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  • Abstract pattern in Caverns of Sonora, Sutton County, Texas, USA. The world-class Caverns of Sonora have a stunning and sparkling array of speleothems (helictites, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, coral trees, and other calcite crystal formations). National Speleological Society co-founder, Bill Stephenson said, after seeing it for the first time, "The beauty of Caverns of Sonora cannot be exaggerated...not even by a Texan!" Geologically, the cave formed between 1.5 to 5 million years ago within 100-million-year-old (Cretaceous) Segovia limestone, of the Edward limestone group. A fault allowed gases to rise up to mix with aquifer water, making acid which dissolved the limestone, leaving the cave. Between 1 and 3 million years ago, the water drained from the cave, after which speleothems begain forming. It is one of the most active caves in the world, with over 95% of its formations still growing. Sonora Caves are on Interstate 10, about half-way between Big Bend National Park and San Antonio, Texas.
    1403TX-412_Caverns-of-Sonora_Texas.jpg
  • Tides have shaped sea sand into scalloped abstract patterns at Seaside, on the Oregon coast, USA
    08ORC-701.jpg
  • Abstract pattern in Caverns of Sonora, Sutton County, Texas, USA. The world-class Caverns of Sonora have a stunning and sparkling array of speleothems (helictites, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, coral trees, and other calcite crystal formations). National Speleological Society co-founder, Bill Stephenson said, after seeing it for the first time, "The beauty of Caverns of Sonora cannot be exaggerated...not even by a Texan!" Geologically, the cave formed between 1.5 to 5 million years ago within 100-million-year-old (Cretaceous) Segovia limestone, of the Edward limestone group. A fault allowed gases to rise up to mix with aquifer water, making acid which dissolved the limestone, leaving the cave. Between 1 and 3 million years ago, the water drained from the cave, after which speleothems begain forming. It is one of the most active caves in the world, with over 95% of its formations still growing. Sonora Caves are on Interstate 10, about half-way between Big Bend National Park and San Antonio, Texas.
    1403TX-357_Caverns-of-Sonora_Texas.jpg
  • Tides have shaped sea sand into scalloped abstract patterns at Seaside, on the Oregon coast, USA
    08ORC-700.jpg
  • An abstract pattern of orange-yellow sandstone decorates Crack Canyon, on federal BLM land in San Rafael Swell, near Goblin Valley State Park, Utah, USA. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior that administers American public lands.
    1503SW3-098_Crack-Canyon_pattern.jpg
  • Abstract: A car hood reflects a lined pattern of a fiberglass roof, in Lima, Peru, South America.
    14PER2-010.jpg
  • Abstract flowstone pattern, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, in the Guadalupe Mountains, Chihuahuan Desert, southeast New Mexico, USA. Hike in on your own via the natural entrance or take an elevator from the visitor center. Geology: 4 to 6 million years ago, an acid bath in the water table slowly dissolved the underground rooms of Carlsbad Caverns, which then drained along with the uplift of the Guadalupe Mountains. The Guadalupe Mountains are the uplifted part of the ancient Capitan Reef which thrived along the edge of an inland sea more than 250 million years ago during Permian time. Carlsbad Caverns National Park protects part of the Capitan Reef, one of the best-preserved, exposed Permian-age fossil reefs in the world. The park's magnificent speleothems (cave formations) are due to rain and snowmelt soaking through soil and limestone rock, dripping into a cave, evaporating and depositing dissolved minerals. Drip-by-drip, over the past million years or so, Carlsbad Cavern has slowly been decorating itself. The slowest drips tend to stay on the ceiling (as stalactites, soda straws, draperies, ribbons or curtains). The faster drips are more likely to decorate the floor (with stalagmites, totem poles, flowstone, rim stone dams, lily pads, shelves, and cave pools). Today, due to the dry desert climate, few speleothems inside any Guadalupe Mountains caves are wet enough to actively grow. Most speleothems inside Carlsbad Cavern would have been much more active during the last ice age-up to around 10,000 years ago, but are now mostly inactive.
