Carlsbad Caverns - New Mexico

Carlsbad Caverns National Park is located in New Mexico in the Guadalupe Mountains and the northern Chihuahuan Desert. It is reached by car along US 62/180 that connects Carlsbad with El Paso Texas. The turn-off to the national park is White’s City with the last gas station for 130 miles. The cave entrance is 27 miles southwest of Carlsbad. The entrance road winds through beautiful canyons and rocky slopes with grass, thorny shrubs, cactus and occasionally a tree. All of this austere surrounding is hiding 117 caves of extraordinary beauty.

Carlsbad Caverns is a Permian-age fossil reef that was at one time under a vast sea. For 250 million years, sulfuric acid dissolved the surrounding limestone. There are preserved in the rocks the fossils of sponges, snails, algae, nautilus and many other animals that lived in the sea.

Capitol Reef National Park

Not often does one expect to find a reef on land, but that is exactly what can be found at Capitol Reef National Park, in Utah. The reef is not made of coral, of course, like the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia, but is made instead out of the land itself. The reef is known as the Waterpocket Fold, and it is a long wrinkle in the crust of the Earth, where the ground comes up to form a line that stretches on for miles and miles. It is truly an astonishing and unique thing, and looking at it one can only imagine the geological events that must have come together to thrust the Earth’s skin upward in such a violent fashion. That violence is long in the past, however, and visitors can now view the Waterpocket Fold up close at the Capitol Reef National Park.

The Waterpocket fold provides hours of fun and excitement hiking next to it. It is such a strange environmental feature that one could cover the same ground many times and still be entertained by all of the different details to be seen.

Canyonlands, Utah

A vast labyrinth of canyons weaves through the ancient sedimentary rock in Utah’s Canyonlands National Park. Rugged and strikingly beautiful, the park is located in the Colorado Plateau southwest of Moab, Utah. Cut by the Colorado and Green Rivers and their tributaries, this is an area of rich desert scenery replete with mesas, deep gorges, and many remarkable geologic features. Outdoor activities abound in this high desert national park.

The vast area of near pristine territory is the result of millions of years of deposition and then erosion of the sedimentary rocks. The rivers flowing through the park cut it into roughly four different areas, each with distinctive features. The Island in the Sky, The Needles, and the Maze make up three of the districts, with the rivers forming the fourth.

Bryce Canyon - Utah

There is something exquisitely magical about Utah’s red rock country and there are few places that boast such splendid examples of it as Bryce Canyon National Park. Located in southern Utah, Bryce Canyon is at a higher altitude than nearby Zion National Park. Weather tends to be cooler and wetter than Zion and the park’s landscape is comprised of distinctive geology created by erosion from wind and water. These formations are more like a series of natural amphitheaters than a canyon cut by a river which taken together make up the main attraction of the park, Bryce Amphitheater.

Bryce Canyon is open year round and so its activities vary with the seasons. The most popular destination is the scenic drive which rims the park’s amphitheaters and has ample viewpoints for sightseeing. Alternatively there is a free shuttle service within the park which covers the scenic highway and stops at key sightseeing destinations and park amenities such as visitors’ center, campgrounds, and inns. The shuttle is open from early May to mid October and their use is encouraged to cut down vehicle congestion and to preserve the condition of the park.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison Tour the Colorado River

Located approximately 250 miles southwest of the Denver area is one of the countroes most beautiful and pristine National Parks. Black Canyon of the Gunnison showcases some of the most dramatic and awe inspiring scenery known to man. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison most incredible feature is the canyon that cuts through the National Park. Carved out over millions of years by the Colorado River, the canyon cuts the park into two several distinct areas.

The North Rim is located 11 miles south of Crawford and can be accessed by way of the Colorado Highway 92 and North Rim Road which is an unpaved road. Be careful when driving on the road but it is safe when traveled at a reasonable speed.