Strawberry Crater, Arizona

Strawberry Crater is a cinder cone volcano, more than 1,000 feet high, in the San Francisco volcanic field, 20 miles north of Flagstaff, Arizona, along Forest Road 545 in the Strawberry Crater Wilderness. The cone shape and the reddish cinders that created the cone resemble a giant strawberry. Although, many of the surrounding cones are better known, taller and younger Sunset Crater in the adjacent Sunset Crater National Monument. The Strawberry Cone wilderness area covers 10,743 acres, comprising of cinder cones, hills, and arid terrain. It is thought, the surface landforms are 45,000 to 100,000 year old. The Strawberry crater height is about 6,526 and base elevation is 5,500 feet. It lies in a volcanic field, covered with lava flows and southern end is filled with low cinder cones.

Moreover, professional says that Strawberry Crater is comparatively young compared to other craters in the United States. Strawberry crater was formed from volcanic eruptions around 800 and 1604 B.C. There were several volcanic periods, during which multi-colored rocks were deposited on Earth's surface. There are numerous different paths leading to the strawberry crater, but there is only one trail that is marked. Surrounding the crater, there are rolling cinder-strewn hills with a variety of different plants from pinons to junipers. At the top of Crater, one can see Kachina Peaks Wilderness, The Painted Desert, the Hopi Buttes, and valley of the Little Colorado River. 

Recreation activities like hiking are open year round. However, in winters near the crater average to around 50 degrees, though summers tend to be very hot and dry. The dry area has very few natural water sources near the hiking trail, so travelers are highly suggested to bring enough amount of water. Moreover, around the actual crater, there are low walls of stacked rock. These walls are said to be Native American constructions. There are also remnants of ancient gardens where inhabitants used volcanic cinders for water-retaining mulch. Plentiful ruins scattered across this unwelcoming landscape prove the resourcefulness of an ancient people who lived here even as the land still fumed and spouted. In places you can also see remnants of the gardens they cultivated using volcanic cinders as water-retaining mulch.

Strawberry Crater offers a variety of recreational activities such as day hiking and horseback riding. Information about these activities can be found on the Coconino National Forest recreational website. In your journeys across this volcanic moonscape you'll probably come across 900-year-old Sinagua ruins, and even parts of the gardens those ancient people grew using a water-retaining mulch of volcanic cinders. Thus, the geologic forms and twisted junipers make Strawberry Crater Wilderness a widespread place for nature photography.Source: Charismatic Planet

Wild Horses of East Coast of America on a Bewitching Island

Well, the charming cumberland Island is home to east coast America's only really wild horse herd. The serene abandoned island was once home to the super-rich Carnegie family, who bought it in the 1880s. The Cumberland Island’s over 150 horses are descendants from domestic horses used in local Civil War battles. The Horses are par for the course in the Wild West, but there are a few roaming the wild east of America as well. The off to Atlantic coast of Georgia is home to the only unmanaged feral herd of horses on the east coast. The area is pretty much deserted, the island’s former grand inhabitants have moved on but the horses have remained. Recently they have been snapped, over a decade of visits, by French photographer Anouk Masson Krantz, for the soon-to-be released book Wild Horses of Cumberland Island, published by Images Publishing. The Cumberland Island is made up of white sand beaches, immense rolling dunes, old growth maritime forests and a salt marsh tidal estuary. It’s only reachable by boat and there’s only one hotel to choose from - The Greyfield Inn, one of the few buildings on the island that isn’t a grandiose ruin.

