Terra Galleria Photography

Archive for the ‘National Parks Photo Spots’ Category

Photo Spot 39: Theodore Roosevelt National Park – Cannonball concretions

Theodore Roosevelt National Park preserves not only a rugged landscape, but also the memory of a man, who has done so much for conservation through his support of the National Parks. It started oddly, though. The impetus for the young Theodore Roosevelt to head to North Dakota was reading in the newspaper that bison were […]

Photo Spot 38: Rocky Mountain National Park – Trail Ridge Road

The Front Range of the Rocky Mountains provides one of the most abrupt changes of scenery and elevation anywhere. The western edge of the Great Plains transitions quickly to the mountains that form the Continental Divide, two miles higher. Those Colorado mountains include some of the most accessible high-altitude terrain in North America, including Mount […]

Photo Spot 37: Dry Tortugas National Park – Fort Jefferson Moat

updated Aug 18, 2003 A few weeks ago, we ventured into the northernmost of the Florida Keys, Elliott Key in Biscayne National Park. Today, we visit the Key situated at the opposite end of the chain. Dry Tortugas National Park, 70 miles of Key West, Florida, like Biscayne is mostly an underwater park. The land […]

Photo Spot 36: Biscayne National Park – Elliott Key inner shoreline

Last week, we waded in the water in a Everglades cypress dome. We will continue walking in the water this week, although in a different environment. The Florida Keys form a chain of barrier islands beginning offshore of Miami, and extending for more than 130 miles to Key West. While almost the entire chain of […]

Photo Spot 35: Everglades National Park – Pa-hay-okee cypress domes

On my first visit to Everglades National Park, I focused on the wildlife, the wading birds and alligators. Nowhere else in North America are the birds that diverse, abundant and easy to observe and photograph along one of the parks famous boardwalk trails. The scenery at first appeared flat and monotonous, so I was content […]

Photo Spot 34: Great Smoky Mountains National Park – Clingsman’s Dome

The Appalachians, largest mountain range in the Eastern US, culminates at its southern end in North Carolina and Tennessee. Those two states split Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which preserves one of the finest virgin deciduous forest in the world. The top of Clingsman’s Dome is the highest point in the Park, at 6,643 ft […]

Photo Spot 33: Mammoth Cave National Park – Frozen Niagara

Over 300 miles of caves have been mapped in Mammoth Cave National Park, making it the largest known cave system in the world. Depending on the season, the National Park Service offers up to a dozen different tours into the caves. Although some of the tours can last up to 6 hours, most of the […]

Photo Spot 32: Hot Springs National Park – the Cascade

It is easy to dismiss at a first glance Hot Springs National Park. The smallest of the US National Parks (just over 5,500 acres) consists mostly of Central Avenue, the main street of Hot Springs, Arkansas, and seemingly undistinguished hills. So why is it the oldest area in the National Park System, set aside as […]

Photo Spot 31: Acadia National Park – Cadillac Mountain

Acadia National Park is my favorite landscape location on the East Coast because it packs in a small area (only 40,000 acres) such a great variety of scenery. The shoreline includes beaches, headlands, boulders, and slabs with a range of orientations. Large and small freshwater bodies are surrounded by two major forest types (eastern deciduous […]

Photo spot 30: Voyageurs National Park – Ash River entrance

The two parks typical of the North Woods, Voyageurs National Park and Isle Royale National Park, present different challenges. While Isle Royale is a hard-to-get island explored on foot, the core of Voyageurs National Park is a system of interconnected lakes. Getting to the edge of the Voyageurs is easy, however travel within the park […]