The Shiprock of New Mexico

Shiprock or “The Winged Rock” is a monadnock rising approximately 1,583 feet above the high-desert plain of the Navajo Nation in San Juan County, New Mexico, United States. It is located in the center of the Ancient Pueblo People, a prehistoric Native American culture often referred to as the Anasazi. It is the most noticeable landmark in northwestern New Mexico. Shiprock peak elevation is approximately 7,177 feet above sea level and it lies around 10.75 miles southwest of the town of Shiprock, which is named for the peak.

Well, the formation is four corners region and plays a significant role in Navajo religion mythology and tradition. Thus, Shiprock is composed of fractured volcanic breccia and black dikes of igneous rock called minette. It is the erosional leftover of the throat of a volcano, and the volcanic breccia formed in a diatreme. Moreover, shiprock is famous location for rock climbers and has been featured in several Hollywood movies and novels. It is also consider a heaven for photographer to take stunning photographs.  Furthermore "Shiprock" or Shiprock peak's has similarity to an enormous 19th-century clipper ship. Anglos first called the peak "The Needle", a name indicate that "Ship Rock" dates from the 1870s. The exposed rock probably was originally formed 2,500–3000 feet below the Earth's surface, and exposed after millions of years of erosion. 

Shiprock and the surrounding land have religious and historical significance to the Navajo people and has mentioned in numerous of their myths and legends. Navajo legends put the peak in a larger geographic context, and said to be either a medicine pouch or a bow carried by the "Goods of Value Mountain", a large mythic male figure comprising several mountain features throughout the region. Navajo legend has it that Bird Monsters nested on the peak and fed on human flesh. The peak is mentioned in stories from the Enemy Side Ceremony and the Navajo Mountain Chant, and is allied with the Bead Chant and the Naayee'ee Ceremony. The legend of the rock seems more likely to be a metaphor hinting of the site's magical power to lift the human soul above the problems of daily existence into an awareness of the Great Spirit.

Therefore, the first recorded ascent was in 1939, by a Sierra Club party including David Brower, Raffi Bedayn, Bestor Robinson and John Dyer. So, this was the first climb in the United States to use expansion bolts for protection. After that at least seven routes have been climbed on the peak, all of them of great technical difficulty. Moreover, the first ascent route is featured in the book Fifty Classic Climbs of North America; however, the idea of climbing Shiprock is offensive to numerous Navajo people; climbing has been illegal since 1970. 

In spite of this, rock climbers continue to see Shiprock as an interesting place to climb. Even more serious than the possible physical harm illegal climbs could pose is the religious damage done to the Navajo people by these non-Navajo visitors. The Monuments are sacred to the Navajo, and any human interaction is strictly off limits. Please abide by the humble religious requests of the Navajo people and do not climb the Monuments. Navajo law will be firmly enforced on this issue, Parks Department Manager Ray Russell also added.

Licancabur, A Highly Symmetrical Stratovolcano Between Chile and Bolivia

Well, Licancabur is a highly symmetrical stratovolcano on the southernmost part of the border between Chile and Bolivia. But actually it is situated just southwest of Laguna Verde in Bolivia. The volcano takes over the landscape of the Salar de Atacama area. The lower 2/3 of the northeastern slope of the volcano belong to Bolivia, 5,400 meters from the foot at 4,360 meters, though the rest and biggest part, including the higher third of the northeastern slope, the crater and summit, belong to Chile.

The summit and the crater are located completely in Chile, slightly over one kilometer to the southwest of the international borders. It is about 400 meters wide and covers Licancabur Lake, which is 70 meters by 90 meters Crater Lake almost ice-covered round the year. This is one of the highest lakes in the world, and despite air temperatures which can drop to -30 °C, it harbors planktonic fauna. The Lake provides an extremely harsh environment, but still there is life (extremophiles, planktonic fauna).

Moreover, Licancabur's most recent volcanic activity formed extensive lava flows which spread six kilometer down the northwest and southwest flanks, with older lava flows reaching 15 kilometers and pyroclastic flow deposits as far as 12 kilometers from the peak. Moreover, archaeological evidence at the summit offers evidence of pre-Columbian ascents and proposes the importance of crater lakes in Inca culture. This also supports the absence of major eruptions over the past 500 to 1,000 years. 

It is believed that Incas may have used the mountain to preform sacrifices and ruins can still be found on the top. Though not the most technically challenging climb in the Andes, the sheer altitude and magnificence of this volcano make it a very advisable climb, particularly if you’re trying to acclimate to high altitudes. Make sure, when climbing Licancabur, you’ll be sleeping at approx. 14,500' and climbing more than 19,000'. The best season to climb is Dec till March, which is lit bit more wet season. The high antiplano is "high and dry" and the sun is intense and the nights can be cold. Hece, it is advice to put on lots of sunscreen every day and get ready for temps to cross 20's F for January, colder in their winter.

