View allAll Photos Tagged ustravel...
While most of the rock formations in the Garden of the Gods are quite red, there are a few exceptions where lighter tones and white are highlights.
The garden's red rock formations were created during a geological upheaval along a natural fault line millions of years ago. Archaeological evidence shows that prehistoric people visited Garden of the Gods about 1330 BC.
Schwabacher's Landing is a much photographed spot on the Snake River, almost exactly east of Grand Teton, where the terrain flattens out and allows easy access to the river and beautiful reflections.
Sprague Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park. Fly Fishing reflections set in a beautiful RMNP landscape.
Taggart Lake Trail. The Taggart Lake Trail in Grand Teton National Park. The trail provides access to Taggart Lake, with views of the lake and the Teton Range.
Snake River Overlook. The Tetons and the Snake River is a black and white photograph taken by Ansel Adams in 1942, at the Grand Teton National Park, in Wyoming. It is one of his best known and most critically acclaimed photographs. The trees have grown considerably so you can no longer see the magnificent S curve of the river that Adams memorialized but it remains a beautiful location and scene.
Views along Trail Ridge Road- Highway to the Sky. Eleven miles of this highway travel above tree line, the elevation near 11,500 feet where the park's evergreen forests come to a halt.
String Lake. String Lake Loop /Leigh Lake Trail leads first to String Lake, a shallow and therefore a bit warmer than most of the Alpine Lakes in the park is a popular area for picnics, swimming and paddling. Trail continues on to Leigh Lake. Nice hike and wonderful Alpine Pine scents along the way through the pines in GTNP.
Taggart Lake trail in Grand Teton National Park is a great hike with this wonderful vista as the payoff!
Kerry park is the best place to have this wonderful view of skyline, if the sky is clear, I should see the Mount Rainer on the horizon, unfortunately it was bit smoggy
Rest and enjoying the view after a high payoff hike. The hike to panoramic views at Inspiration Point in Grand Teton National Park begins from the Jenny Lake Trailhead
Sting Lake, Grand Teton National Park. String Lake Loop /Leigh Lake Trail leads first to String Lake, a shallow and therefore a bit warmer than most of the Alpine Lakes in the park is a popular area for picnics, swimming and paddling. Trail continues on to Leigh Lake. Nice hike and wonderful Alpine Pine scents along the way through the pines in GTNP.
Storm is coming! Sapphire Point Overlook In Colorado sits between Keystone and Breckenridge on Swan Mountain Road, at an elevation of 9,500 feet. The overlook offers a stunning view of Dillon Reservoir, hemmed in by the Gore and Tenmile mountain ranges.
The mesas rise up to 300 meters above the Colorado Plateau and are characteristic of the Monument Valley landscape.
Salesforce Tower is a 61-story supertall skyscraper at 415 Mission Street, between First and Fremont Street. The building is 326 m / 1,070 feet tall, Completed: January 2018
Devils Garden is an area of Arches National Park that features a series of rock fins and arches formed by erosion. The Devils Garden Trail, including more primitive sections and spurs, meanders through the area for 7.2 mi / 11.6 km.
Delicate Arch (height: 65 feet, equivalent to just under 20 meters) in the eastern part of the park, 2.5 km from Wolfe Ranch (about a 1-hour walk) is a stand-alone, very well-known arch. An image of it frames the Utah state license plate.
Frank Beckwith, the leader of the Arches National Monument Scientific Expedition gave the arch its present name in 1933.
