Cherish is my favorite word, and I cherish the ability of turning the routine into a beautiful moment.
Nature creates in me, a spiritual and meditative time to bring peace, harmony and balance, into an otherwise ordinary day~
Mary Howell Cromer







Sunday, November 11, 2012

Black Canyon, Last of the National Parks, Recently Visited~



I have finally come to the end of our 17 day journey.  
I think that when I first began to share, I said that we had visited 10 national parks and then I suddenly remembered one and so it was actually 11 national parks...
6068 miles
in 17 days!
We had pretty much had our whole journey planned out weeks, even months in advance. 
One of the places that my husby, Bill found out about in his researching of places to visit, was the Black Canyon National Park in Gunnison, Colorado.
In some of the literature that we read, we learned that at the base of the cliffs it is actually 8 degrees warmer than up at the rim. 
To get to the water's edge of the river below, we had to take roads with 16 % grades...
Very steep!
If the Empire State building was placed in the base of these mountains, there would still be over 1,000' above it...
 Black Canyon National Park exposes some of the steepest cliffs, oldest rock, and craggiest spires in North America.
It also happened to be a very clean park, not all of them were.

For those in North America...
I wish my husband Bill, 
all Veterans, 
and those who currently serve in active duty,
many thanks and many blessings on this Veteran's Day~

I am hoping that Mary with Mosiac Monday and millions more that had been without power in the New England coast,
have had their power restored. 
What crazy weather we have been having here. 
Wishing nothing but blessings to all of those who have been affected by Hurricane Sandy, tropical storms, earthquakes...we even had one in KY yesterday, as well as blizzards and snow storms...
I believe that we are
definitely doing things that are turning nature against the way it was designed to perform and that is a tragedy~

Happy Monday, happy week, be safe and take care~

I am linking up with Mary for:

"Mosaic Monday"


at:
http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com
 


I really tried so hard to properly ID the bird seen in the images above, but just could not land on a 100% ID...anyone want to help me out, I so appreciate it~
 
 
 
 
 
 


Even from such a great distance, one could hear the rush of the river below~
 
 
 


Beautiful Autumn colours were showing themselves all over the park system~
 
 
 
 


It was actually Bill who first spotted the Red-tailed Hawk hunting above us, as we ate our picnic lunch along the river's edge~
 
 


And...
Once again, I need help with proper ID...
I thought these might be American Tree Sparrows, but just not sure.
 I have looked at so many birds in my Field Guide to Birds of North America,
and there are a few that look so very much alike and rather, than take a wild guess,
I would rather ask for someone to help me ID these lovely birds;') for me...
Thanking you in advance~
 
 
 
 




A Least Chipmunk was gathering in the goods for hibernation season~






There were a few Fly Fisherman along the river, as we lunched near by~




20 comments:

  1. Hi Mary, the photos in this post and the one just before it are amazing! Such beautiful country. You sure did a lot of traveling and in a short time. Thank you for taking the photos and sharing them with us here in blogland who will never get to see these places. Blessings, Pamela

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  2. I've enjoyed all of your trip photos and these are fabulous, too! I'm so awed by the scenery! Do you know how many photos you took during the trip? I'd burn through memory cards like crazy!

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  3. Your photographs are just stunning....it looks like you had a wonderful time and saw a lot of nature's beauty.

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  4. Such rugged magnificence. I love all the craggy rocks. So which park was your favourite?

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  5. Everything is larger than life...hard to imagine unless you've been there. I just love the little chipmunk. It makes you want to feed it...or take it home! lol Happy Monday!

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  6. the rock faces are so beautiful! the fall color, too. the chippies always make me smile.

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  7. Such amazing landscape images here! Very nice and makes me want to go on a trip!!!

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  8. What glories you've seen! Thanks so much for sharing your travels with us at MM! xoxo

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  9. An amazing place. Thanks for sharing it. Valerie

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  10. Such glorious scenery and photos..what a wonderful trip! And I am glad we got to share in it somewhat! :)

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  11. wow! 11 national parks, & 6068 miles
    in 17 days! That is amazing! and a lot of driving! you certainly need to have it planned out well to travel that far in that amount of time! Thanks for taking us along on tour, and for sharing the amazing images of your beautiful national parks - breath taking!
    and have a wonderful week.

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  12. Hi Mary,
    I cannot help with ID of American bird, I'm not good enough ;-) I've to say that although Iceland is quite spectacular in terms of landscape, I would love to see these spectacular canyon too... They are simply fabulous! Good set of pictures you got!

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  13. What an amazing place - the landscape is stunning and you have captured it so beautifully with exceptional photographs. Thanks so much for sharing once again.

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  14. Your post this week is a collector's item. What fabulous photography! Your trip sounds like it was made in heaven for the national park lover in all of us. This one is remarkable in its beauty and glory. Your panoramic views are spellbinding. Kudos to you. genie

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  15. If I were going to be a fisherman (or woman:)), I would be a flyfisher - the streams are always so beautiful! Wonderful capture on the hawk!

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  16. Your journey sounds absolutely amazing, thrilling, and awesome. And your photos are stunning to see.

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  17. Wow - So many great shots! Thanks so much for sharing them all.
    That is a lot of miles in a couple of weeks.

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  18. After a lifetime in the West and many visits to Colorado (our kids live there) we finally saw Black Canyon for the first time two years ago. You covered everything in two weeks what took us 50 years ;>). Lovely pictures of a fascinating place.

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  19. What amazing scenery, Mary!! So many breathtaking shots. How many did you take in all? I'm sure I would have filled every memory card I own and then some!!
    One day I would love to visit many of the national parks in the US. Thank you for sharing.

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