Devil’s Slide, Utah

Devil’s Slide is a strange, massive-size limestone chute, located on the south side of Interstate 84 in Weber Canyon, nearby Croydon, and about eight miles east of Morgan. The Devil’s Slide in Utah, seems like a massive playground slide fit only for the Devil. The Slide comprises of two parallel slabs of hard, a weather-resistant limestone rock around 20 feet apart, some 40 feet high and 200 feet long. In between these two hard layers is a shaly limestone that is softer in comparison to the outer limestone layers, which makes it more at risk to weathering and erosion, thus forming the chute of the slide? The Devil’s Slide in United State is the tilted leftover of sediments deposited in a sea that once occupied Utah is the distant geologic past. Moreover, the Native American believed the area to be the Devil’s territory and another nearby rock formation that was said to be the “Devil’s War Club.”

Therefore, Devil’s Slide is almost 170 to 180 million years ago, a shallow sea originating from the north spread south and east over areas of what are now Montana, Wyoming, and Utah. This sea stretched as far east as the present-day Colorado River and south into northern Arizona,” a comprehensively explains the website of Utah’s Geological Survey.“ Moreover more than millions of years, substantial amounts of sediment accumulated and ultimately formed layers of limestone and sandstone. However, in northern Utah, these rocks are notorious as the Twin Creek Formation and are roughly 2700 feet thick. Hence more than 75 million years ago, folding and faulting during a mountain- building episode tilted the Twin Creek rock layers to a near-vertical position. Thus, succeeding erosion has exposed the near-vertical rock layers and created Devils Slide.”

As infrequent as the Top of Utah’s Devil’s Slide is not unique, because a same-named and alike rock formation about five miles north of Gardiner, Mont. Just north of Yellowstone National Park, off U.S. 89, this Devil’s Slide, though has a twist and a big curve in its slabs of parallel rock. Countless travelers were surprised when they saw the rock, but since the original highway was quite curvy in that area, the rock was blasted out during road improvements perhaps made long before the route became an interstate highway. Therefore, these days Devil's Slide still entices a lot of inquisitive visitors with enormous roadside trash cans along the interstate, it makes a quick scenic/garbage stop for most travelers.

Digging Crystals of Oklahoma's at Great Salt Plains

When you first approach the crystal digging area on the west end of the Great Salt Plains, it looks like beautiful white water. Well, The Great Salt Plains in Alfalfa County, in northwestern Oklahoma, is the only place in the world where hourglass-shaped selenite crystals are found. Thousands of thousands years ago this area was covered by a large inland sea. As the time passes the sear was ultimately cut off and the water disappeared away, leaving behind thick layers of salt that were consequently covered by dirt and erosion from nearby mountain ranges. Hence as groundwater upsurges to the surface through the salt-saturated sand, it takes salt along with it and sums them on the surface as a thin crust. It is the concentrated saline solution uniting with gypsum that stimulates the growth of selenite, a crystalline form of gypsum. Therefore, these crystals are found buried only a few feet below the surface, under an area that’s 11,000 square miles in size. Moreover, the crystals may form very quickly, as when substantial rains or floods bring great quantities of freshwater to the plains, some of the selenite crystals may go back into solution until conditions are right for recrystallization.

Moreover, Gypsum crystals are affected by the surroundings they grow in. Ultimately the finer soil result in the clearer the crystals. The color of crystals found on the Great Salt Plains are chocolate brown due to the presence of iron oxide in the soil, and since these crystals form in wet soil, sand and clay particles are included within the crystal. These particles often form an "hourglass" shape inside the crystal. This hourglass shape is exclusive to selenite crystals that produce on the Salt Plains of northwest Oklahoma. Furthermore, aside from hourglass-shaped crystals, single crystal blades, penetration twins, and clusters are also found here. Therefore, some crystals that have been found here measured up to 7 inches long, and multifaceted combinations weighed as much as 38 pounds. Since these crystals are so exceptional, they were selected as the State Crystal of Oklahoma in 2005 and Great Salt Plains itself is a protected State Park. But, every year starting from April and October, the west edge of the Great Salt Lake is opened up digging, enticing rock enthusiasts from all over America and beyond. Therefore collectors are well permitted to take up to ten pounds of crystals, but for personal use only. Make sure selling of crystals is illegal.