The Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument (GSENM) is a United States national monument protecting the Grand Staircase, the Kaiparowits Plateau, and the Canyons of the Escalante in southern Utah. It was established in 1996 by President Bill Clinton under the authority of the Antiquities Act with 1.7 million acres of land, later expanded to 1,880,461 acres (7,610 km2). In 2017, the monument's size was reduced by half in a succeeding presidential proclamation, and it was restored in 2021. The land is among the most remote in the country; it was the last to be mapped in the contiguous United States.
The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. The parkway, which is America's longest linear park, runs for 469 miles (755 km) through 29 Virginia and North Carolina counties, linking Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It runs mostly along the spine of the Blue Ridge, a major mountain chain that is part of the Appalachian Mountains. Its southern terminus is at U.S. Route 441 (US 441) on the boundary between Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, from which it travels north to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. The roadway continues through Shenandoah as Skyline Drive, a similar scenic road which is managed by a different National Park Service unit. Both Skyline Drive and the Virginia portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway are part of Virginia State Route 48 (SR 48), though this designation is not signed.
Bidwell Park is a municipal park located in Chico, California. The park was established July 10, 1905, through the donation by Annie Bidwell, widow of Chico's founder, John Bidwell, of approximately 2,500 acres of land to the City of Chico. Since that time, the city has purchased additional land, such as Cedar Grove in 1922, and 1,200 acres (490 ha) of land south of Big Chico Creek in upper Bidwell Park in 1995. As of 2009, the total park size is 3,670 acres (1,490 ha), nearly 11 miles (18 km) in length, making it the third largest municipal park in California and is one of the largest city parks in the United States.
The San Rafael Swell is a large geologic feature located in south-central Utah, United States about 16 miles (26 km) west of Green River. The San Rafael Swell, measuring approximately 75 by 40 miles, consists of a giant dome-shaped anticline of sandstone, shale, and limestone that was pushed up during the Paleocene Laramide Orogeny 60–40 million years ago. Since that time, infrequent but powerful flash floods have eroded the sedimentary rocks into numerous valleys, canyons, gorges, mesas, buttes, and badlands.
Robert H. Treman State Park is a 1,110-acre (4.5 km2) state park located in Tompkins County, in the Finger Lakes region of New York in the United States. The park is situated in the towns of Ithaca, Enfield and Newfield.
The Rio Grande Gorge is a geological feature in northern New Mexico where the watercourse of the Rio Grande follows a tectonic chasm. Beginning near the Colorado border, the approximately 50-mile (80 km) gorge runs from northwest to southwest of Taos, New Mexico, through the basalt flows of the Taos Plateau volcanic field. The gorge depth is 800 feet (240 m) just south of the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, which spans the gorge 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Taos.
Resurrection Bay, also known as Blying Sound, and Harding Gateway in its outer reaches, is a fjord on the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska, United States. Its main settlement is Seward, located at the head of the bay. The bay received its name from Alexandr Baranov, who was forced to retreat into the bay during a bad storm in the Gulf of Alaska. When the storm settled it was Easter Sunday, so the bay and nearby Resurrection River were named in honor of it. Harding Gateway refers to the passage between Rugged and Cheval Islands.
The Wave is a sandstone rock formation located in Arizona, United States, near its northern border with Utah. The formation is situated on the slopes of the Coyote Buttes in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness of the Colorado Plateau. The area is administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) at the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument visitor center in Kanab, Utah.
Westwater Canyon is a canyon located on the Colorado River in Eastern Utah between the Utah/Colorado state line and Cisco, Utah. The inner gorge of the canyon is made up of black Precambrian rock and contains class III and IV rapids which are sought after by whitewater enthusiasts. The most notable rapid, called "Skull", is the most significant.
Lake Mohave is a reservoir on the Colorado River between the Hoover Dam and Davis Dam in Cottonwood Valley defining the border between Nevada and Arizona in the United States. This 67 mile stretch of the Colorado River flows past Boulder City, Nelson, Searchlight, Cottonwood Cove, Cal-Nev-Ari, and Laughlin to the west in Nevada and Willow Beach and Bullhead City to the east in Arizona. A maximum width of 4 miles wide and an elevation of 647 feet (197 m), Lake Mohave encompasses 28,260 acres of water. As Lake Mead lies to the north of the Hoover Dam, Lake Mohave and adjacent lands forming its shoreline are part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area administered by the U.S. National Park Service.
