Wexplorations

Pinnacles National Park, August 2022

📸- #sonyalpha #sonyalpha7riv #photography #landscape #nationalpark

Craving the California Coast something fierce today.

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Expect some changes over the weekend… but… we back.

#otd in 1915, Rocky Mountain National Park was established. Protecting the Front Range of the Rockies, this National Park is known for Trail Ridge Road, the highest paved thoroughfare in the National Park Service. Four distinct regions and ecosystems can be found along the road: The Montane, Subalpine, Alpine Tundra, and Riparian. The Continental Divide also defines the land and runs along several “thirteener” peaks- mountains reaching 13,000 or more feet. Enos Mills is seen as one of the key figures behind the preservation of this iconic landscape and came to love the land after an inspirational meeting with John Muir. Mills lived by Lily Lake and often extolled upon the wilderness with those that came to visit the region. After Muir’s death in 1915, congress authorized the creation of Rocky Mountain in honor of him and under Mills incessant lobbying. Today, Rocky is the third most visited National Park in the system thanks to its proximity to Denver. For me, seeing Rocky in the middle of winter was a surreal dream come to fruition. Rocky brought me my first real snowfall. My first real experience with biting and beautiful cold. Rocky also brought me the experience of seeing a park under shutdown conditions. Most of the roads were closed. With that in mind, my time in Rocky feels unfinished. There’s still more to see. I can’t wait to complete my journey to this amazing place. (at Rocky Mountain National Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtGx0sVHqRS/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=t34d2za86e8o

#otd in 1939, Badlands National Monument was Established. Today, as a full fledged National Park, Badlands protects an archaeologically rich region of the American Midwest. Rife with pinnacles and buttes that contain fossils and the largest undisturbed prairie grassland in the United States, Badlands is a pristine and rugged wilderness. It is here that the endangered black-footed ferret dwells along with bison, prairie dogs, and bighorn sheep. Additionally, for more than 11,000 years this land has been used by the Arikara, Lakota, and other Native American tribes. All together, these attributes make Badlands one of the most diverse and captivating additions to the National Park Service. For me, it is a place of realization; in 2016, Badlands was the first stop on a two week long journey across the Midwest and across the Rockies. On that first day of the trip, gazing into the canyons and passageways of the Badlands, and glimpsing my first ever wild bison, it struck me how transformative nature is. How vital. How important. Happy anniversary, Badlands. (at Badlands National Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtEVgIOndrN/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=gc0br714s4a

We lift our lamp by the golden door. (at Statue of Liberty National Monument) https://www.instagram.com/p/BsZZ3NSHqq_/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ixjso7k84mvq

Happy 48th anniversary to @gulfislandsnps, which was designated as a National Seashore #otd in 1971. My own memories and experiences with Gulf Islands are strange ones, admittedly, but they taught me an important lesson: We visited Gulf Islands in September 2017 under the tense pretense of evacuating from Miami as Hurricane Irma tracked closer and closer to South Florida. We hurriedly left Miami and drove for nearly two days to get ourselves out of the forecast cone. When we arrived in Pensacola, we were exhausted, grumpy, and scared. But there was a new-to-us National Park unit to see, so that’s what we focused on. And once we made our way past the familiar brown arrowhead sign and into a stark and shimmering seaside wilderness, we were OK. We were in a National Park and we were home. National Parks are refuges for nature and for landscapes... but they’re also refuges for those that visit them. (at Gulf Islands National Seashore) https://www.instagram.com/p/BsZT8TVHGJ3/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=143guzmhsbqib