Know the difference between the Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah Mountains, and Great Smoky Mountains? I didn’t. Turns out they’re all a part of the Appalachian Mountain Chain, which includes pretty much any east coast mountain range stretching from Georgia to Canada. It’s one of the oldest mountain chains on earth, forming roughly 280 million years ago....
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Badlands National Park
Much like its rock formations, the history of Badlands National Park is layered. To begin at the beginning and get a clue to the end, all one has to do is look at the park’s steeply eroded buttes, gullies, ridges and mixed-grass prairies....
Read MoreGrand Teton National Park
And on the 4.533 billionth year, roughly 9 million years ago, the Teton Range began to rise. Its peaks now stretch starkly toward the sky like, well... like towers of a cathedral. It's a wondrous view to behold, especially considering its contrast to the strikingly flat lands of Jackson Hole to its immediate east....
Read MoreYellowstone National Park
Like so many of our National Parks, Yellowstone was created by a supervolcano. The loosely defined term 'supervolcano' is used to describe volcanic fields that produce eruptions exponentially larger in scale than those of average volcanoes. To give you some context, Yellowstone Supervolcano's first eruption produced 2,500x more....
Read MoreU.S. Route 89
Stretching from the Canadian Boarder all the way to Arizona, Route 89, also known as the National Parks Highway, passes through some of America's rarest and most beautiful landscapes. If one were to stay with it through its entirety, they'd pass....
Read MoreGlacier National Park
If the Blackfeet Indians are correct in calling the greater Glacier National Park ecosystem the 'backbone to the world,' then our 'backbone' is in significant danger of losing the cartilage between its vertebra....
Read MoreWashington State Route 20
For over eight thousand years various tribes were said to have used the road, then a narrow foot corridor, as a trading route from Washington's Eastern Plateau Country to the Pacific Coast. Then along came the gold rush of 1849....
Read MoreHart's Pass
Many of the meadows and fields in the gallery pictures (link in title) were once said to be dotted with tents at the height of the area's population, and for a while the newly developed gold town thrived. But the rush wouldn't last....
Read MoreLopez Island
Lopez is the third largest island of The San Juan's, a chain of islands spanning between Washington and Vancouver. It lies in a sort of no-man's land, cut off from the hum of nearby cities and only accessible by ferry, boat, or plane....
Read MoreOlympic National Park
Because of its biological diversity, scientists have declared the entire park a biological reserve, which really means it gets double the protection from government with quadruple the fun in its four separate ecosystems....
Read MoreCrater Lake National Park
The lake was created around 8k years ago by the collapse of Mount Mazama volcano. Significant rain and snowfall in the area soon filled the crater, as did a small cinder cone volcano, Wizard Island, that erupted below the water's surface. As the lava cooled, the volcano quickly rose....
Read MoreRedwood National Park
Only 100 miles of California and Oregon coastline provide the damp ecosystem these beasts need to thrive, and they most certainly thrive. Some grow as tall as a 34 story building and the oldest of them is over....
Read MoreLassen Volcanic National Park
Lassen Volcanic National Park may not be the most visited National Park, but it's not for lack of beauty. The entire valley in this picture was once a supervolcano....
Read MorePoint Reyes National Seashore
Point Reyes, the only National Seashore on the Pacific Coast, is truly a one-of-a-kind location. Not only is it the windiest land mass on the Pacific Coast and the second....
Read MoreMarin Headlands
Additionally, and less known by frequenters, the hill is also home to one of the largest known flights of diurnal raptors in the Pacific states....
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