The Sawtooth Valley United States

The Sawtooth Valley is a scenic valley in the western United States, in Blaine and Custer counties in central Idaho between the Sawtooth National Recreation Area (SNRA) on its west and the White Cloud Mountains on its east, with the Smoky and Boulder Mountains on the south. About 50 kilometers long, it is beautifully surrounded by the Sawtooth Mountains to the west, White Cloud Mountains to the east, Salmon River Mountains to the north, and Boulder and Smoky mountains to the south. It is the largest high mountain valley in Idaho and it has been inhabited by one or more wolf packs ever since 1998. The beautiful valley contains the headwaters of the Salmon River, the city of Stanley, and community of Sawtooth City. It is an awesome place that begs you to pull over, lock the car, and put some ground under your feet or a trout stream around your knees. At its picturesque heart stands the splintering crest of the Sawtooth Range, a chaos of crags, razorback ridges, and small alpine lakes and tremendous view of its jagged northern edge rising over a wetland meadow, stop at the Park Creek Overlook.

The SNRA offers many attractions i.e. biking, camping, hiking, horseback riding, hunting, fishing, and remarkable wildflower viewing. The best time to see the wildflower is in the late spring when the snow melts and the ground gets warms. There’re three sensitive plant species that are endemic to the Stanley Basin: Stanley Whitlow Grass, Guardian Buckwheat and Stanley Thalaspi. Furthermore; the endemic species, the SNRA is also home to an insectivorous species, Spoon-leaved Sundew.

Therefore; in order to assure the preservation and protection of the natural, historic, scenic, pastoral, fish & wildlife values and to provide for the enhancement of the recreational values associated there with the SNRA includes four mountain ranges: the Sawtooths, the Boulders, the White Clouds, and the Smokies. This region has more than 1,000 high mountain lakes and is the headwaters of 4 of Idaho’s major rivers: the Salmon, the South Fork of the Payette, the Boise, and the Big Wood.

The complete length of the valley is traversed by State Highway 75, which is also recognized as the Sawtooth Scenic Byway. Highway 75 enters the valley from the south at Galena Summit and exits to the north near Stanley. Moreover; highway 75 was formerly United States 93, which is now routed through Arco. Sawtooth Valley encompasses several large lakes in the SNRA, including Redfish, Stanley lakes, Alturas, and Pettit. The valley floor elevations range from just under 6,300 feet near Stanley to over 7,500 feet below Galena Summit. Elevations along the valley's borders reach 11,815 feet at Castle Peak in the White Cloud Mountains to the east and 10,715 feet at Thompson Peak in the Sawtooth Mountains to the west. Travelers are treated to a scenic drive en route to the SNRA from any starting point. There are a variety of ways to reach the SNRA. Consulting a map source would be the best way to determine the easiest route.

Sivash Salt Lagoons in the Crimean Peninsula

There’s a place lies in between Black sea and Sea of Azov is called “Crimean Peninsula” actually located just south of the Ukrainian mainland, and is almost entirely surrounded by water. It is linked with the Ukrainian mainland by the Isthmus of Perekop a strip of land about five to seven kilometers wide, and is separated from the Russian region of Kuban on the east by the Strait of Kerch. On the other side of northeast is located the Arabat Spit, a thin strip of land that splits a system of shallow salt-water lagoons named Sivash, from the Sea of Azov.

These lagoons almost cut the Crimean Peninsula off from the mainland, and works as a natural border between the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the Kherson Oblast that passes through Sivash. To the north side, the Isthmus of Perekop splits Sivash from the Black Sea and at the same time, links the Crimean Peninsula to the mainland. The Sivash lagoons are very shallow with a mean depth of about 50 cm to 1 meter, while the deepest place is mere about 3 meters. Although bottom is covered with silt about to 5 meters thick. However; the lagoons are so shallow, so water entering Sivash from the algae-ridden Sea of Azov and evaporates rapidly in summer, therefore; producing a terrible stench which has received the lagoon name is "Rotten Sea".

It is estimated that more than 200 million tonnes of salt is exist in Sivash. In consequence the salt harvesting has converted into a big business in Crimea. In summer when water levels recede, plentiful pinkish-white salt pans are uncovered and covering dozens of square kilometers in the region. The eye-catching pink color is the result of microalgae that flourish in salty conditions and yield high levels of beta-carotene, a reddish pigment that protects it from the region's penetrating sunlight. The salt is gathered by traders and exported to European Union countries, Russia, and to Japan, where it is prized for its purported value in fighting the effects of radiation. This below picture shows the diversity of colors the lagoons yield owing to its varied chemical composition. Hence you can view different colors, such as peach, mustard, and lime green, blue, blue-green, beige, and brown. Moreover; thick layers of silt coat the bottoms of the shallow marshes, which are abundant in mineral salts to supply a local chemical plant.

