… was established on this date in 1978.
Four Spanish frontier missions, part of a colonization system that stretched across the Spanish Southwest in the 17th, 18th, 19th centuries, are preserved here. They include Missions San Jose, San Juan, Espada, and Concepcion. The park, containing many cultural sites along with some natural areas, was established in 1978. The park covers about 819 acres.
“Weary of plastic litter, Grand Canyon National Park officials were in the final stages of imposing a ban on the sale of disposable water bottles in the Grand Canyon late last year when the nation’s parks chief abruptly blocked the plan after conversations with Coca-Cola, a major donor to the National Park Foundation.”
Parks Chief Blocked Plan for Grand Canyon Bottle Ban
Plastic bottles are 30% of the park’s trash.
If you want to go to Disneyland, you should go the first week of November. Jill, who is a Disney aficionado (Disney World last December, Disneyland in August and last week), sends along evidence from last Thursday.
. . . was authorized 11 years ago today.
On November 29, 1864, Colonel John M. Chivington led approximately 700 U.S. volunteer soldiers to a village of about 500 Cheyenne and Arapaho people camped along the banks of Big Sandy Creek in southeastern Colorado. Although the Cheyenne and Arapaho people believed they were under the protection of the U.S. Army, Chivington’s troops attacked and killed about 150 people, mainly women, children, and the elderly.
… was renamed and redisignated on this date in 1992. It had been Fort Jefferson National Monument since 1935.
Almost 70 miles (112.9 km) west of Key West lies a cluster of seven islands, composed of coral reefs and sand, called the Dry Tortugas. Along with the surrounding shoals and waters, they make up Dry Tortugas National Park. The area is known for its famous bird and marine life, its legends of pirates and sunken gold, and its military past.
Eighty-eight years ago today President Calvin Coolidge signed a proclamation creating Carlsbad Cave National Monument and its “extraordinary proportions and… unusual beauty and variety of natural decoration…” It became a national park in 1930.
As you pass through the Chihuahuan Desert and Guadalupe Mountains of southeastern New Mexico and west Texas—filled with prickly pear, chollas, sotols and agaves—you might never guess there are more than 300 known caves beneath the surface. The park contains 113 of these caves, formed when sulfuric acid dissolved the surrounding limestone, creating some of the largest caves in North America.
. . . was proclaimed on October 25th, 1949. It is one of two National Park Service sites in Iowa (the other being Herbert Hoover National Historic Site).
An “Effigy Mound” American Indian culture developed over 1,000 years ago placing thousands of earthen mounds across the landscape of what (today) includes parts of Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois.
Over 200 mounds are preserved intact within the Monument; 31 are effigies in the shape of bears and birds – commemorating the passing of loved ones and the sacred beliefs of these ancient peoples.
The mounds preserved here are considered ceremonial and sacred sites by many Americans, especially the Monument’s 12 affiliated American Indian tribes. A visit offers opportunities to contemplate the meanings of the mounds, the peoples who built them and the relationships to their modern descendants. The 2,526 acre Monument includes 206 American Indian mounds situated in a natural setting, and located within the one of the most picturesque sections within Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area and along the “Great River Road” of the Mississippi River – a National Scenic Byway.
… was established on this date in 1972.
Cumberland Island is 17.5 miles long and totals 36,415 acres of which 16,850 are marsh, mud flats, and tidal creeks. It is well known for its sea turtles, wild turkeys, wild horses, armadillos, abundant shore birds, dune fields, maritime forests, salt marshes, and historic structures.
Source: National Park Service
… was authorized on this date in 1972.
This 50-million year old lake bed is one of the richest fossil localities in the world. Recorded in limestone are dynamic and complete paleoecosystems that spanned two million years. Preservation is so complete that it allows for detailed study of climate change and its effects on biological communities.
Visitors discover that this resource displays the interrelationships of plants, insects, fishes, reptiles and mammals, like few other known fossil sites. The relevance and challenge of study and preservation of this ancient ecosystem are equal to those of a modern ecosystem.
The surface topography of Fossil Butte is now covered by a high cold desert. Sagebrush is the dominant vegetation at the lower elevations, while limber pine and aspen occur on the slopes. Pronghorn, Mule deer and a variety of birds are commonly seen. Moose, elk and beaver are sometimes observed.
Source: National Park Service
In 2003 with my brother John and his dear friend Fran, I made my one and, alas, only visit to Chaco Culture National Historical Park. I need to return.
This post was published in a different form eight years ago today.
According to the National Park Service, “Chaco Canyon was a major center of ancestral Puebloan culture between AD 850 and 1250. It was a hub of ceremony, trade, and administration for the prehistoric Four Corners area – unlike anything before or since.”
“Chaco is remarkable,” the Park Service continues, “for its monumental public and ceremonial buildings, and its distinctive architecture. To construct the buildings, along with the associated Chacoan roads, ramps, dams, and mounds, required a great deal of well organized and skillful planning, designing, resource gathering, and construction. The Chacoan people combined pre-planned architectural designs, astronomical alignments, geometry, landscaping, and engineering to create an ancient urban center of spectacular public architecture – one that still amazes and inspires us a thousand years later.”
