BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK

Located in southwestern South Dakota, Badlands National Park consists of nearly 244,000 acres of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles, and spires, blended with the largest protected mixed-grass prairie in the United States.

The 64,000 acres of designated official wilderness are a reintroduction site for the black-footed ferret, the most endangered land mammal in North America. The Stronghold Unit of the park, co-managed with the Ogallala Sioux Tribe, includes sites of 1890's Ghost Dances.

The more than 11,000 years of human history here pale in comparison to the eons-old paleontological resources. Badlands National Park contains the world's richest Oligocene epoch fossil beds, dating from 23 to 35 million years old. The evolution of mammal species such as the horse, sheep, rhinoceros, and pig are studied in the Badlands formations.

The bizarre landforms called badlands are, despite the uninviting name, a masterpiece of water and wind sculpture. They are near-deserts of a special kind, where rain is infrequent, the bare rocks are poorly consolidated and relatively uniform in their resistance to erosion, and runoff water washes away large amounts of sediment.

On average, the White River Badlands of South Dakota erode one inch per year. They are formidable redoubts of stark beauty where the delicate balance between creation and decay, that distinguishes so much geologic art, is manifested in improbable landscapes - near moonscapes - whose individual elements seem to defy gravity. Erosion is so rapid that the landforms can change perceptibly overnight as a result of a single thunderstorm!

Throughout Badlands National Park, weird shapes are etched into a plateau of soft sediments and volcanic ash, revealing colorful bands of flat-lying strata. The stratification adds immeasurably to the beauty of each scene, binding together all of its diverse parts. Viewed horizontally, individual beds are traceable from pinnacle to pinnacle, mound to mound, ridge to ridge, across the intervening ravines. Viewed from above, the bands curve in and out of the valley like contour lines on a topographic map.

A geologic story is written in the rocks of Badlands National Park, every bit as fascinating and colorful as their outward appearance. It is an account of 75 million years of accumulation, with intermittent periods of erosion, that began when the Rocky Mountains reared up in the west and spread sediments over vast expanses of the plains. The sand, silt, and clay, mixed and interbedded with volcanic ash, stacked up, layer upon flat-lying layer, until the pile was thousands of feet deep. In a final phase of volcanism as the uplift ended, white ash rained from the sky to frost the cake, completing the building stage.

Bison are the large dominant plant grazers in the grassland ecosystem of the northern Great Plains. Appreciative visitors use up a lot of film when they are lucky enough to see them in the park. Reintroduced in 1963 after an absence of about 100 years, a portion of the 600-animal-herd can often be seen while driving along the Sage Creek Rim Road, searching with binoculars from the Pinnacles Overlook, or hiking in the Sage Creek Unit of the Badlands Wilderness.

If you see a buffalo in the park, you are observing the same animal as the tourist next to you watching bison. Common usage makes these terms interchangeable, although biologists are more fussy in limiting "buffalo" to wild cattle native only to Africa and Asia.

No longer free to roam millions of acres of prairie, the badlands bison are kept within the boundaries of the park to prevent "trespass" onto surrounding private and public grazing lands. This also separates them from their once infinite lunch bucket of grass and deprives them of a cool beverage from the permanent waters of the White and Cheyenne Rivers. Additionally, predators like the wolf and grizzly bear, which removed part of the weaker, older, or young animals to control population size, are no longer allowed to live in this part of the country.

The black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) is considered to be the most endangered land mammal in North America. Thought to be extinct in the 1970s, a small colony of this member of the weasel family was found on a ranch near Meteetse, Wyoming; in the time since, canine distemper swept through the colony, killing all but eighteen ferrets.


Black-footed Ferret

Buttes, Pinnacles, Spires
Bizarre shapes are etched into a plateau of soft sediments and volcanic ash, revealing colorful bands of flat-lying strata.

Oligocene Epoch Fossil Beds
Badlands National Park contains the world's richest Oligocene epoch fossil beds, dating from 23 to 35 million years old.

From Westbound Interstate 90, take exit 131 (Cactus Flat) or exit 110 (Wall). Follow signs to Badlands National Park. From Eastbound Interstate 90, take Exit 109 near the community of Wall. Follow signs directing vehicles south approximately seven miles to the Pinnacles Entrance of the park. From Highway 44, Highway 44 intersects with Highway 377 in the town of Interior. Follow 377 two miles to the Interior Entrance to the park.

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ARCHES NATIONAL PARK

This is a world of stone and sky, where between the eye and the horizon lies a colorful panorama of buttes, canyons, and plateaus. Life is challenging in this desert environment, yet many animals have adapted to the extremes of temperature and topography here.

Rare perennial streams and seeps support explosions of vegetation and echo with the songs of water-loving wildlife. The forces of nature have, over an immense span of time, created a wondrous landscape here.

