Category: Places & Travel

San Luis Valley and Great Sand Dunes National Park

This was first published here five years ago today.

The San Luis Valley is said to be the largest mountain valley in the world. It runs north-south for 125 miles between the San Juan and Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ) mountain ranges in south central Colorado. Both of these ranges have numerous peaks above 14,000 feet (4300m).

Just south of Poncha Pass, the narrower northern end of the San Luis Valley is an extraordinarily picturesque landscape — even this week without snow on the mountains. Further south the distance between the ranges widens to 65 miles and the Valley becomes broad and flat — and less picturesque. The altitude of the Valley averages near 7,500 feet.

The Rio Grande del Norte rises in the San Juan Mountains and flows generally eastward into the San Luis Valley. East of Alamosa the “Great River of the North” bends south toward New Mexico. Through centuries the river deposited sand and silt from the San Juan Mountains along its meandering, changing course across the Valley. The prevailing wind blew these deposits eastward toward the Sangre de Cristos, where they were trapped at the foot of the mountains. Today the resulting sand pile is known as the Great Sand Dunes National Monument and Preserve.

The dunes tower as high as 750 feet (230m) and cover nearly 40 square miles. They are the tallest dunes in North America. Sufficient rain and snow fall to keep the dunes stable, though the surface dries quickly and the winds sculpt and restructure the surface continuously. Here the expression “leave nothing but footprints” has little meaning as footprints will soon be gone.

Hiking in the dunes is encouraged (with the usual caveats about heat, water, lightning and not getting lost). Showers and changing rooms are provided near the parking lot — just as at a beach. Walking across the broad, sandy space between the parking lot and the first dunes and then up into the dunes I was surprised by the amount of sand stowing away in my socks and shoes. The sand makes walking more strenuous than on more solid surfaces. It also makes sliding and rolling appealing.

The Sangre de Cristos loom more than a mile above the dunes, curving around them from the north to the southeast. The Valley land to the west is being acquired by the National Park Service to prevent the mining of ground water from under the dunes. Once the acquisition is complete, the Monument will be come the 57th National Park.

And it did become a national park on September 13, 2004, though the 58th not the 57th.

Fort Union

Once the largest army post in the southwest, Fort Union is now little more than a shadow of its former self set among beautiful grasslands north of Las Vegas, New Mexico. For 40 years in the second half of the 19th century, it was the Santa Fe Trail equivalent of an interstate truck stop and regional warehouse.

Alas, NewMexiKen found his Nikon was in need of a charge. These photos were taken with my iPhone.

Fort Union

Fort Union Wall

Click each photo for a larger version.

3 cents

Canadian airline Jazz Air thinks the answer to that question must be less than 3 cents. The airline recently announced that they were removing life vests from their airplanes in order to save on fuel costs. They can get away with using seat cushions as flotation devices since their flights mostly stay within 50 miles of the shore.

How much will this move save them on fuel costs? The life vests weigh about one pound apiece. I don’t know how long their average flight is. Let’s say it’s 1,000 miles. Using a fuel cost per pound to fly 1,000 miles of 3 cents, based on this online exchange, and then removing the life vests saves the airline 3 cents per seat per flight — not exactly big money.

Steven D. Levitt

Fort Bowie National Historic Site (Arizona)

… was authorized on this date in 1964. According to the National Park Service:

FortBowie.jpg

Fort Bowie commemorates in its 1000 acres, the story of the bitter conflict between the Chiricahua Apaches and the United States military. For more than 30 years Fort Bowie and Apache Pass were the focal point of military operations eventually culminating in the surrender of Geronimo in 1886 and the banishment of the Chiricahuas to Florida and Alabama. It was the site of the Bascom Affair, a wagon train massacre, and the battle of Apache Pass, where a large force of Chiricahua Apaches under Mangus Colorados and Cochise fought the California Volunteers. The remains of Fort Bowie today are carefully preserved, the adobe walls of various post buildings and the ruins of a Butterfield Stage Station.

Visiting Fort Bowie requires a three mile round trip hike — unless you use the handicap entrance, which they keep a secret until you show up after walking a mile-and-a-half on a July afternoon with a daughter eight months pregnant and a two-year-old grandson.

Antietam National Battlefield (Maryland)

… was established as a national battlefield site on this date in 1890. It was redesignated a national battlefield in 1978.

Antietam Sunrise

23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing after twelve hours of savage combat on September 17, 1862. The Battle of Antietam ended the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia’s first invasion into the North and led to Abraham Lincoln’s issuance of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

Antietam National Battlefield

It was the bloodiest day in American history. Among the battlefields I’ve visited, Antietam is my favorite, perhaps because it less congested and monumented-up than Gettysburg. It retains, it seems, more of its 1862 feel.

