Chimney Rock Nebraska United States

The Chimney Rock is one of the most prominent and distinguishable landmarks in Morrill County in western Nebraska in the US. The remnant of the erosion of the bluffs at the edge of the North Platte Valley, the slender spire with a conical base rises nearly 300 feet above the surrounding valley and is visible for many miles from the east along U.S. Route 26. The impressive formation is composed of layers of volcanic ash and Brule clay dating back to the Oligocene Age 23 million to 34 million years ago. It is placed approximately 4 miles south of present-day Bayard in Millard County. The prominent Chimney Rock shot to fame during the middle of the 19th century when emigrants traveling along the Oregon, California and Mormon Trail spotted it on their journeys across Nebraska. Roughly 350,000 settlers passed by Chimney Rock, and hundreds of them mentioned it in their journal entries. Those who followed started to use it as a landmark. Several 19th century travelers stopped to marvel at this natural inquisitiveness and felt compelled to carve their names on Chimney Rock, though very few inscriptions lasted long.

Joshua Pilcher was the first recorded mention of “Chimney Rock”, in 1827 who had journeyed up the Platte River Valley to the Salt Lake rendezvous of the Rocky Mountain fur trappers. In those days the rock was referred to by a diversity of names including Chimney Tower, Chimley Rock, and Elk's Peak, but “Chimney Rock” had become the most frequently used name by the 1840s. The sketches, paintings, written accounts, and some early photos, it is well thought that the spire was approximately 30 feet higher than it is now. Wind, erosion and lightning could have major caused the spire to break off. The severe lightning strike in 1992, the Chimney Rock suffered a 5-foot loss in height all at once. In 1956 the place of Chimney Rock was designated a National Historic Site.Source: Charismatic Planet

The Salt Pan of Devil’s Golf Course Death Valley in California

The Devil's Golf Course is a huge salt pan on the floor of Death Valley, situated in the Mojave Desert in eastern California. Though its particular boundaries are below par defined, and it spreads from the vicinity of the Ashford Mill site to the Salt Creek Hills, a well distance of around 40 miles. The large salt pan is basically a colossal, dried up bed of a lake that once well covered the valley to a depth of about 30 feet. It is believed that nearly 2,000 to 4,000 years ago the lake dried up which have leaving behind dissolved minerals more than thousands of years, were sculpted by weathering processes into eccentric shapes. The salt pan is so amazingly serrated that the 1934 National Park Service guide book to Death Valley National Monument stated that "only the devil could play golf" on its surface. After some time, the salt pan came to be recognized as the Devil's Golf Course. Over 150,000 years ago the contemporary day salt pan was the site of a large, deep lake produced by snow and melting glaciers as far away as the Sierra Nevada. Famous as Lake Manly, this body of water reached depths of 600 feet, and during this dated the majority of the salts that encompass these formations entered the area. At the close of the last Ice Age approximately 10,000 years ago climate change started a period of evaporation drying up this lake. Then for a brief period during the Holocene about 2,000 to 4,000 years ago the climate was again much damper and one more shallow lake shaped primarily from snow melt in the surrounding mountains and the drainage of the Amargosa River. This time the salt pan flooded to a depth of around 30 feet. After than the climate warmed again, and rainfall declined at some extent and the shallow lakes started to dry up. As the water evaporated, minerals dissolved in the lake became increasingly concentrated finally leaving a thick salty pool on the lowest parts of Death Valley's floor. While the saltpan at Badwater periodically floods, then dries, Devil's Golf Course lies in a part of the Death Valley salt pan that is few feet above flood level. Without the smoothing effects of flood waters, the salty salt at Devil's Golf Course grows into bizarre, intricately detailed pinnacles. The pinnacles form when salty water increases up from underlying muds. Capillary action draws the water upward where it rapidly evaporates, leaving a salty residue behind. The pinnacles rise very slowly, possibly as little as an inch in 35 years, and strong wind and rain continually sculpt the salty spires into captivating shapes.Source: Charismatic Planet

Kaziranga National Park India

The oldest park in Assam is Kaziranga National Park actually lies partly in Golaghat District and Nagaon District. It covers an area of 430 Sq Kms along the river Brahmaputra on the North and Karbi Anglong hills on the South. The National Highway 37 passes through the park area and tea estates, hemmed by table-top tea bushes. The park has actually been declared as National Park in 1974, and is world heritage site and famous for to see the rhinos and wild elephants straying near the highway. The landscape of park is comprises of sheer forest, tall elephant grass, rugged reeds, marshes & shallow pools. It is one of least area in eastern India undisturbed by a human presence.

It is occupied by the world's largest population of one-horned rhinoceroses, as well as many mammals, including elephants, panthers, tigers, bears, Snakes, Lizards, Turtles and Tortoises, Crocodiles, and thousands of birds & other species. The park normally opens from November to April and Tourists can take rides on elephants to move around the park or cruise in a boat on the Brahmaputra along the park. The flora of National Park is mainly consists of alluvial inundated grasslands, tropical wet evergreen forests, dense and tall elephants grass intermixed by small swamplands. The Kaziranga National Park is an abundant cover of water lilies, water hyacinth and lotus, offering stunning view of surroundings of park. Rattan Cane, (A Climbing Palm) also adds natural beauty of park.

The climate of Kaziranga National Park is varied season wise, normally hot and humid in April to June, and warms days in winter Nov to Jan. During monsoon the park is flooded by the water of Brahmaputra which caused Kaziranga becomes inaccessible. There is only method of getting around inside Kaziranga National Park is through a Jeep or elephant safari, which is more feasible. There are several shops at entrance selling different forest products & handicrafts. Hiking in Kaziranga is strictly prohibited to stop man-animal conflicts, so going on a jeep or elephant-back tour are the only options.Source: Charismatic Planet