    1404NM-5031_Carlsbad-Caverns-NP.jpg
  • Abstract white ceiling pattern marbled with yellow in Caverns of Sonora, Sutton County, Texas, USA. The world-class Caverns of Sonora have a stunning and sparkling array of speleothems (helictites, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, coral trees, and other calcite crystal formations). National Speleological Society co-founder, Bill Stephenson said, after seeing it for the first time, "The beauty of Caverns of Sonora cannot be exaggerated...not even by a Texan!" Geologically, the cave formed between 1.5 to 5 million years ago within 100-million-year-old (Cretaceous) Segovia limestone, of the Edward limestone group. A fault allowed gases to rise up to mix with aquifer water, making acid which dissolved the limestone, leaving the cave. Between 1 and 3 million years ago, the water drained from the cave, after which speleothems begain forming. It is one of the most active caves in the world, with over 95% of its formations still growing. Sonora Caves are on Interstate 10, about half-way between Big Bend National Park and San Antonio, Texas.
    1403TX-439_Caverns-of-Sonora_Texas.jpg
  • Abstract white ceiling pattern marbled with yellow in Caverns of Sonora, Sutton County, Texas, USA. The world-class Caverns of Sonora have a stunning and sparkling array of speleothems (helictites, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, coral trees, and other calcite crystal formations). National Speleological Society co-founder, Bill Stephenson said, after seeing it for the first time, "The beauty of Caverns of Sonora cannot be exaggerated...not even by a Texan!" Geologically, the cave formed between 1.5 to 5 million years ago within 100-million-year-old (Cretaceous) Segovia limestone, of the Edward limestone group. A fault allowed gases to rise up to mix with aquifer water, making acid which dissolved the limestone, leaving the cave. Between 1 and 3 million years ago, the water drained from the cave, after which speleothems begain forming. It is one of the most active caves in the world, with over 95% of its formations still growing. Sonora Caves are on Interstate 10, about half-way between Big Bend National Park and San Antonio, Texas.
    1403TX-438_Caverns-of-Sonora_Texas.jpg
  • Abstract wall pattern in Caverns of Sonora, Sutton County, Texas, USA. The world-class Caverns of Sonora have a stunning and sparkling array of speleothems (helictites, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, coral trees, and other calcite crystal formations). National Speleological Society co-founder, Bill Stephenson said, after seeing it for the first time, "The beauty of Caverns of Sonora cannot be exaggerated...not even by a Texan!" Geologically, the cave formed between 1.5 to 5 million years ago within 100-million-year-old (Cretaceous) Segovia limestone, of the Edward limestone group. A fault allowed gases to rise up to mix with aquifer water, making acid which dissolved the limestone, leaving the cave. Between 1 and 3 million years ago, the water drained from the cave, after which speleothems begain forming. It is one of the most active caves in the world, with over 95% of its formations still growing. Sonora Caves are on Interstate 10, about half-way between Big Bend National Park and San Antonio, Texas.
    1403TX-400_Caverns-of-Sonora_Texas.jpg
  • Abstract ceiling pattern in Caverns of Sonora, Sutton County, Texas, USA. The world-class Caverns of Sonora have a stunning and sparkling array of speleothems (helictites, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, coral trees, and other calcite crystal formations). National Speleological Society co-founder, Bill Stephenson said, after seeing it for the first time, "The beauty of Caverns of Sonora cannot be exaggerated...not even by a Texan!" Geologically, the cave formed between 1.5 to 5 million years ago within 100-million-year-old (Cretaceous) Segovia limestone, of the Edward limestone group. A fault allowed gases to rise up to mix with aquifer water, making acid which dissolved the limestone, leaving the cave. Between 1 and 3 million years ago, the water drained from the cave, after which speleothems begain forming. It is one of the most active caves in the world, with over 95% of its formations still growing. Sonora Caves are on Interstate 10, about half-way between Big Bend National Park and San Antonio, Texas.