Slickrock caps of Navajo sandstone cover layers of sediment from ancient oceans, shores, and deserts, and folds and warps in these layers indicate movement of long-buried salt deposits. Hiking trails lead to graceful sandstone spans arcing against the sky, enormous rocks balanced on thin spires, standing rock fins, and cliff walls hundreds of feet high.

Arches National Park possesses a beauty both grand and strange. Some who visit will want to know more about geologic or natural history. Others may be inspired to creative expression. The sublime beauty of the land, however, speaks to everyone. Arches National Park lies atop an underground salt bed called the Paradox Formation, which is responsible for the arches, spires, balanced rocks, fins, and eroded monoliths common throughout the park.

Thousands of feet thick in places, the Paradox layer was deposited across the Colorado Plateau some 300 million years ago when a sea flowed into the region and eventually evaporated. Over millions of years, the salt bed was covered with the residue of floods and winds as the oceans returned and evaporated again and again.

Much of this debris was cemented into rock. At one time this overlying layer of rock may have been more than a mile thick. Salt under pressure is unstable, and the salt bed below Arches began to flow under the weight of the overlying sandstones. This movement caused the surface rock to buckle and shift, thrusting some sections upward into domes, dropping others into surrounding cavities, and causing vertical cracks which would later contribute to the development of arches.

The Formation of Arches

As the subsurface movement of salt shaped the surface, erosion stripped away the younger rock layers. Water seeped into cracks and joints, washing away loose debris and eroding the "cement" that held the sandstone together, leaving a series of free-standing fins. During colder periods, ice formed, its expansion putting pressure on the rock, breaking off bits and pieces, and sometimes creating openings. Many damaged fins collapsed.

Others, with the right degree of hardness and balance, have survived as the world-famous formations of Arches National Park. Faults deep in the Earth also contributed to the instability on the surface. The result of one such 2,500-foot displacement is called the Moab Fault and is visible from the Arches Visitor Center. Salt Valley was also formed by such a displacement. Except for isolated remnants, the major rock formations visible in the park today are the salmon-colored Entrada Sandstone, in which most of the arches form, and the tan-colored Navajo Sandstone.

Devils Garden A garden of rock that includes many of the awe-inspiring arches for which the park is named.

Klondike Blufffs
Make sure to see these dramatic cliffs.

Petrified Dunes
Dunes frozen in time.

Arches NP can be reached by driving 26 miles SE on US 191 from Interstate 70 at Crescent Junction. The signed turnoff to the park is 4 miles northwest of the north end of Moab, and 2 miles from the Colorado River bridge on US 191.

Amtrak and Greyhound both serve Green River (50 miles from Moab), and Greyhound also stops at Crescent Junction (30 miles away). Taxi and shuttle services can be arranged from these locations.

From Salt Lake City, a commuter airline (Alpine Air: (801)575-2839) and a shuttle bus (Bighorn Express: (435)587-3061) provide transportation to Moab.

AMERICAN SAMOA NATIONAL PARK'S

American Samoa National Park's 10,500 acres of paleotropical rainforests, pristine coral reefs, and magnificent white sand beaches are located on the three South Pacific islands of Tutuila, Ofu, and Ta'u.

Two lush rainforest preserves and a coral reef are home to unique tropical animals including the flying fox, Pacific boa, tortoises, and an array of birds and fish.

From the mountaintops down to the ocean's edge, these islands are covered with a diverse, mixed-species, paleotropical (Old World) rainforest. Samoa's rainforest is closely related to that of Asia and Africa, as opposed to the neotropical (New World) rainforests of Central and South America.

Depending on elevation, the forest can be characterized as coastal, lowland, ridge, montane, or cloud forest. In addition to many species of trees, vegetation here includes vines, ferns, lichens, epiphytes (air plants), and mosses.

The Manu'a Islands (Ofu, Olosega, Ta'u) of eastern American Samoa are famous for their history, culture, and spectacular beauty. The wildlife of Manu'a is also special. Since the Manu'a Islands are only 60 miles east of Tutuila, one might expect that the same kinds of birds and animals would be found in both places, but in fact, there are four species of birds living in Manu'a that do not occur on Tutuila.

The most beautiful of the birds of Manu'a is Samoa's only parrot, the segavao, or blue-crowned lory. This tiny jewel of a bird, only 7 inches long, is colored with emerald-green back and wings, ruby red face and throat, and a sapphire-blue crown. In historic times these colorful feathers were used to decorate fine mats.

American Samoa is home to many different birds and fish and a few very interesting mammals. There are more than 35 species of birds, both resident and migratory, including seabirds, water birds, forest birds, and shore birds. The cliffs and sea stacks are ideal nesting habitat for tropical seabirds, while the rainforest is home to collared kingfishers, cardinal and wattled honeyeaters, blue-crowned lories, Samoan starlings, purple-capped fruit doves, many-colored fruit doves, Pacific pigeons, and banded rails.

