News RSS

Welcome to Capitol Reef National Park! This park just celebrated it's 50th anniversary since it was established in 1971. The Capitol in the name refers to the white dome formations in the park (featured image) while the reef refers to the rocky landscape that fills this souther Utah park. These multilayered sandstone formations are known as the "water pocket fold" in the grand scheme of the whole Grand Staircase Escalante.  The Hickman Bridge Arch The Grand Staircase Escalante consists of hundreds of different layers of rocks that have been forming over millions of years and lay out between Bryce and the Grand Canyon....

Read more

Let's continue our national park tour in Utah! Welcome to Bryce Canyon National Park, nestled in southwestern Utah. The main feature of this park will be the featured image of this blog (hehe) that is Bryce Canyon. However, despite it's name, it not actually a canyon due to the way it was formed.  Hoodoos Canyons are defined as being formed from erosion that is initiated from a central steam. In Bryce's case the canyon was created by headward erosion that excavated the large amphitheater shaped features. This headward erosion exposed delicate and colorful pinnacles called "hoodoos." Rain and frost wedging carved these...

Read more

Welcome to Utah's Most visited National Park: Zion! Mormon pioneers settles in teh area in the late 1800's and named the canyon in the park "Zion," which is ancient Hebrew for sanctuary. This park is approximately 229 square miles and is filled with the beautiful red rock of Utah. The red rock canyon is continually forming as it's made of strata rock that is still eroding and causing rock falls.  Zion Canyon The falling rock and the virgin river that flows through the park contribute to the constant down cutting of and deepening of the canyon. This river flows through one...

Read more

This underrated beauty is located in Eastern Nevada and houses some of the highest peaks in the state - as well as Nevada's LAST glacier. The glacier is aptly named Dirt Glacier since it's always covered by a layer of dirt due to the desert winds. It's nestled in the base of the park's highest summit: Wheeler Peak, coming in at 13,064 feet tall.  Wheeler Peak This park is also home to the ancient Bristlecone pine Tree and a massive grove of them. This tree species is the oldest in the world as well as the oldest known non-clonal organism. They are over 3,000 years...

Read more

national parks -

Filled with striking blue waters, North Cascades National Park resides about 3 hours from Seattle in northern Washington. These deep and bright blue waters are fed by the melting glaciers in the Cascade Mountain range. This mountain range extends from Northern California through Washington and ends in Southern British Columbia. It includes both volcanic and non-volcanic mountains.  In addition to the notably blue waters, the park is also characterized by it's massive lakes, water falls and jagged peaks covered in glaciers. In fact, North Cascades has over 300 glaciers, more than any other US National Park outside of Alaska. The park...

Read more