    1403TX-378_Caverns-of-Sonora_Texas.jpg
  • Abstract pattern in Caverns of Sonora, Sutton County, Texas, USA. The world-class Caverns of Sonora have a stunning and sparkling array of speleothems (helictites, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, coral trees, and other calcite crystal formations). National Speleological Society co-founder, Bill Stephenson said, after seeing it for the first time, "The beauty of Caverns of Sonora cannot be exaggerated...not even by a Texan!" Geologically, the cave formed between 1.5 to 5 million years ago within 100-million-year-old (Cretaceous) Segovia limestone, of the Edward limestone group. A fault allowed gases to rise up to mix with aquifer water, making acid which dissolved the limestone, leaving the cave. Between 1 and 3 million years ago, the water drained from the cave, after which speleothems begain forming. It is one of the most active caves in the world, with over 95% of its formations still growing. Sonora Caves are on Interstate 10, about half-way between Big Bend National Park and San Antonio, Texas.
    1403TX-334_Caverns-of-Sonora_Texas.jpg
  • Abstract helictite pattern in Caverns of Sonora, Sutton County, Texas, USA. The world-class Caverns of Sonora have a stunning and sparkling array of speleothems (helictites, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, coral trees, and other calcite crystal formations). National Speleological Society co-founder, Bill Stephenson said, after seeing it for the first time, "The beauty of Caverns of Sonora cannot be exaggerated...not even by a Texan!" Geologically, the cave formed between 1.5 to 5 million years ago within 100-million-year-old (Cretaceous) Segovia limestone, of the Edward limestone group. A fault allowed gases to rise up to mix with aquifer water, making acid which dissolved the limestone, leaving the cave. Between 1 and 3 million years ago, the water drained from the cave, after which speleothems begain forming. It is one of the most active caves in the world, with over 95% of its formations still growing. Sonora Caves are on Interstate 10, about half-way between Big Bend National Park and San Antonio, Texas.
    1403TX-305_Caverns-of-Sonora_Texas.jpg
  • Abstract helictite pattern in Caverns of Sonora, Sutton County, Texas, USA. The world-class Caverns of Sonora have a stunning and sparkling array of speleothems (helictites, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, coral trees, and other calcite crystal formations). National Speleological Society co-founder, Bill Stephenson said, after seeing it for the first time, "The beauty of Caverns of Sonora cannot be exaggerated...not even by a Texan!" Geologically, the cave formed between 1.5 to 5 million years ago within 100-million-year-old (Cretaceous) Segovia limestone, of the Edward limestone group. A fault allowed gases to rise up to mix with aquifer water, making acid which dissolved the limestone, leaving the cave. Between 1 and 3 million years ago, the water drained from the cave, after which speleothems begain forming. It is one of the most active caves in the world, with over 95% of its formations still growing. Sonora Caves are on Interstate 10, about half-way between Big Bend National Park and San Antonio, Texas.
    1403TX-417_Caverns-of-Sonora_Texas.jpg
  • Abstract puff-ball pattern in Caverns of Sonora, Sutton County, Texas, USA. The world-class Caverns of Sonora have a stunning and sparkling array of speleothems (helictites, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, coral trees, and other calcite crystal formations). National Speleological Society co-founder, Bill Stephenson said, after seeing it for the first time, "The beauty of Caverns of Sonora cannot be exaggerated...not even by a Texan!" Geologically, the cave formed between 1.5 to 5 million years ago within 100-million-year-old (Cretaceous) Segovia limestone, of the Edward limestone group. A fault allowed gases to rise up to mix with aquifer water, making acid which dissolved the limestone, leaving the cave. Between 1 and 3 million years ago, the water drained from the cave, after which speleothems begain forming. It is one of the most active caves in the world, with over 95% of its formations still growing. Sonora Caves are on Interstate 10, about half-way between Big Bend National Park and San Antonio, Texas.
    1403TX-383_Caverns-of-Sonora_Texas.jpg
  • Orange and white sandstone erodes into abstract patterns in Zion National Park adjoins Springdale, Utah, USA.
    11UT1-2170_Zion-NP-Utah.jpg
  • Flowstone forms abstract shapes in Mammoth Cave National Park, which was established in 1941 in Edmonson County, Kentucky, USA and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981 and international Biosphere Reserve 1990. With over 390 miles (630 km) of passageways, the Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave System is the longest known in the world. Mammoth Cave developed in thick Mississippian-aged limestone strata capped by a layer of Big Clifty Sandstone. Descending limestone layers include the Girkin Formation, Saint Genevieve Limestone, and Saint Louis Limestone.