More than home to 150 wild horses, the island has had a cheered history. It is well believed that horses first would have arrived with Spanish settlers in the 17th century. There were plantations and Civil War battles there in the 19th century, however after that the wealthy Carnegies bought most of it in the 1880s. Therefore, the legendary industrialist family lived there with their own horses but it was sold to the National Park Service in 1972. A descendant of the original owner, Thomas Carnegie, Oliver ‘Mitty’ Ferguson runs the island's hotel. The Cumberland horses aren’t native to the island but as they are descended from domestic breeds, it's said their ancestors must have escaped during the Civil War. If you are horse lover, then you must see horses taking free rein of a treasured environment in a sparkling set of pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carhenge, The Replica of Stonehenge in Nebraska, United State

Carhenge is a replica of England's Stonehenge located near the city of Alliance, Nebraska, in United States. Carhenge is built by American artist Jim Reinders as a tribute to his dad in 1987, Secret Marvels says, that it’s fast becoming a cult destination. It is made of 39 classic American cars in the exact formation of Stonehenge. Carhenge arranged in a circle measuring about 29 meters in diameter, held upright in pits 1.5 meters deep, trunk end down, and arches have been formed by welding automobiles atop the supporting models. As you know, that original Stonehenge is built with large standing stones, but Carhenge is built from vintage American automobile, but all covered with gray spray paint.

Carhenge replicates Stonehenge's current dilapidated state, rather than the original stone circle erected between 2500 BC and 2000 BC. Three cars were buried at Carhenge with a sign stating: "Here lie three bones of foreign car”s. They served our purpose while Detroit slept. Now Detroit is awake and America's great!" Moreover, the Carhenge site includes several other artworks created from autos covered with several colors of spray paint.

Jim Reinders lives in England, and during study, he studied the structure of Stonehenge, which helped him to copy the structure's shape, proportions, and size. Other automobile sculptures were subsequently added to the location of Carhenge, which is now known as the Car Art Reserve. Thus, Reinders donated the 10-acre site to the Friends of Carhenge. In 2011 the Friends of Carhenge listed the attraction for sale for $300,000. In 2013 the Friends of Carhenge donated the site to the Citizens of Alliance.

Carhenge is used often in popular culture, and makes appearances in film, popular music, television programs and commercials. Yet despite its latter-day popularity Carhenge remains a remote wonder, far from the nearest interstate. It's a place that you really have to dedicate time to drive to, and appreciate your vehicle when you get there.

Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach Oregon

Haystack Rock is a 235-foot sea stack in Cannon Beach, Oregon. It is sometimes claimed locally to be the third-tallest such "intertidal" structure in the world, but there are no official references to support this. Haystack Rock is located about 1.5 miles south of downtown Cannon Beach in Clatsop County and about 80 miles west of Portland.  Haystack rock is a popular tourist destination is nearby to the beach and accessible by foot at low tide. The tallest and probably best known Haystack Rock stands 327 feet above the sea and is the fourth tallest sea stack or off-shore monolith in the world. The monolithic rock tide pools are home to many intertidal (meaning it can be reached by land) animals, including starfish, sea anemone, Chitons, crabs, limpets, and sea slugs. The rock is a favorite nesting site for many sea birds, including terns and puffins. Haystack Rock is one of the most identifiable geological formations of Oregon.  

There are 6 other geographic features in Oregon named Haystack Rock, including two others along the Oregon Coast and others throughout the U.S. Haystack Rock is accompanied by several smaller rocks known as The Needles. The other Oregon coastal Haystack Rock stands 105 feet above sea level in Coos County near Bandon. Haystack rock is composed of basalt, formed by lava flows emanating from the Blue Mountains and Columbia basin about 15 million years ago. The lava flows formed numerous Oregon coast's natural features, including Tillamook Head, Arch Cape, and Saddle Mountain. Haystack Rock was once joined to the coastline but passing of centuries the erosion has since separated the monolith from the coast. The Haystack Rock Awareness Program (HRAP) is a stewardship and environmental educational program whose mission is to protect, through education, the intertidal and bird ecology of the Marine Garden and Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge at Haystack Rock. 

