National Monument
Mesa Verde means green table
and was one of the most exciting adventures during the whole trip. While touring the Balcony House, I climbed a
wooden ladder on the side of the cliff dwelling that was 32 feet high; the
other three ladders we had to climb were only ten feet or more high, but
exciting. Of course, climbing a rock face
with only a chain and footholds was definitely a challenge, but it was our exit
to the tour; a fall would have meant certain death. Our tour guide was excellent and told us
about the people who lived in the cliff dwellings for some 700 years. We also toured Spruce House which is the only
self guided tour of the cliff dwellings in the park. Prior to the Spruce House tour, we looked
through the vast but wonderful museum that would take a day to absorb.
Natural
Bridges National Monument
Late in the afternoon, we
arrived at Natural Bridges National Monument; the stone bridges were in a vast
river canyon. The size of the three
natural bridges was amazing with heights and spans over 200 feet. The area was absolutely beautiful and we only
saw one other group during our tour.
Arches
National Park
Though very arid and dry,
the rock formations and window rocks in the park are worth the effort to see;
several rock arches are found throughout the thirty or so mile ride through the
area. The Balanced Rock and high rock
spires are just a few of the unique features scattered across the landscape.
Canyonlands
National Park
Island in the Sky of
Canyonlands is a must see if you go out west; the area is a northern extension
of the Grand Canyon and is just or more impressive. The Colorado and Green Rivers carve the
landscape beyond description; the only way you can appreciate its beauty is to
visit the site. Canyonlands and Arches
are not far from Moab, Utah and contain some of the most impressive rock
formations and canyons in the country.
Yellowstone
National Park
Even though Yellowstone does
not contain the great peaks and high mountain ranges as Glacier National Park
and the Canadian Rockies, it is my favorite national park to visit because of
the great herds of buffalo that roam free, the geysers and hot springs, the
huge waterfalls of the Yellowstone River found in the grand canyon of
Yellowstone, the beautiful and vast Yellowstone Lake, and the countless
wildlife. We watched two big herds of
buffalo being forced back into the park by the rangers on horseback; I counted
192 animals in one herd that were being moved into the Madison River Valley
just outside of West Yellowstone, Montana.
The park ranger told me that the buffalo would be killed if they were
not forced back into the park; it is illegal for buffalo to be in Montana after
May 15, since the cattle ranchers move their cattle on to Bureau of Land
Management lands after that date. Some
favorite spots to visit in Yellowstone are Fountain Flats, Hayden Valley,
Mammoth Hot Springs, and Lamar Valley; of course, you should never go to
Yellowstone without visiting Old Faithful.
Glacier
National Park
East Glacier has one of the
remaining lodges that were made by the northern railroad in the early 1900’s;
the area was to be the Swiss Alps of America.
You must walk inside the building and look at the huge trees that
support the structure; I walked up to one of the timbers and could not reach
half way around the massive tree.
Glacier has the sharpest most rugged peaks of the Rocky Mountains found
in the United States other than Alaska; and, these snow covered peaks are only
comparable to the Canadian Rockies.
Places to visit are the following: East Glacier; Going to the Sun Road;
Many Glaciers; West Glacier; and Polebridge which is a very isolated community.
Devil’s
Tower National Monument
Devil’s Tower is a huge
monolithic rock that rises some 800 feet from its base and sits on top of a
small mountain; I walked all the way around this enormous rock formation. If you visit the site, be sure to walk to the
base and look up at the towering rock that was formed thousands of years ago by
molten rock that cooled into the vertical column.
Crazy
Horse Memorial
Crazy Horse is my favorite
private facility that celebrates American Indian people; this mountain in the
Black Hills of South Dakota will become the world’s largest rock carving being
some 600 feet high and some 700 feet in length.
Presently the face of Crazy Horse is complete; all of the presidential carvings
on Mt. Rushmore can be placed in the head of Crazy Horse. The Crazy Horse carving was started on June
3, 1948; I went to the 50th anniversary of the carving and since my
initial trip the place has blossomed beyond imagination. If you are in the Black Hills of South
Dakota, Crazy Horse is a must see! The
admission is $10.00 per person or $27.00 per vehicle, but it is worth every
cent.
Mt.
Rushmore National Memorial
Mt. Rushmore is nice to see
one time; since this was my third time to visit the area, I just to a quick
look and was ready for more adventure.
Badlands
National Park
I have visited the Badlands
three times; and I saw Wounded Knee Cemetery and the Badlands that were
featured in the movie Thunderheart starring Val Kilmer. The Badlands National Park is just north of Pine
Ridge and Rosebud of the Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The landscape is amazing and is considered
sacred land by Indian people of the area.
If you are in the area, be sure you tour the Badlands National Park; I
will never forget that just after dusk a full moon was rising over the desolate
landscape and was awesome.
Cahokia
Indian Mounds
My second visit to Cahokia
was not as great as the first time; but, I walked to the top of the Monks Mound
that stands 100 feet high and looked across the vast Illinois landscape. As I was listening to the tour guide tell
about the area being abandoned by some 20,000 people, I got the biggest laugh
of the trip and lost my composure; therefore, I must share. The tour guide was obviously trying to be
funny but I lost it when he said, “One
day the old chief woke up and went to the edge of the mound to view his vast
domain. To his surprise the chief said, ‘where
the hell did everybody go’?” If you
are in the area, visit Cahokia; one of the best prehistoric American Indian museums
in America.
I must mention two other
places that I visited two summers ago:
Sequoyah
National Park
To stand at the base of the
General Sherman, the world’s largest tree is totally amazing. If you have not seen these giant trees, you
need to go and you will become a tree hugger like me.
Yosemite
National Park
The waterfalls of Yosemite
are the most amazing that I have ever laid eyes on; they are totally awesome
and tumble from enormous heights.
