Photos from my hike on the Hog Rock Train in Catoctin Mountain National Park, Maryland, USA. Overlapping trails include: wolf rock, chimney rock and Thurmont vista.
Tag Archives: national park
Wonderful Jungle Hike at Mount Santubong, Borneo, Malaysia
My hike on Mount Santubong was an amazing experience. The hike was quite challenging; very step climbing for a long time.
The trail climbed like this for a long time. The ropes could help you climb (especially necessary if there had been rain recently as it is not only steep but slippery when went).
Quite frequently rope ladders were necessary to aid the climb.
Stone Forest, Yunnan, China
The Stone Forest in Yunnan, China is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The stone formations were created as the limestone eroded.
The Stone Forest (South China Karst) area was a shallow sea some 270 million years ago (the Permian period) when the sandstone and limestone deposits were formed. The entire Shilin National Scenic Area (昆明市石林风景区) covers an area of 400 square km.
Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park
John Hunter at the Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, USA. The photos in this post show the Cliff Palace site (photos by John Hunter). You must take a ranger led tour to walk into the Cliff Palace. The overhead lookout doesn’t require joining a tour.
Recent studies reveal that Cliff Palace contained 150 rooms and 23 kivas and had a population of approximately 100 people. Out of the nearly 600 cliff dwellings concentrated within the boundaries of the park. Cliff Palace is an exceptionally large dwelling which may have had special significance. It is thought that Cliff Palace was a social, administrative site with high ceremonial usage.
Sometime during the late 1190s, after primarily living on the mesa top for 600 years, many Ancestral Pueblo people began living in pueblos they built beneath the overhanging cliffs. The structures ranged in size from one-room storage units to villages of more than 150 rooms. While still farming the mesa tops, they continued to reside in the alcoves, repairing, remodeling, and constructing new rooms for nearly a century.
View from the cliff palace, looking across the valley.
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Wisconsin
Photos from my visit to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in northern Wisconsin.
An interesting purple fungus on the point trail. The main island is Stockton Island which has several interesting trails (all are easy). The photos on this post are from there and our boat ride.
We took a sailboat ride on Lake Superior.
Guadalupe Peak Trail, Guadalupe Mountains National Park
The Guadalupe Peak Trail in Guadalupe Mountains National Park is a 8.4 mile round trip hike with an elevation gain of 2,930 feet (they estimate 6 to 8 hours).
If you can identify this beetle (or the other insects in this post) please add a comment. See more of my photos that I need help identifying.
World War II Memorial, Washington DC
The World War II Memorial in Washington DC is between the Lincoln Memorial (the photo above shows looking toward it) and the Washington Monument (below) on The Mall.
The memorial was opened on 29 May 2004. Many Smithsonian museums, the White House and the Capital are within easy walking distance of the memorial.
Kuang Si Waterfalls, Laos
Tat Kuang Si park is a wonderful spot for a hike.
The water has an amazing blue color that seems almost fake in photos but is really the color of these photos. The blue is due to dissolved copper.
The Kuang Si waterfalls are about 30 km outside of Luang Prabang. You can rent a open back pickup for about $30 (really I forget I think it was about that amount though) for the trip or you can join a tour group (easy to arrange at many guest houses and travel agents all over Luang Prabang).
Magical Day at Glacier-Waterton International Peace Park
One of the most enjoyable days of my life began at Glacier National Park (USA) and continued in the Canadian portion of the park (Waterton International Peace Park). The parks share a long border and amazing natural beauty.
Iceberg Lake Trail, Glacier National Park
This magical day was my fifth day at Glacier National Park, which had already been wonderful.
John Hunter, top of Bear’s Hump trail, Waterton International Peace Park