Bats are the only native mammals found in American Samoa. They are harmless to people. There are two species of flying foxes (fruit bat) and one insect-eating bat species here. The fruit bats, the Samoan flying fox and the white-collared flying fox, are as large as one pound, with a wingspan of 3 feet. They eat pollen and fruits and serve an essential role in the ecology of the native rainforest by pollinating plants and dispersing seeds.

Of the park's total area of 10,500 acres, about 8,000 acres are rainforest. Depending on elevation, this forest can be characterized as coastal, lowland, ridge, montane, or cloud forest. In addition to many species of trees, plants found here include vines, ferns, lichens, epiphytes (air plants) , and mosses.

Samoa's rainforest is closely related to that of Asia and Africa, as opposed to the neotropical (New World) rainforests of Central and South America. In mixed-species forest, no single tree or plant species dominates. The rainforests within park boundaries are largely intact, and extend uninterrupted from sea level up to cloud forests on mountain summits. This is the only rainforest of its kind protected within a US national park.

Subsistence farming is allowed on some park lands. Near villages that border on the rainforest there are small plantations where taro, coconut, banana, breadfruit, papaya, mango and other crops are grown for a family's consumption.

Amalau Valley
The Amalau Valley is a good place to watch above the trees for flying foxes.

Coral Reefs
The coral reefs off the coast of Ofu Island are among the healthiest in the South Pacific.

Flying Fox
The Samoan flying fox, a giant fruit bat, has a wingspan of about three feet and weighs almost one pound.

Matafao Peak
Matafao Peak is Tutuila Island's tallest mountain at 2,142 feet.

Mount 'Alava
Mount 'Alava rises up from the Amalau Valley to tower above the ocean at 1,610 feet.

ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

Acadia preserves about 40,000 acres of Atlantic Coast shoreline, mixed hardwood and spruce/fir forest, mountains, lakes, and several offshore islands. Each headland, bay, and inlet reveals the majestic interface between sea and land.

Acadia's rocky headlands bear the brunt of enormous energies unleashed in waves that batter cliffs and erupt in lofty spray. Behind these headlands lie Acadia's forests and mountains, made easy to explore by an extensive system of carriage roads.

Wildlife includes 40 mammal species, 11 species of amphibians, over 273 species of birds, and 7 species of reptiles; more than a dozen other terrestrial and marine mammals have been identified on adjacent lands or water bodies.

While most visitors spend their time within the Mount Desert Island portion of the park, the Schoodic Peninsula and Isle au Haut hold wonders of their own.

Deep shell heaps indicate American Indian encampments dating back 6,000 years here, but prehistoric records are scanty. The first written descriptions of Maine Coast Indians, recorded 100 years after European trade contacts began, describe American Indians who lived off the land by hunting, fishing, collecting shellfish, and gathering plants and berries.

BLACK CANYON OF THE GUNNISON NATIONAL PARK

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison's unique and spectacular landscape was formed slowly by the action of water and rock scouring down through hard Proterozoic crystalline rock.

No other canyon in North America combines the narrow opening, sheer walls, and startling depths offered by the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. The Gunnison River within the Black Canyon drops an average of 95 feet per mile (18 meters per kilometer), one of the greatest rates of fall for a river in North America.

The canyon offers opportunities for spectacular drive-up viewing, short walks to many canyon overlooks, hiking trails and routes, wildlife viewing, birding, camping, picnicking, photography, fishing (physically demanding access), bouldering, inner-canyon hiking and climbing.

Inner Canyon
As in any wilderness experience, you should be prepared to adapt to the conditions found there. This is an on-your-own experience. There are no maintained or marked trails into the inner canyon. Routes are difficult to follow. Hikers are expected to find their own way and to be prepared for self-rescue.

While descending, study the route behind, as this will make it easier on the way up when confronted with a choice of routes and drainages. The hike into the canyon and back up is very strenuous. Bring high energy foods and at least 4 quarts of water per person.

A sports drink is recommended. River water must be treated but remember that wading in the cold water (40F) is hazardous. At levels above 450-500 cubic feet per second the combination of high, swift water and cold temperatures increases the danger. Also be aware that poison ivy grows in the drainages and along the river.

North Rim
Animal and bird life abound on the North Rim. Some commonly seen animals include deer, coyote, porcupine, yellow-bellied marmot, chipmunk, and squirrel. Occasional sightings are also made of badger, bobcat, and black bear. Bird watchers should keep an eye out for such species as red-tailed hawk, white-throated swift and violet green swallow, Clark's nutcracker, raven, western tanager and falcon (prairie and peregrine).