In 1990, Haystack Rock was granted Marine Garden status collecting plants or animals is strictly prohibited. The Haystack Rock Awareness Program is a volunteer association which conducts educational seminars at the rock during low tide between May and September. Climbing above the mean high tide level disturbs nesting birds and is not allowed. At Haystack Rock visitors can view several species of marine wildlife in their natural habitat during low tide. The thin strip of rock and sand that connects it to the beach features many tide pools. The area surrounding the rock is popular for picnicking, kite-flying, and bird-watching. Moreover, it is ideal place for photographers to capture the majestic beauty of Haystack Rock on canvas or on film. Many people each year become temporarily trapped on Haystack Rock when high tide engulfs the rock in water, necessitating rescue by the United States Coast Guard or local authorities. Oregon's beaches are congested with tourist in summer make the beautiful beachfront within walking distance of Haystack Rock. Source: CP

Sea Lion Caves in the Oregon Coast of U.S.

Sea Lion Caves are a connected system of sea caves and caverns open to the Pacific Ocean in the U.S. state of Oregon. They’re are located 11 miles north of Florence and 400 miles Oregon Coast. In this region area Highway 101 follows a steep and undeveloped seascape 300 feet above sea level. Lichens, algae, and mineral stains cover the cavern walls with greens, pinks, purples, buffs, and reds on the rough surfaces, few of which are named Lincoln's Head, the Indian Maiden, and The Goddess of Liberty. Local seaman, Captain Willian Cox, discovered Sea Lion Caves in 1880, which entered the grotto through the western channel in a small boat on a calm day. He reportedly returned to explore the caves a number of times and on one occasion was marooned for several days because of stormy weather and uneven Ocean. William Cox reportedly sustained himself by shooting a young sea lion and eating the meat of its flippers. Irrespective of the incident's authenticity, it is established that Captain Cox purchased the land in 1887 from the State of Oregon. His family owned the property until 1926.

However, human access to the caves is through a gift shop building. The cave system is at sea level and the ocean constantly washes into the main cavern which has a floor area of about 2 acres and a vaulted rock dome about 125 feet high. Thus, southward from the main chamber, a low passage runs 1,000 feet to a sea level opening. This corridor is flooded at high tide and free of water at low tide, and western entrance is a short, high passage through which the ocean washes at all tide levels. At the north, a third entrance is about 50 feet above the ocean which serves as an elevated observation area where the entire underground cave system and its wildlife are visible. The sea level portion of this cave and the sea cliff rocks just outside the cave have become, over the centuries, the only known mainland rookery and hauling area of the Steller's sea lion and to a lesser extent the California sea lion. The high vault is a natural resting place for sea birds. Therefore, myriad birds (such as the pigeon guillemot, Brandt's cormorant, western, herring, and California gulls, tufted puffins, and the occasional hawk or bald eagle) construct their home at or near the Sea Lion Caves Sea Lion Caves is one of the great sea grottos of the world, comparable in size and coloration to the famed Blue Grotto in the Mediterranean.

The whale watching deck, located below the gift shop, permits a seaward view of about 20 miles. The deck is at an elevation of 300 feet, making it a widespread whale watching post. Because typically, orcas are seen migrating once a year past the Sea Lion Caves, whereas the grey whale is seen anywhere from a few months to all year long. Moreover small groups end their migration in the close vicinity, feeding very close to the shore. Moreover, Sea Lion Caves was awarded the 2012 Eugene, Cascades and Coast Enrichment Award. This famed Oregon coast magnetism was recognized for welcoming and serving thousands of annual visitors over the past 80 years.  

Access to the caves from the hillside above was not even considered until the specific intention of opening the caves as a business. In 1930, when it became probable that U.S. Route 101 would be completed going past the site.  A 1,500-foot-long trail was excavated by hand into the face of the cliff. At the bottom, a 135 step wooden tower was extended down to the north entrance of the caves. Despite the difficulty and danger of the construction, the trail and stairs provided safe access for visitors and the Sea Lion Caves opened to the public in August 1932.

The traffic was light at first. However, word of the attraction spread and the number of people visiting the Sea Lion Caves slowly grew until 1942, when virtually all recreational travel halted due to World War. In 1961, the addition of an elevator resulted in a sharp rise in the number of visitors. The elevator took three years to build, but by June 1961, has a capacity of 23 passengers and travels 208 feet at 250 feet per minute. It can accommodate 400 people per hour. Source: Charismaticplanet