The Volcano “Kawah Ijen” That Spews Blue Lava

At first look you might consider the otherworldly light in these pictures comes from a nebula or another planet deep in outer space or probably you have heard of "red hot lava" or "white hot" to describe searing temperatures, so but what about "blue hot lava"? Kawah Ijen is one of several volcanoes located within the 20 kilometers wide Ijen Caldera in East Java, Indonesia. The caldera of Kawah Ijen harbors a kilometer-wide, turquoise colored, acidic crater lake that leaks sulphurous gases constantly. That's the surreal hue of Indonesia's Kawah Ijen Volcano, which glows with an otherworldly "blue lava".

Normally at night the hot gases burn to emit an eerie blue glow that is distinctive to Kawah Ijen. These gases emerge from the cracks in the volcano at high pressure and temperature, up to 600°C, and when they come in contact with the air, they ignite, sending flames up to 16 feet high. Specific gases condense into liquid sulfur, and continues to burn as it flows down the slopes giving the feeling of blue lava flowing. Kawah Ijen’s sulphuric gases are also mined for sulphur. The volcanic gases are trapped by the native miners and channeled through a network of ceramic pipes, which in result of condensation of molten sulfur.

The sulfur, normally red in color when molten, pours gradually from the ends of these pipes and pools on the ground, turning bright yellow as it cools.The expert miners break the cooled material into big pieces and carry it away in baskets to an adjacent refinery. In this way an expert worker can earn up to $13 dollars a day. Therefore you can’t imagine the intense heat and extremely hazardous condition with insufficient protection. Many workers suffer various respiratory problems due to breathing toxic fumes day in and out. So they’d prefer to work at night to escape the heat of the sun, and to earn extra income as well. These astonishing images are captured by photographer Olivier Grunewald, who lost two lenses and a camera to sulphuric corrosion while trying to capture the mysterious pictures.

Tongariro National Park New Zealand

Tongariro Nationa Park is actually 4^th established National Park in the world & oldest national park in New Zealand located in central North Island. This National Park encompasses three active volcanoes (Tongariro, Ruapehu, and Ngauruhoe) located at the southern end of a 2,500 kilometers long range of volcanoes. The National Park has two volcanoes on the northern end which erupted more than 20,000 years ago while one at Indo-Australian Plates meets the pacific plate, and has erupted due to internal tectonic processes, in the recent Aug 2012. These volcanoes have been together structure the mountains of Tongariro National Park for over two million years. Moreover; Ruapehu is world’s most active volcano & largest active volcano in New Zealand. This has started to erupted at least 2.5 million years ago.  However major eruptions occurred about fifty years apart and minor eruptions almost every year.

An astonishing Crater Lake forms actually fed melting snow, and it was came into existence due to major eruption. The Crater Lake vivid and radiant colors are caused by dissolved minerals leaching from eh surrounding rocks. At the close of Ruapehu is Mount Tongariro which comprises of at least twelve volcanic cones. Therefore Ngauruhoe often regarded as a separate mountain is geologically a cone of Tongariro. This is the most active vent, erupted over 70 times since 1839, and last erupted in 1975. There are several explosion craters on the massif, several of which have been filled with water to form the Blue Lake and the Emerald Lakes. These lakes are famous due to scenic viewpoints along the “Tongariro Alpine Crossing” a celebrated one day trek that traverses the otherworldly terrain along the slopes of all 3 mountains.

Furthermore Mount Tongariro, Ruapehu and its surrounding area were one of the many locations used to shoot the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the near-perfect conical shape of Ngauruhoe was the basis for Mount Doom. Tongariro National Park has been acknowledged by UNESCO as one of the 28 mixed cultural and natural World Heritage Sites. There are 56 significant species of birds, like; rare endemic species such as  North Island Brown Kiwi, Kākā, Blue Duck, North Island fernbird, Double-banded Plover and Karearea. The National Park main activities are hiking and climbing in summer, and skiing and snowboarding in winter and hunting, game fishing, mountain biking, horse riding, rafting and scenic flights. The most popular track in Tongariro National Park is the Tongariro Alpine Crossing and besides this, there are several shorter tracks appropriate for day tramps. Snow season starts in late June till early November.