Cedar Breaks National Monument (Utah)

… was proclaimed as such 75 years ago today. This from the National Park Service:

Cedar Breaks
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.

Top Ten Visited National Parks

These numbers from 2006 courtesy of National Parks Conservation Association. Of the 391 NPS units, just 58 are designated National Parks.

10 Most Visited National Parks (2006)
National Park Recreational
Park Visits
1. Great Smoky Mountains (TN, NC) 9,289,215
2. Grand Canyon (AZ) 4,279,439
3. Yosemite (CA) 3,242,644
4. Yellowstone (WY, MT, ID) 2,870,295
5. Olympic (WA) 2,749,197
6. Rocky Mountain (CO) 2,743,676
7. Zion (UT) 2,567,350
8. Cuyahoga Valley (OH) 2,468,816
9. Grand Teton (WY) 2,406,476
10. Acadia (ME) 2,083,588

Source: National Park Service

NewMexiKen has never been to numbers 1 and 8.

General Grant National Memorial (New York)

… better known as Grant’s tomb, became part of the National Park Service 50 years ago today.

Grant's Tomb

This memorial to Ulysses S. Grant, victorious Union commander of the Civil War, includes the tomb of General Grant and his wife, Julia Dent Grant. A West Point graduate, Grant served in the Mexican War and at various frontier posts, before rapidly rising through the ranks during the Civil War. Grant’s tenacity and boldness led to victories in the Battles of Vicksburg and Chattanooga and Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, scenes depicted by mosaics in the tomb. In 1866 Congress awarded Grant his fourth star making him the first full General of the Armies.

A grateful nation twice elected Grant to serve as President of the United States, from 1869 to 1877. Grant’s accomplishments include signing the act establishing the first national park, Yellowstone, on March 1, 1872. After the Presidency, Grant settled in New York City. Ulysses S. Grant died of throat cancer on July 23, 1885 in Mount McGregor, New York, and was laid to rest in New York City on August 8th.

Approximately 90,000 people from around the country and the world donated a total of over $600,000 towards construction of his tomb, the largest public fundraising effort ever at that time. Designed by architect John Duncan, the granite and marble structure was completed in 1897 and remains the largest mausoleum in North America. Over one million people attended the parade and dedication ceremony of Grant’s Tomb, on April 27, 1897.

General Grant National Memorial

Wanderlust

NewMexiKen has three travel ideas. For now they are just ideas. I need sponsors and/or companions.

1. Around the world, say in 80 days (why not?). Kind of do the Matt Harding thing without the silly dance.

2. Another 80 days just in Europe; I’ve been to Europe a half-dozen times but never done the grand tour.

3, The Atlantic Coast from Newfoundland to the Florida Keys.

What do you think? I could take the laptop and the camera and fill the blog with wise, whimsical and witty things every day. Properly marketed it could bring in lots of readers (I mean more than the ususal seven) and be supported by lots of ads.

Who can help me make these ideas into plans — and then into reality? I can leave Monday.

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.

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument (Arizona)

… was designated such by President Wilson on this date in 1918.

CasaGrande.jpg

For over a thousand years, prehistoric farmers inhabited much of the present-day state of Arizona. When the first Europeans arrived, all that remained of this ancient culture were the ruins of villages, irrigation canals and various artifacts. Among these ruins is the Casa Grande, or “Big House,” one of the largest and most mysterious prehistoric structures ever built in North America. Casa Grande Ruins, the nation’s first archeological preserve, protects the Casa Grande and other archeological sites within its boundaries.

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument

Those Europeans, by the way, began heading this way 516 years ago today, when Columbus set sail from Palos, Spain.

Capitol Reef National Park (Utah)

… was first designated a national monument on this date in 1937. It became a national park in 1971.

Capitol Reef

The Waterpocket Fold, a 100-mile long wrinkle in the earth’s crust known as a monocline, extends from nearby Thousand Lakes Mountain to the Colorado River (now Lake Powell). Capitol Reef National Park was established to protect this grand and colorful geologic feature, as well as the unique historical and cultural history found in the area.