Rock climbing on the sheer, vertical walls of the North Rim is a popular activity with advanced and expert level climbers. Remember this when you get the urge to throw a rock over the edge. You can bike on the North Rim Road but not on the trails. Pets on a leash are welcome everywhere except for the North Vista Trail.

Hikers should be aware that limited cattle grazing is permitted on the North Rim. Please keep cattle gates closed should you encounter them. Horseback riding is permitted only on North Rim Drive and Deadhorse Trail. Hikers should give riders the right of way by stepping off the trail and avoiding sudden movements or noise.

South Rim
From the rim of the Vernal Mesa, enjoy sweeping panoramic views of the San Juan Mountain Range, Uncompahgre Valley, and Bostwick Park to the south. To the north, look for the West Elk Mountains, Painted Wall, Gunnison River, and Black Canyon.



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THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS SOUTH AMERICA

The Galapagos Islands are famous for the rich diversity of life found on their 120 volcanic islands, located directly on the Equator about 1000 km off the Pacific coast of South America.

Naturalist Charles Darwin's monumental work On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection was based largely upon observations he made during a five-week stay in the Galapagos in 1835, while on the 5-year journey of exploration of the HMS Beagle. Elevations range from sea level to the 1,707-metre summit of Wolf Volcano, one of many extinct, dormant, and active volcanoes found throughout the 766,514 hectares of protected islands and 7,990,000 hectares of marine reserve within the Galapagos Archipelago.

Habitats include varied coastal vegetation, mangrove swamps in coves and lagoons, arid zones of cactus and other species, and moist upland forests and shrublands in the high-elevation fog belt. Wildlife includes 11 subspecies of the Galapagos giant tortoise, each on a different island; marine iguanas, which graze on rocks under the sea; Galapagos penguin, Galapagos flightless cormorant, Galapagos hawk, lava heron, and dozens of other bird species; and mammals including Galapagos fur seal, Galapagos sea lion, and two species of bats.

Most of the breeding land birds of the Galapagos Archipelago are endemic to the islands, as are one-third of the vascular land plants. With the exception of two marine tortoises, all the reptiles of the Galapagos are endemic as well, including marine iguanas, terrestrial iguanas, many lizards and geckos, and 11 subspecies of Galapagos giant tortoise. Green turtles and hawksbill turtles are common in the waters surrounding the islands, and the green turtles breed on sandy beaches.

Native mammals of the Galapagos are few, owing to the 1,000 km span of Pacific Ocean between these volcanic islands and the mainland. The six native species include Galapagos fur seal, Galapagos sea lion, two species of rice rat, and two species of bat.

It is possible, in some seasons, to arrange tours of the Galapagos upon your arrival in the islands. This is reportedly less expensive than advance bookings on the mainland.

CORCOVADO NATIONAL PARK

This magnificent tropical wilderness domain is one of the last major old-growth rainforests in Central America.

Encompassing more than 54,000 land hectares and 2,400 of ocean, Corcovado National Park is a lush realm of misty cloud forests, oak woodlands, deep swamps, hot sandy beaches, and impenetrable rainforests.

More than 500 tree species occur here, in an incredibly diverse array of habitats that are home to 367 species of birds, 140 species of mammals, 51 species of amphibians, 64 species of reptiles, 40 species of freshwater fish, and more than 6,000 species of insects.

Crocodiles, jaguars, pumas, white-lipped peccaries, and howler monkeys roam the forests, while hummingbirds, parakeets, and scarlet macaws enliven the skies.

Activities include dayhiking, extended wilderness backpacking, beach swimming, snorkeling, and wildlife observation.

THE COPPER CANYON MEXICO

The Copper Canyon of Mexico is renowned for ruggedness, remoteness, and the vastness of its scarcely-explored reaches.

Encompassing the roughly 64,000 square kilometres of the Sierra Taruhumara, it is not a single canyon at all, but a vast domain of many deep canyons, abrupt precipices, torrential rivers, and spectacular waterfalls that comprise the largest canyon system in North America.

The name Copper Canyon, or Barrancas del Cobre, derives from a copper-walled segment of the larger Rio Urique canyon, and over time has been applied to the entire canyons region.

Within this region lie four or more canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon of Arizona, and the newly-discovered 453-metre plunge of Piedra Volada falls, the highest waterfall in Mexico and among the five highest on Earth.

Vegetation ranges from forests of oak, pine, juniper, and cottonwood to wildflower meadows and subtropical canyon bottoms. Wildlife includes black bear, puma, deer, boar, and 300 species of birds.

The Tarahumara Indians of Copper Canyon are runners over vast distances of rugged trails, and it is these trails that provide foot access from the railway trailheads to most areas of this scarce-developed region.