    10MAM-062.jpg
  • Abstract concrete: broken cement and rebar skeleton of former industry decays in Anacortes, on Fidalgo Island in Skagit County, Washington, USA. From 1892-1930s, the site hosted sawmills and a box factory, followed by the Anacortes Veneer mill in 1939, becoming Custom Plywood from 1962-1990s, until destroyed by fire. A few years after this 2005 photo was taken, a clean-up from 2011-2013 ecologically restored the site back to coastal marsh. Changing economic cycles have brought the area back to nature.
    05WHI-20105.jpg
  • A colorful abstract pattern of 250 million-year-old Grindelwald limestone is exposed in a tunnel of the boardwalk within Gletscherschlucht along the White Lütschine river gorge, in Grindelwald, Switzerland, Europe. The Lower Grindelwald Glacier last extended through Gletscherschlucht gorge in 1855 and has receded very rapidly, melting back more than 3.75 kilometers as of 2014. Consistent with a pattern global warming, the glacier may entirely disappear by 2100. From Gletscherschlucht hotel restaurant, a wooden walkway leads over raging water through galleries and rocky tunnels over 1000 meters into the ravine, under 100-meter-high cliffs. You can walk to Gletscherschlucht in 35 minutes from the center of Grindelwald or take the bus.
    16SWIC-607.jpg
  • Explore the beautiful slot of Ding Canyon on BLM land in the San Rafael Swell, near Goblin Valley State Park, Utah, USA. As part of the Colorado Plateau, the San Rafael Swell is a giant dome-shaped anticline of sandstone, shale, and limestone (160-175 million years old) that was pushed up during the Paleocene Laramide Orogeny 60-40 million years ago. Since then, infrequent but powerful flash floods have eroded the sedimentary rocks into valleys, canyons, gorges, mesas, and buttes. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior that administers American public lands.
    1503SW-0780_Ding-Canyon.jpg
  • Explore the beautiful slot of Ding Canyon on BLM land in the San Rafael Swell, near Goblin Valley State Park, Utah, USA. As part of the Colorado Plateau, the San Rafael Swell is a giant dome-shaped anticline of sandstone, shale, and limestone (160-175 million years old) that was pushed up during the Paleocene Laramide Orogeny 60-40 million years ago. Since then, infrequent but powerful flash floods have eroded the sedimentary rocks into valleys, canyons, gorges, mesas, and buttes. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior that administers American public lands.
    1503SW-0777_Ding-Canyon.jpg
  • A colorful abstract pattern of 250 million-year-old Grindelwald limestone is exposed along the boardwalk within Gletscherschlucht in the White Lütschine river gorge, in Grindelwald, Switzerland, Europe. The Lower Grindelwald Glacier last extended through Gletscherschlucht gorge in 1855 and has receded very rapidly, melting back more than 3.75 kilometers as of 2014. Consistent with a pattern global warming, the glacier may entirely disappear by 2100. From Gletscherschlucht hotel restaurant, a wooden walkway leads over raging water and through galleries and rocky tunnels over a kilometer into the cool ravine, beneath 100-meter-high cliffs. You can walk to Gletscherschlucht in 35 minutes from the center of Grindelwald or take the bus.
    16SWIC-592.jpg
  • A colorful abstract pattern of 250 million-year-old Grindelwald limestone is exposed along the boardwalk within Gletscherschlucht in the White Lütschine river gorge, in Grindelwald, Switzerland, Europe. The Lower Grindelwald Glacier last extended through Gletscherschlucht gorge in 1855 and has receded very rapidly, melting back more than 3.75 kilometers as of 2014. Consistent with a pattern global warming, the glacier may entirely disappear by 2100. From Gletscherschlucht hotel restaurant, a wooden walkway leads over raging water and through galleries and rocky tunnels over a kilometer into the cool ravine, beneath 100-meter-high cliffs. You can walk to Gletscherschlucht in 35 minutes from the center of Grindelwald or take the bus.