Capitol Reef National Park

NewMexiKen photo, 2002 (just after I dropped the camera)

Rollin’ into Cleveland to the Lake

On July 22, 1796, a party of surveyors led commissioned by General Moses Cleaveland arrived at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, believing that an ideal location for a new town—Cleaveland, Ohio. The Connecticut Land Company had sent General Cleaveland to the Western Reserve—the northeastern region of Ohio—to speed the sale of the 3.5 million acres that the land company had reserved when Ohio was opened for settlement ten years earlier. In 1831, the Cleveland Advertiser dropped the first “a” in the city’s name to reduce the length of the newspaper’s masthead. From then on, the community was known as Cleveland.

Located on the southern shore of Lake Erie, the town did not grow substantially until the Erie Canal was completed in 1825. The canal opened a passage to the Atlantic Ocean, making the city a major St. Lawrence Seaway port. Soon, the city became a center for commercial and industrial activity. This activity increased further in the 1840s when the railroad arrived.

Today, Cleveland continues to have a highly diversified manufacturing base although the economy has shifted towards health care and financial services. With the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and other attractions—including various museums, boating on Lake Erie, and a wide variety of entertainment options, Cleveland also has become a tourist destination.

Library of Congress

Sort of Albuquerque’s sister city. They took a letter out of our name too.

Fort Union National Monument (New Mexico)

… was created on this date in 1954, when President Eisenhower signed a bill authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to acquire the site and remaining structures.

Fort Union

Fort Union was established in 1851 by Lieutenant Colonel Edwin V. Sumner as a guardian and protector of the Santa Fe Trail. During it’s forty-year history, three different forts were constructed close together. The third and final Fort Union was the largest in the American Southwest, and functioned as a military garrison, territorial arsenal, and military supply depot for the southwest. Today, visitors use a self-guided tour path to visit the second fort and the large, impressive ruins of the third Fort Union. The largest visible network of Santa Fe Trail ruts can be seen here.

Fort Union National Monument

Thomas Jefferson Memorial (Washington, D.C.)

A national memorial to Thomas Jefferson was authorized on this date in 1934. It was dedicated in 1943.

Jefferson Memorial

Thomas Jefferson-political philosopher, architect, musician, book collector, scientist, horticulturist, diplomat, inventor, and third President of the United States-looms large in any discussion of what Americans are as a people. Jefferson left to the future not only ideas but also a great body of practical achievements. President John F. Kennedy recognized Jefferson’s accomplishments when he told a gathering of American Nobel Prize winners that they were the greatest assemblage of talent in the White House since Jefferson had dinner there alone. With his strong beliefs in the rights of man and a government derived from the people, in freedom of religion and the separation between church and state, and in education available to all. Thomas Jefferson struck a chord for human liberty 200 years ago that resounds through the decades. But in the end, Jefferson’s own appraisal of his life, and the one that he wrote for use on his own tombstone, suffices: “Author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia.”

Thomas Jefferson Memorial (National Park Service)

Jefferson Memorial Wedding Party
 
 
Some fortunate wedding parties are able to have photos taken at the Jefferson Memorial among architect John Russell Pope’s beautiful columns and curves. (That’s Emily and Rob, official daughter and son-in-law of NewMexiKen.)
 
 

Overlooked attractions in the West

The L.A. Times suggests “the West is also an expanse of weirdness and wonder, boasting bizarre and purely sublime enticements, both natural and man-made. So, if you find some sojourning time this summer, consider these hidden (or at least, often-overlooked) gems.”

Other states are mentioned, but here’s the New Mexico places:

Chetro Ketl, Chaco Canyon: This pueblo is one of the largest Anasazi “Great Houses” in Chaco Canyon. It was built about 945 and abandoned around 1120. The Ketl, with more than 500 rooms and 12 kivas, is a favorite haunt for nature lovers and has a popular Petroglyph Trail, which takes visitors past ancient native rock art. Info: www.colorado.edu/Conferences/chaco/tour/ketl.htm. Seven-day pass: $8 for vehicle, $4 per individual.

Ten Thousand Waves, Santa Fe: This vertical oasis, off the path for many tourists, is a meditative, wood-and-rock-terraced compound with pagodas and tatami rooms. It is patterned after a Japanese onsen, or public hot springs baths. Take a hot outdoor bath (private, communal, women’s or men’s), then snooze during a shiatsu-do (finger pressure) massage. $144 for 75 minutes; regular massage $94 for 55 minutes. Reservations: (505) 982-9304, www.tenthousandwaves.com.

Bonus encounter: In the far northwest part of the state, Shiprock, an 1,800-foot tall aptly named formation, is visible for miles, sailing the high plains like a volcanic-rock clipper ship. Look, but don’t climb. It’s sacred Navajo turf. www.lapahie.com/Shiprock_Peak.cfm.