Hawaii Volcanoes
The Park The first time I went to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park I was disappointed. There were no snow capped peaks and fields of wildflowers. Instead there was a ragged gray landscape that went on as far as the eye could see. What one can witness here is the latest building of the Hawaiian […]
Yosemite
The Park There is a lot to explore in Yosemite: Yosemite Valley with Half Dome and Yosemite Falls; Tuolumne Meadows, the largest subalpine meadow in the Sierra Nevada; three Giant Sequioa groves; historical sites at Wawona; and the endless hiking opportunities in the High Sierras. Yosemite is a land of granite that was shaped by […]
Lassen Volcanic
The Park Lassen Volcanic Nationial park has similarities with Mt. St. Helens and Crater Lake. For three years beginning in May of 1914, Lassen Peak erupted. Its biggest eruption was on May 22, 1915 when it sent a mushroom-shaped cloud of ash 30,000 feet into the air. A large area was left tree-less […]
Crater Lake
The Park Mt. Mazama used to be a lovely, snow-capped, 12,000 foot volcano. Then, 7,700 years ago, it’s magma chamber rose to the surface and it erupted. The eruption was 100 times stronger than Mt. St. Helens. After the eruption, with the center of the volcano gone, the sides of the mountain collapsed, […]