    16SWI-6246.jpg
  • Scottish Parliament Building was opened 2004 in the Holyrood area of the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh, in the United Kingdom, Europe. The abstract modernist structure was designed by Catalan architect Enric Miralles (1955–2000). Scottish Parliament had previously dropped out of existence from 1707 through 1999. The original Parliament of Scotland was the national legislature of the independent Kingdom of Scotland, existing from the early 1200s until the Kingdom of Scotland merged with the Kingdom of England under the Acts of Union 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. Scottish Parliament disappeared with the creation of the Parliament of Great Britain at Westminster in London. Following a Scottish referendum in 1997, the current Parliament was convened by the Scotland Act 1998, which sets out its powers as a devolved legislature, which first met in 1999. The Scottish Parliament has the power to legislate in all areas that are not explicitly reserved to Westminster.
    17SC1-4453_Scotland.jpg
  • Scottish Parliament Building was opened 2004 in the Holyrood area of the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh, in the United Kingdom, Europe. The abstract modernist structure was designed by Catalan architect Enric Miralles (1955–2000). Scottish Parliament had previously dropped out of existence from 1707 through 1999. The original Parliament of Scotland was the national legislature of the independent Kingdom of Scotland, existing from the early 1200s until the Kingdom of Scotland merged with the Kingdom of England under the Acts of Union 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. Scottish Parliament disappeared with the creation of the Parliament of Great Britain at Westminster in London. Following a Scottish referendum in 1997, the current Parliament was convened by the Scotland Act 1998, which sets out its powers as a devolved legislature, which first met in 1999. The Scottish Parliament has the power to legislate in all areas that are not explicitly reserved to Westminster.
    17SC1-4445_Scotland.jpg
  • A colorful abstract pattern of 250 million-year-old Grindelwald limestone is exposed along the boardwalk within Gletscherschlucht in the White Lütschine river gorge, in Grindelwald, Switzerland, Europe. The Lower Grindelwald Glacier last extended through Gletscherschlucht gorge in 1855 and has receded very rapidly, melting back more than 3.75 kilometers as of 2014. Consistent with a pattern global warming, the glacier may entirely disappear by 2100. From Gletscherschlucht hotel restaurant, a wooden walkway leads over raging water and through galleries and rocky tunnels over a kilometer into the cool ravine, beneath 100-meter-high cliffs. You can walk to Gletscherschlucht in 35 minutes from the center of Grindelwald or take the bus.
    16SWIC-606.jpg
  • A colorful abstract pattern of 250 million-year-old Grindelwald limestone is exposed along the boardwalk within Gletscherschlucht in the White Lütschine river gorge, in Grindelwald, Switzerland, Europe. The Lower Grindelwald Glacier last extended through Gletscherschlucht gorge in 1855 and has receded very rapidly, melting back more than 3.75 kilometers as of 2014. Consistent with a pattern global warming, the glacier may entirely disappear by 2100. From Gletscherschlucht hotel restaurant, a wooden walkway leads over raging water and through galleries and rocky tunnels over a kilometer into the cool ravine, beneath 100-meter-high cliffs. You can walk to Gletscherschlucht in 35 minutes from the center of Grindelwald or take the bus.
    16SWIC-595.jpg
  • A colorful abstract pattern of 250 million-year-old Grindelwald limestone is exposed along the boardwalk within Gletscherschlucht in the White Lütschine river gorge, in Grindelwald, Switzerland, Europe. The Lower Grindelwald Glacier last extended through Gletscherschlucht gorge in 1855 and has receded very rapidly, melting back more than 3.75 kilometers as of 2014. Consistent with a pattern global warming, the glacier may entirely disappear by 2100. From Gletscherschlucht hotel restaurant, a wooden walkway leads over raging water and through galleries and rocky tunnels over a kilometer into the cool ravine, beneath 100-meter-high cliffs. You can walk to Gletscherschlucht in 35 minutes from the center of Grindelwald or take the bus.