NewMexiKen visited Chaco Culture National Historical Park for the first time Sunday and Monday. More than anything Chaco resembles — in concept, not appearance — an assemblage of European monastaries. Relatively few people lived there, yet the dozens of “Great Houses” were extensive with hundreds of rooms, scores of kivas and large plazas.
… was authorized on this date in 1978. It is one of four national historic sites in Kansas; there is also a national preserve in Kansas.
Promises made and broken! A town attacked at dawn! Thousands made homeless by war! Soldiers fighting settlers! Each of these stories is a link in the chain of events that encircled Fort Scott from 1842-73. All of the site’s structures, its parade ground, and its tallgrass prairie bear witness to this era when the country was forged from a young republic into a united transcontinental nation.
… was authorized 45 years ago today (1966).
Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts began as a gift to the American people from Catherine Filene Shouse. Encroaching roads and suburbs inspired Mrs. Shouse to preserve this former farm as a park. In 1966 Congress accepted Mrs. Shouse’s gift and authorized Wolf Trap Farm Park (its original name) as the first national park for the performing arts. Through a fruitful partnership between the National Park Service and the Wolf Trap Foundation, Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts offers a wealth of natural and cultural resources to the community and to the nation.
NewMexiKen and family once upon a time lived in one of the encroaching suburbs just down the street from Wolf Trap Farm Park.
Yesterday, I noticed this item from NewMexiKen from 2009. I sent it to Jill and Byron who camped in Yosemite and Kings Canyon in August.
If You’re Going to Yosemite National Park
… don’t take food, don’t take children, and don’t drive a minivan.
Our observations indicate that bears entering minivans typically did so by popping open a rear side window and it seems that this was easier for minivans compared to other vehicle classes. We note that bears are strong and well equipped (long claws) to open a variety of structurally sound materials (e.g., logs and ant mounds), and we commonly saw car doors bent open, windows on all sides of the vehicle broken, and seats ripped out, all of which appeared effortless for bears.
National Parks Traveler has the details on a USDA report.
These photos were taken by Jill at Kings Canyon. Click for larger versions or a gallery of all three.
In light of all this, last night I heard back from Byron.
Our plan would be to drive Jill’s minvan out there in a few years and leave a bunch of food in it… then take another car to a different campground.
Bluebook value= nice down payment on a new minivan without the hassle of selling it. Plus it isn’t an auto accident, but rather force of nature, so deductible =$100
… was upgraded from national monument on October 4th in 1994, but I’ve thought it was the 14th so here it is again on the wrong date.
It had first been proclaimed a national monument March 1, 1933. Currently 91,439.71 acres, 70,905 classified as wilderness.
This unique desert is home to the most recognizable cactus in the world, the majestic saguaro. Visitors of all ages are fascinated and enchanted by these desert giants, especially their many interesting and complex interrelationships with other desert life. Saguaro cacti provide their sweet fruits to hungry desert animals. They also provide homes to a variety of birds, such as the Harris’ hawk, Gila woodpecker and the tiny elf owl. Yet, the saguaro requires other desert plants for its very survival. During the first few years of a very long life, a young saguaro needs the shade and protection of a nurse plant such as the palo verde tree. With an average life span of 150 years, a mature saguaro may grow to a height of 50 feet and weigh over 10 tons.
. . . was established 121 years ago today (1890).
Not just a great Valley…
but a shrine to human foresight, strength of granite, power of glaciers, the persistence of life, and the tranquility of the High Sierra.
Yosemite National Park, one of the first wilderness parks in the United States, is best known for its waterfalls, but within its nearly 1,200 square miles, you can find deep valleys, grand meadows, ancient giant sequoias, a vast wilderness area, and much more.
At the top of the Washington Monument.
… was proclaimed a national monument on this date in 1918. It became a national park and preserve in 1980.
Katmai National Monument was created in 1918 to preserve the famed Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, a spectacular forty square mile, 100 to 700 foot deep ash flow deposited by Novarupta Volcano. A National Park & Preserve since 1980, today Katmai is still famous for volcanoes, but also for brown bears, pristine waterways with abundant fish, remote wilderness, and a rugged coastline.
President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Devils Tower a national monument 105 years ago today. It was the first landmark set aside under the Antiquities Act.
The nearly vertical monolith known as Devils Tower rises 1,267 feet above the meandering Belle Fourche River. Once hidden below the earth’s surface, erosion has stripped away the softer rock layers revealing Devils Tower.
Known by several northern plains tribes as Bears Lodge, it is a sacred site of worship for many American Indians. The rolling hills of this 1,347 acre park are covered with pine forests, deciduous woodlands, and prairie grasslands. Deer, prairie dogs, and other wildlife are abundant.
Source: National Park Service
NewMexiKen, who has circumnavigated Devils Tower, thinks it should be renamed Bears Lodge.
Roosevelt added several more monuments after Devils Tower, including El Morro, Montezuma Castle, Petrified Forest, and Chaco Canyon within the first year of the Act.
