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A Stroll Through the Gateway to the Narrows of the Virgin River
I bet no one has ever thought to take pictures of this place before! Or not. The Gateway to the Narrows trail is only the most popular trail in one of the most visited national parks in the system. I...
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What Is Your Favorite Volcanic National Park?
So many great choices! Would it be Rainier? Crater Lake? Lassen? Hawaiian Volcanoes? Haleakela? Yellowstone? Zion?Wait a minute...Zion? Since when does Zion National Park have volcanoes? Since about...
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The Three Stages of Hoodooism....
Some folks make a big miscalculation if they visit Bryce Canyon National Park. They seem to believe that if you've seen one hoodoo, you've seen them all. They may be in a hurry, and thus hit the one...
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A Tale of Two Arches, But Not in Arches
Travelers in the southwest might get the idea that arches can only be seen in Arches National Park in Utah. It's true that Arches National Park has the largest concentration of arches in the world, and...
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On The Road to the Back of Beyond...
There are places I remember All my life, though some have changed Some forever not for better Some have gone and some remain These Lennon/McCartney lyrics hit me every time I set out on the road to...
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The First Stage of our Journey: Basic Principles
We are into our third day on our journey through the Colorado Plateau, and yesterday we actually reached the plateau. We needed to get out of the Central Valley, cross the Sierra Nevada, and then make...
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Yeah, I'm Still Here (and there, and everywhere): SUPER MOON!
Hey world! I'm still here...and there...and it feels like everywhere, and we are having a great time exploring the geology of the Colorado Plateau. This has been one of our cooler trips ever, with...
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The Abandoned Lands: A Compendium of Geology Explorations on the Colorado...
During the summer of 2012, I explored the margins of the Colorado Plateau with a group of geology and anthropology students. I was struck by the way that the land tended to defeat the best efforts of...
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Out of America's Never-Never: Two Weeks on the Colorado Plateau
Sunrise in Goblin Valley State Park, UtahSay Never-Never Land and most people immediately think of Peter Pan and Captain Hook, but the term has an older meaning of which J.M. Barrie was probably...
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Out in America's Never Never: Getting There
Photo by Mrs. GeotripperA journey into the Never Never of America has to have a beginning in the green lands. From our base in the fertile Central Valley, we traveled through 200 miles of irrigated...
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Out in America's Never Never: The Mojave, a Vast Unknown Treasure
My students are reading this and saying "We didn't stop here". That's true. But I love the picture and any excuse to show it.The first morning on the road into America's Never Never found us at Hole in...
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Out in America's Never Never: Exploring the Grand Canyon...in Las Vegas?
Photo by Mrs. GeotripperI'm sure no one needs to be told that visiting Las Vegas is a surreal experience. I can't even begin to imagine the army of psychologists who through the years have advised...
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Out in America's Never Never: Desert Water...Gambling with 30 Million People
This water is flowing in one of the driest places in America (and naturally, too)Water. Nothing in the world makes you appreciate it more than not having it.In the desert, water is the factor that...
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Geologic Change Along the Big Sur Coastline: Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park
Gee, I bet no one has ever thought to take a picture here before...Okay, maybe a few people have chosen to take pictures of the scene above. The view of McWay Falls in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park...
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Traveling in the Way-Back Machine: The Great Valley as it once was...
Sometimes the interesting revelations just happen. I haven't kept up with the America's Never Never because I was out of town doing something really strange: relaxing. As you might guess from the...
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Out in America's Never Never: Erg-onomics of a Desert Park
That's right, geologists can't help themselves. They like puns. This isn't a discussion of how to sit properly in a national park, or to hike without causing carpal tunnel syndrome in your toes. It's...
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Out in America's Never Never: Is it the Journey or the Destination? Plus an...
Our exploration of America's Never Never included a lot of destinations: Zion, Bryce, Arches, Black Canyon, Mesa Verde and many others. But what is the value of seeing specific points in a landscape...
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America's Never Never: North Rim or South Rim? It's a Grand Canyon...
It means a lot to these guys anyway. The Kaibab Squirrel is a (sub)species of squirrel that lives only in the ponderosa forests of the North Rim of Grand Canyon. The most closely related species is the...
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A Cat in the Bird House? It haz no 'egrets, but I do!
The other day I posted about our discovery of a nearby treasure, a bit of the California Prairie being returned to a "pre-European" condition with the purpose of preserving a viable part of the...
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Traveling in the Way-Back Machine: The Great Valley as it could once again be...
I've written a couple of posts about my "backyard" discovery of the San Luis Wildlife Refuge Complex that preserves 26,000 acres of Great Valley prairie and wetlands environments. In the first, I...
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