    16SWIC-594.jpg
  • A colorful abstract pattern of 250 million-year-old Grindelwald limestone is exposed along the boardwalk within Gletscherschlucht in the White Lütschine river gorge, in Grindelwald, Switzerland, Europe. The Lower Grindelwald Glacier last extended through Gletscherschlucht gorge in 1855 and has receded very rapidly, melting back more than 3.75 kilometers as of 2014. Consistent with a pattern global warming, the glacier may entirely disappear by 2100. From Gletscherschlucht hotel restaurant, a wooden walkway leads over raging water and through galleries and rocky tunnels over a kilometer into the cool ravine, beneath 100-meter-high cliffs. You can walk to Gletscherschlucht in 35 minutes from the center of Grindelwald or take the bus.
    16SWI-6245.jpg
  • A white dike intrudes into blue-gray rock forming an abstract tree shape with yellow lichen suggesting leaves. My favorite hike in the Bishop Creek watershed goes from South Lake to Long Lake and Saddlerock Lake, looping back via a steeper, poorly marked route to Ruwau Lake, Chocolate Lakes, and Bull Lake, in John Muir Wilderness, Inyo National Forest, Sierra Nevada, California, USA. The rewarding semi-loop is 9 miles with 2220 feet cumulative gain. An easier walk is 7.2 miles round trip with 1500 feet gain to Saddlerock Lake, out and back via beautiful Long Lake.
    1507CAL-5106.jpg
  • Glass reflecting an abstract pattern of cumulus clouds obscures rows of bottles seen behind. These prominent windows front the finest home in Bodie, owned by James Stuart Cain from the 1890s - 1940s. Bodie is now California's official state gold rush ghost town. Jessie McGath originally built this house for his new wife in 1879, and JS Cain bought it in the 1890s. Cain moved to Bodie when he was 25 and built an empire starting with putting lumber barges on Mono Lake and transporting timber to support mine shafts, stoke boilers for machinery, build & heat buildings, and cook food. Cain eventually took control of the Stamp Mill though court action and went on to be the principal property owner and one of the richest men in town. Bodie State Historic Park lies in the Bodie Hills east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Mono County, near Bridgeport, California, USA. After W. S. Bodey's original gold discovery in 1859, profitable gold ore discoveries in 1876 and 1878 transformed "Bodie" from an isolated mining camp to a Wild West boomtown. By 1879, Bodie had a population of 5000-7000 people with 2000 buildings. At its peak, 65 saloons lined Main Street, which was a mile long. Bodie declined rapidly 1912-1917 and the last mine closed in 1942. Bodie became a National Historic Landmark in 1961 and Bodie State Historic Park in 1962. This image was stitched from two photos to increase pixel count and potential print size.
    1507CAL-2563-64pan_Bodie-CA.jpg
  • A white salt crust forms an abstract pattern over orange-red sandstone in Crack Canyon, in San Rafael Swell, near Goblin Valley State Park, Utah, USA.
    1503SW3-055_Crack-Canyon_pattern.jpg
  • Scottish Parliament Building was opened 2004 in the Holyrood area of the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh, in the United Kingdom, Europe. The abstract modernist structure was designed by Catalan architect Enric Miralles (1955–2000). Scottish Parliament had previously dropped out of existence from 1707 through 1999. The original Parliament of Scotland was the national legislature of the independent Kingdom of Scotland, existing from the early 1200s until the Kingdom of Scotland merged with the Kingdom of England under the Acts of Union 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. Scottish Parliament disappeared with the creation of the Parliament of Great Britain at Westminster in London. Following a Scottish referendum in 1997, the current Parliament was convened by the Scotland Act 1998, which sets out its powers as a devolved legislature, which first met in 1999. The Scottish Parliament has the power to legislate in all areas that are not explicitly reserved to Westminster.