Sec. 2. That the President of the United States is hereby authorized, in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States to be national monuments, and may reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which in all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be protected: Provided, That when such objects are situated upon a tract covered by a bona fied unperfected claim or held in private ownership, the tract, or so much thereof as may be necessary for the proper care and management of the object, may be relinquished to the Government, and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to accept the relinquishment of such tracts in behalf of the Government of the United States.
For the record I have already been to:
São Paulo
Montevideo
Buenos Aires
Lisbon
Madrid
Geneva
Cologne (airport only)
Bonn
Frankfurt (airport only)
Tokyo
Beijing
Hong Kong
Macau
St. Petersburg
Helsinki
Stockholm
Ankara
Istanbul
Nicosia
Athens
Yaounde
Douala
Lagos
Zurich (airport only)
Paris
Havana
Warsaw
Moscow
Alma Ata
Prague (airport only)
Bratislava
Vienna
All 50 states, Canada and Mexico.
Today’s Photo, sort of. Very cool.
The Valles Caldera is one of the most beautiful places in America. For 10 years however, the administration of the National Preserve has become one of continually unfulfilled expectations. Two weeks ago, Joey Peters of Santa Fe Reporter had an excellent report on the political morass that binds this extraordinary piece of land, Burned Ambition. I highly recommend the article, but here’s a brief excerpt:
The Valles Caldera National Preserve was established in 2000 in a class of its own; no other wilderness area in the United States is run like it. Created as an experiment, it’s essentially a public park operated with a private mentality. A presidentially appointed board of trustees operates the land. The trustees work closely with the US Forest Service, which also manages the nearby Santa Fe National Forest. The board’s goal is to make the caldera financially self-sustainable without excluding the public from the wilderness area.
But in its 11 years as a public park, Valles Caldera is nowhere near on track to meet its 2015 deadline of financial self-sustainability. In fiscal year 2010—one of the trust’s better years to date—the caldera recovered just over $700,000 of its $3.5 million in operating costs.
For the public, accessing the caldera has proven restrictive and costly, prompting nearby residents and interest groups to push for a change in management. But the aftermath of the Las Conchas fire, which charred 30,000 acres of the preserve—along with several square miles of the surrounding land—now further complicates the caldera’s already uncertain future.
Five years ago the Preserve had a rare public day, and even that mixed disaster and joy. I posted this at the time.
NewMexiKen has written about the Valles Caldera previously. The Valle Grande alone, just the one-fourth of the Preserve that’s visible from New Mexico Highway 4, is magnificent.
As Scott Momaday wrote in House Made of Dawn:
Of all the places that he knew, this valley alone could reflect the great spatial majesty of the sky. It scooped out of the dark peaks like the well of a great, gathering storm, deep umber and blue and smoke-colored. The view across the diameter was magnificent; it was an unbelievably great expanse. As many times as he had been there in the past, each new sight of it always brought him up short, and he had to catch his breath. Just there, it seemed, a strange and brilliant light lay upon the world, and all the objects in the landscape were washed clean and set away in the distance.
Saturday [August 26, 2006], the Trust that has managed the Preserve since it came into federal ownership in 2000, opened the property to all comers. Normally access is tightly restricted, so it was a big event for many of us — a chance to see the back country, if only from the window of a car. According to local news reports, about 1500 vehicles showed up, more than expected and more than could be accommodated. Rains had washed out parts of the planned tour route and the result was congestion unfitting for such a beautiful place.
Still, we were glad we went. Even driving just a few miles across Valle Grande changed perceptions and made it seem beautiful all over again.
Photos rarely serve the Valle Grande well. For one, its almost too big for the human eye, let alone the two-dimensional reproduction. That said, here a few photos taken Saturday, including some of the traffic. You may click on any image for a larger version.
Traffic backed up in both directions on Hwy 4 waiting to turn in.
View showing the road into Valle Grande, and a way of travel many of us envied.
Some of the beauty found, especially in our verdant summer of 2006.
That’s the East Fork of the Jemez River.
Too beautiful for words. Too beautiful for photos.
Too many car-bound nature lovers snake along at a few miles an hour.
Would you like a rider, good lookin’? How about you? Hmm, maybe not.
America! Who likes it? It’s merely a schizophrenic jumble of 50 warring personalities all vying to be number one. But of course they can’t all be. So which state is the best? And more importantly, which one is worst? Well, we’ve set out to determine just that. Welcome to the Worst States in America.
Gawker ranks The Worst 50 States in America. New York is the best. Which could be the worst?
… was proclaimed as such 78 years ago today. This from the National Park Service:
A huge natural amphitheater has been eroded out of the variegated Pink Cliffs (Claron Formation) near Cedar City, Utah. Millions of years of sedimentation, uplift and erosion have created a deep canyon of rock walls, fins, spires and columns, that spans some three miles, and is over 2,000 feet deep. The rim of the canyon is over 10,000 feet above sea level, and is forested with islands of Englemann spruce, subalpine fir and aspen; separated by broad meadows of brilliant summertime wild flowers.
Three boys you might have read about on these pages at a place you might also have read about on these pages. Photo taken by their mother. There is a larger version if you click on the image.