The Billy Goat Trail is a 4.7-mile (7.6 km) hiking trail that follows a path between the C&O Canal and the Potomac River within the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park near the Great Falls in Montgomery County, Maryland. The trail has three sections: Section A, the northernmost, is 1.7 miles (2.7 km); Section B is 1.4 miles (2.3 km); and Section C, the southernmost, is 1.6 miles (2.6 km)
The Big Morongo Canyon Preserve is a 31,000-acres (130 km2) native plants habitat and wildlife preserve located in the Little San Bernardino Mountains of the Transverse Ranges, in the transition zone between the higher Mojave Desert and lower elevation Colorado Desert section of the Sonoran Desert. Due to its location within this transition zone, the area is especially high in natural diversity. The natural spring fed desert oasis found here is one of the 10 largest Cottonwood and Willow riparian habitats in California. It is also identified by the Audubon Society as one of the most important avian habitat areas in California.
The Kokopelli's Trail is a 142-mile (229 km) multi-use trail in Grand County, Utah and Mesa County, Colorado in the western United States. The trail was named in honor of its mythic muse, Kokopelli. The trail was created by the Colorado Plateau Mountain Bike Trail Association (COPMOBA) in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the United States Forest Service (USFS) in 1989.
Hanging Lake is a lake in the U.S. State of Colorado. It is located in Glenwood Canyon, about 7 miles (11 km) east of Glenwood Springs, Colorado and is a popular tourist destination. When open, the lake is reached via a trailhead located along the Glenwood Canyon Bike and Pedestrian Path that runs along the north side of I-70 in the bottom of the canyon. The trail follows Dead Horse Creek, a tributary of the Colorado River and ascends some 1,000 feet (300 m) in elevation for 1.2 miles (1.9 km) from the trailhead to the lake.
Mineral Ridge National Recreation Trail is a backcountry hiking area near Lake Coeur d'Alene in Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. It is administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Construction began on the trail in 1963 and the area was designated as a National Recreation Trail in 1982. There is a self-guided interpretive tour along the 3.3-mile (5.3 km) trail.
The Hole in the Rock Trail is a historic trail running east-southeast from the town of Escalante in southern Utah in the western United States. The Mormon trailblazers who established this trail crossed the Colorado River and ended their journey in the town of Bluff. The Hole-in-the-Rock expedition established the trail in 1879. The trail is located within the borders of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, the adjacent Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) public land to the east of the Colorado River. A geologic feature called the Hole in the Rock gave the trail its name. A modern unpaved road called the Hole-in-the-Rock Road closely follows this historic trail to the point where it enters the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The modern road is an important access route for visiting the Canyons of the Escalante and the Devils Garden. The trail is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, being added to that list in 1982.
Coyote Gulch is a tributary of the Escalante River, located in Garfield and Kane Counties in southern Utah, in the western United States. Over 25 mi (40 km) long, Coyote Gulch exhibits many of the geologic features found in the Canyons of the Escalante, including high vertical canyon walls, narrow slot canyons, domes, arches, and natural bridges. The upper sections of Coyote Gulch are located within the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument while its lower sections are located in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.
The Roundtop Trail is an American hiking trail in Sevier County and Blount County sections of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The trail traverses the crest of Roundtop, a 3,077-foot (938 m) mountain that straddles the park's northern boundary. This trail, which passes through a thick forest of pine and oak and provides vistas of the valleys to the north and the mountains to the south, is one of the least-used trails in the park.
The Little North Santiam River is a 27-mile (43 km) tributary of the North Santiam River in western Oregon in the United States. It drains 113 square miles (290 km2) of the Cascade Range on the eastern side of the Willamette Valley east of Salem.
Sand Dollar Beach is a .5 miles (0.80 km) long beach in Big Sur, California, one of the longest publicly accessible beaches on that coast. It is within the Los Padres National Forest and across Highway 1 from Plaskett Creek Campground. There is a picnic area, bathrooms, and barbeque pits at the parking area. There is a $10 access fee payable at the parking lot managed by a concession company. Dogs are permitted on leash while on the trail and off leash at the beach. Beach access is open daily from sunrise to sunset and is only available for day use. Swimming and wading are not recommended due to dangerous surf conditions and strong rip currents.
