미국의 아름다운 국립공원들 : Beautiful National Parks in America

미국의 넓은 땅은 천혜의 절경들을 숨기고 있다. 특히 국립공원들의 아름다운 경치 중에서 좀 처럼 접하기 어려운 것들 일부를 감상하려고 한다.

1.그랜드 캐년(Grand Canyon)-Arizona

Esplanade, the North Rim averaging a thousand feet(300m) higher than the South Rim

Aerial View,

Havasu Falls

Sunrise at the South Rim


Grand Canyon Desert View Watchtower: This was architect Mary Colter's goal when the Fred Harvey Company hired her in 1930 to design a gift shop and rest area at Desert View. Colter's answer was the Watchtower. A perfectionist, Colter scrutinized every detail, down to the placement of nearly every stone. Each stone was handpicked for size and appearance. Weathered faces were left untouched to give the tower an ancient look. With a lavish, highly publicized dedication ceremony, the Watchtower opened in May 1933.


Skywalk




Grand Canyon Hiking

2.Death Valley- California

Zabriskie Point

Sunrise over Sand Dunes

Devil's Cornfields

Bad Water Basin, the lowest place in the world- below 282feet sea level, the whitish ground are full with salt



Eureka Dunes

Kilns at Wildrose

Badwater

Natural Arches
Death Valley National Park

3.Denali National Park- Alaska

Road through Denali

Mountain Mckinley, the highest peak in North America

Aurora Borealis beaming down above the Chugach Mountains

Climber on Mr.Mckinley




Denali National Park

4.Yellowstone- Wyoming

Great Fountain Geyser, erupt every 9 to 15 hours, shooting water up to 220 feet high

Low Yellowstone Fall

Grand Prismatic Spring, 199 F, too hot for the multicolored bacteria clustering on the cooler perimeter

Upper Geyser Basin, a mile-long , contains the world's greatest concentration of hot springs and geysers.

Old Faithful Geyser erupts every 10-20 minutes, with each blast expelling between 3,700-8,400 gallons (14,000-32,000 liters) of boiling water.

Morning Glory Pool






Yellowstone National Park

5.Yosemite National Park- California

Half Dome

Vernal Fall

Yosemite Falls Moonbow

Granite Dome and its reflection on Tenaya Lake

Sunrise

Jeffrey Pine

Valley in Yosemite around 1,200 square miles

Horsetail Falls, 1,000 feet in height

Yosemite National Park Tour

6.Arches National Park- Utah

Courthouse Towers

Red Sandstone Formations

Double-O-Arch

Double-O-Arch

Mesa Arch

Mesa Arch

Fiery Furnace

Double Arch in Fiery Furnace

Camping in Arches National Park

Balanced Rock, 130 feet tall
Arches National Park

7.Glacier National Park- Montana

Yellow Bear Grass in the Logan Pass, the highest point in the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Montana

Multicolored Cobbles

Iceberg Lake

The Edge of Glacier National Park at Sunrise



Icy tumbling water down near the west entrance to Glacier National Park : Avalanche Gorge

Wild Goose island and St. Mary Lake

Red Eagle Mountain

Northern Rocky Mountains

Swiftcurrent Lake and Many Glacier Hotel


Glacier National Park

8.Acadia National Park- Maine





Thunder Hole

Blueberry foliage

Minnehaha Falls

Breakneck Pond



Jordan Pond from North Bubble
Arcadia National Park

9.Bryce Canyon National Park- Utah





Queen's Garden Trail








Bryce Canyon National Park


9.Zion National Park- Utah







Virgin River






Subway



Snowmelt Waterfall

The Narrows Entrance photographed by Kevin McNeal

Checkerboard Mesa



Waterfall beyond Double Arch Alcove on Taylor Creek Trail

Double Arch Alcove

Stained Wall in Double Arch Alcove


Zion Canyon National Park

Moqui Cave, Utah

10.Great Smoky Mountains National Park-North Carolina

Appalachian National Scenic Trail












Clingmans Dome The top of Great Smoky National Park

Laurel Falls

LeConte Lodge

Myrtle Point

Codes Cove

Newfound Gap Road
Cliff Top Vegetation, Mt. LeConte, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee
Great Smoky Mount National Park