    17SC1-4443_Scotland.jpg
  • A colorful abstract pattern of 250 million-year-old Grindelwald limestone is exposed along the boardwalk within Gletscherschlucht in the White Lütschine river gorge, in Grindelwald, Switzerland, Europe. The Lower Grindelwald Glacier last extended through Gletscherschlucht gorge in 1855 and has receded very rapidly, melting back more than 3.75 kilometers as of 2014. Consistent with a pattern global warming, the glacier may entirely disappear by 2100. From Gletscherschlucht hotel restaurant, a wooden walkway leads over raging water and through galleries and rocky tunnels over a kilometer into the cool ravine, beneath 100-meter-high cliffs. You can walk to Gletscherschlucht in 35 minutes from the center of Grindelwald or take the bus.
    16SWIC-596.jpg
  • A colorful abstract pattern of 250 million-year-old Grindelwald limestone is exposed along the boardwalk within Gletscherschlucht in the White Lütschine river gorge, in Grindelwald, Switzerland, Europe. The Lower Grindelwald Glacier last extended through Gletscherschlucht gorge in 1855 and has receded very rapidly, melting back more than 3.75 kilometers as of 2014. Consistent with a pattern global warming, the glacier may entirely disappear by 2100. From Gletscherschlucht hotel restaurant, a wooden walkway leads over raging water and through galleries and rocky tunnels over a kilometer into the cool ravine, beneath 100-meter-high cliffs. You can walk to Gletscherschlucht in 35 minutes from the center of Grindelwald or take the bus. (This image has been rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise for artistic effect.)
    16SWIC-593.jpg
  • Flash floods have eroded a slot of Navajo sandstone into a natural cathedral at Lower Antelope Canyon, in Antelope Canyon Navajo Tribal Park, near Page, Arizona, USA. (The older spelling "Navaho" is no longer used by the Navajo, an American Indian group who call themselves Diné, or Dineh, "The People.") For licensing options, please inquire.
    06AZ_5073-Lower_Antelope_Canyon.jpg
  • Explore colorful fossilized sand dunes in the Paw Hole section of South Coyote Buttes, in Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona, USA. The Coyote Buttes area exposes cross-bedded aeolian Jurassic Navajo Sandstone. Various iron oxides bled through the sandstone layers to create a salmon color; hematite and goethite added yellows, oranges, browns, and purples. For the required hiking permit, contact the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM, in Kanab, Utah). Access to this Federal public land is regulated to protect fragile geologic formations. Coyote Buttes are within Vermilion Cliffs National Monument (established in 2000 within Arizona), which is within Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness Area (established in 1984 spanning across the borders of Utah and Arizona). Stitched from two photos to increase depth of focus. The image was stitched from 2 overlapping photos to increase depth of focus.
    1303AZ-1361-1362stit.jpg
  • Hikers walk a dog along a rock face near Northgate Peaks trail, Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah, USA. The North Fork of the Virgin River carved spectacular Zion Canyon through reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone up to half a mile (800 m) deep and 15 miles (24 km) long. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3000 m) starting 13 million years ago. Zion and Kolob canyon geology includes 9 formations covering 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation, from warm, shallow seas, streams, lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments. Mormons discovered the canyon in 1858 and settled in the early 1860s. U.S. President Taft declared it Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909. In 1918, the name changed to Zion (an ancient Hebrew name for Jerusalem), which became a National Park in 1919. The Kolob section (a 1937 National Monument) was added to Zion National Park in 1956. Unusually diverse plants and animals congregate here where the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert meet.
    1303UT-1053.jpg
  • Octopus agave (Agave vilmoriniana). Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson, Arizona, USA. The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a 98-acre zoo, aquarium, botanical garden, natural history museum, publisher, and art gallery founded in 1952.
    23AZ-287.jpg
  • Copper pattern in a rock. The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a 98-acre zoo, aquarium, botanical garden, natural history museum, publisher, and art gallery founded in 1952. It's just west of Tucson, Arizona, USA.
    23AZ-502.jpg
  • Lower Antelope Canyon (or "the Corkscrew") is a beautiful slot canyon in Antelope Canyon Navajo Tribal Park, near Page, Arizona, USA. Antelope Canyon is the most-visited and most-photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest. Flash floods and other erosion have carved Navajo Sandstone into this natural rock cathedral.