Few birds are as instantly recognizable as the aptly named Hyacinth Macaw. With their bright blue feathers, yellow-ringed eyes and mischievous grins, they are the class clowns of the parrot world. These intelligent, social birds gather in flocks of up to 30 individuals, using their loud squawks and screams to keep in touch with each other in the dense rainforest canopy. They travel long distances daily in search of the various nuts and fruit that make up their diet. Hyacinth Macaws boast large, powerful beaks that can crack into even the hardest nuts, giving them access to a food sources few other animals can exploit. Macaws are also sometimes seen eating damp clay off open cliff faces, perhaps to neutralize noxious chemicals from the fruits and nuts that might otherwise both their stomachs. Once common throughout Central America and eastern South American, the wild Hyacinth Macaw has fallen on hard times due to over-collection for the caged bird trade, and habitat loss. In the 1908's, an estimated 10,000 birds were taken from the wild, and destruction of nesting trees by cattle ranchers an dplantation farmers continues to impact their survival. The Hyacinth Macaw is still locally common in some parts of Brazil, though, and many ranch-owners have begun to protect the macaws on their land.
[Source: www.aviary.org/animals/hyacinth-macaw]
The hyacinth macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus), or hyacinthine macaw, is a parrot native to central and eastern South America. With a length (from the top of its head to the tip of its long pointed tail) of about 100 cm (3.3 ft) it is longer than any other species of parrot. It is the largest macaw and the largest flying parrot species, though the flightless kakapo of New Zealand can outweigh it at up to 3.5 kg. While generally easily recognized, it can be confused with the far rarer and smaller Lear's macaw. Habitat loss and the trapping of wild birds for the pet trade have taken a heavy toll on their population in the wild, so the species is classified as Vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List, and it is protected by its listing on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
[Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyacinth_macaw]
The National Aviary, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the only independent indoor nonprofit aviary in the United States. It is also the country's largest aviary, and the only accorded honorary "National" status by the United States Congress. The aviary is home to over 500 birds representing more than 150 species, and is a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
[Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Aviary]
The prominent mesa structures are made of approximately 275 million year old De Chelly sandstone. The 2100-meter-high rock plateau has been worked by wind, rain and temperatures over the past 50 million years. The process of simply eroding the alternating hard and soft rock layers created the massive mesas (for example, "Raingod Mesa," "Thunderbird Mesa") that rise up to 300 m above the Colorado Plateau and are characteristic of the Monument Valley landscape. The clearly recognizable reddish color of the rocks results from the iron oxide contained in the rock layers.
Salesforce Tower (left); building is 1,070 feet / 326 m high ..SF's tallest building // TransAmerica Pyramid (right) is 853 feet / 260 m high
American flamingos are unmistakable birds with a curiously shaped bill, slender necks and long, delicate looking legs. Their brilliant feathers range from a pale pink to scarlet red, with bright pink being the most common. Although they may appear strange, each feature on the flamingo serves an important function. Their long legs and necks allow the birds to wade and forage in water several feet deep. Their oddly shaped bill is perfectly suited to strain plankton and other small invertebrates from the water. The microscopic shrimp and algae in their diet is also the source of their iconic pink color – the pigment is deposited in their feathers as they grow and the brightness of the color indicates how well the flamingo was eating as the feathers were growing. This may be a sign to other flamingos of an individual’s fitness. American flamingos’ long legs appear as though their knees bend backwards, which is not the case. Flamingos actually stand on their “tip-toes” – meaning the prominent joint on their leg is their ankle! Their knee is hidden by feathers and is located close to the bird’s body.
[Source: www.aviary.org/animals/American-Flamingo]
The American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) is a large species of flamingo closely related to the greater flamingo and Chilean flamingo. It was formerly considered conspecific with the greater flamingo, but that treatment is now widely viewed (e.g. by the American and British Ornithologists' Unions) as incorrect due to a lack of evidence. It is also known as the Caribbean flamingo although it is present in the Galápagos Islands. In Cuba it is also known as the greater flamingo. It is the only flamingo that naturally inhabits North America.
[Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_flamingo]
The National Aviary, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the only independent indoor nonprofit aviary in the United States. It is also the country's largest aviary, and the only accorded honorary "National" status by the United States Congress. The aviary is home to over 500 birds representing more than 150 species, and is a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
[Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Aviary]