11.Voyageurs National Park- Minnesota



Cruiser Lake Trail System

Trail clearing volunteers in Lake Kabetogama

Kayaking

Namakan Lake

Cross-country Skiing

Ellsworth Rock Garden, off Lake Kabetogama



Kabetogama Lake

Woof in the wilderness

Aerila Lake
Voyageurs National Park

12.Rocky Mountain National Park- Colorado

Longs Peak of 14,258 feet, the highest one

Longs Peak at sunset seen from Black Lake

Colorado Bells near Aspen





Glacier Gorge

Rocky Mount National Park

13.Petrified Forest National Park- Arizona


Petrified Forest National Park is a 146-square mile area of badlands located in Northern Arizona





Newpaper Rock








Painted Desert and crystalwoods



Crustose Lichens

Petrified Logs

Agate House, the puebloan people in the area used petrified woods sealed with mud mortar to build their houses around A.D.1,050-1,300

Petrified Forest National Park



14.Crater Lake National Park- Oregon






Crater Lake is a volcano caldera form about 7,700 years ago. Its perimeter is around 2 miles.

Phantom Ship Island in Crater Lake is as tall as a 16-story building, is 400,000 years old -- 
and is the oldest exposed rock within the caldera of Crater Lake. 




A metering station, on the edge of Crater Lake, measuring water levels and lake conditions. 







Wizard island
Crater Lake National Park

15.Mesa Verde National Park- Colorado

the ancient cliff dwellings of the Native American Puebloans for thousands of years



Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in North America. The Ancient Pueblo structure is located in Mesa Verde National Park, in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of Colorado, home to the Ancestral Puebloans people.Cliff Palace contains 23 kivas (round sunken rooms of ceremonial importance), and 150 rooms. One kiva, in the center of the ruin, is at a point where the entire structure is partitioned by a series of walls with no doorways or other access portals. The walls of this kiva were plastered with one color on one side and a different color on the opposing side. Archaeologists believe that the Cliff Palace contained two communities and that this kiva was used to integrate the two communities.

The large, square tower on the right that almost reaches the cave "roof" was in ruins by the 1800s. The National Park Service carefully restored it to its approximate height and stature, making it one of the most memorable buildings in the Cliff Palace. Slightly different-colored materials were used to show it was a restoration.

Kiva.

Square Tower

Tree ring dating indicates that construction and refurbishing of Cliff Palace was continuous from c. AD 1190 through c. 1260, although the major portion of the building was done within a twenty-year time span. Cliff Palace was abandoned by 1300, and while debate remains as to the causes of this, some believe a series of mega-droughts interrupting food production systems is the main cause.

Hiking out of Cliff Palace involves climbing steps between these two walls of sandstone and climbing a modest ladder to the top of the cliff.



Mesa Verde National Park

16.Badlands National Park- South Dakoda








This land of sharp ridges, steep walled canyons, gullies, pyramids and knobs has been so ruthlessly ravaged by wind and water that it has become picturesque. The Badlands are a wonderland of bizarre, colorful spires and pinnacles, massive buttes and deep gorges. Erosion of the Badlands reveals sedimentary layers of different colors: purple and yellow (shale), tan and gray (sand and gravel), red and orange (iron oxides) and white (volcanic ash).







 
 They were probably burning non-native grass species in an effort to restore natural prairie of Badlands.


Badlands National Park

17.Big Bend National Park- Texas



A view across the north part of the Big Bend National Park

Santa Elena Canyon

Hiking Santa Elena Canyon

MuleEars

Paddling the Rio Grande at Santa Elena

Lost Mine Trail

Rio Grande from Hot Spring Canyon Rim Trail

Goat Mountain Panorama

Dog Canyon

View from South Rim Trail at Sunset

Emory Peak from Laguna Meadows Trail

View from Mariscal Mine

Earnst Tinaja

Santa Elena Canyon and Rio Grande



Rio Grande River flowing in Big Bend National Park


Big Bend National Park

National Parks of America