    11AZ1-2245_Lower-Antelope-Canyon.jpg
  • The Wave, Coyote Buttes, located on the Arizona side of Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness Area, which is public land managed by the United States BLM. Over 190 million years, ancient sand dune layers calcified into rock and created "The Wave." Iron oxides bled through this Jurassic-age Navajo sandstone to create the salmon color. Hematite and goethite added yellows, oranges, browns and purples. Over thousands of years, water cut through the ridge above and exposed a channel that was further scoured by windblown sand into the smooth curves that today look like ocean swells and waves. For the permit required to hike to "The Wave", contact the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM), who limits access to protect this fragile geologic formation. Image was published in 2009 for a surgeon's book on the intersection of science and faith. Published in "Light Travel: Photography on the Go" book by Tom Dempsey 2009, 2010.
    03AZ-05-25-The-Wave_Coyote-Buttes.jpg
  • Sycamore tree bark. Madera Canyon, Santa Rita Mountains, Coronado National Forest, near Green Valley, Arizona, USA.
    23AZ-071.jpg
  • Copper pattern in a rock. The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a 98-acre zoo, aquarium, botanical garden, natural history museum, publisher, and art gallery founded in 1952. It's just west of Tucson, Arizona, USA.
    23AZ-504.jpg
  • Sandstone rock patterns in Kaolin Wash, Valley of Fire State Park, near Moapa Valley, Nevada, USA. Starting more than 150 million years ago, great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs were compressed, uplifting, faulted, and eroded to form the park's fiery red sandstone formations.
    2103SW-A1215.jpg
  • The Wave, Coyote Buttes, Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness Area, Arizona. Published in "Light Travel: Photography on the Go" book by Tom Dempsey 2009, 2010. For licensing options, please inquire.
    03AZ-04-31_The-Wave-hiker.jpg
  • Fungus on a log. Madera Canyon, Santa Rita Mountains, Coronado National Forest, near Green Valley, Arizona, USA.
    23AZ-063.jpg
  • Dunes rise up to 750 feet tall in Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, on the eastern edge of San Luis Valley, Sangre de Cristo Range, south-central Colorado, USA.
    1909US1-2482.jpg
  • Sunset spotlights the Queen's Garden, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah. The hoodoo on the left looks like a standing profile of Queen Elizabeth with gown. Bryce is actually not a canyon but a giant natural amphitheater created by erosion along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The ancient river and lake bed sedimentary rocks erode into hoodoos by the force of wind, water, and ice. Published in "Light Travel: Photography on the Go" by Tom Dempsey 2009, 2010.
    06UT_6106-Bryce-NP-Sunset.jpg
  • Flash floods have eroded a slot of Navajo sandstone into a natural cathedral at Lower Antelope Canyon, in Antelope Canyon Navajo Tribal Park, near Page, Arizona, USA. (The older spelling "Navaho" is no longer used by the Navajo, an American Indian group who call themselves Diné, or Dineh, "The People.")
    06AZ_4138-Lower_Antelope_Canyon.jpg
  • Orange breast feathers of an endangered masked bobwhite quail. Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson, Arizona, USA. The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a 98-acre zoo, aquarium, botanical garden, natural history museum, publisher, and art gallery founded in 1952.
    23AZ-425.jpg
  • Inside a slot canyon at the Moon Caves in Cathedral Gorge State Park, Panaca, Nevada, USA. Million-year-old lake sediments have eroded into fantastic mud castles at Cathedral Gorge State Park.
    2103SW-A1480.jpg
  • Sunset at Mather Point Overlook, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA. Starting at least 5 to 17 million years ago, erosion by the Colorado River has exposed a column of distinctive rock layers, which date back nearly two billion years at the base of Grand Canyon. While the Colorado Plateau was uplifted by tectonic forces, the Colorado River and tributaries carved Grand Canyon over a mile deep (6000 feet), 277 miles  long and up to 18 miles wide.
    1804SW-2047.jpg
  • Rippled brown mud in stream bed near Druid Arch, in Needles District of Canyonlands NP, Monticello, Utah, USA.
    1804SW-1001.jpg
  • Navajo Sandstone (fossilized cross-bedded sand dune of the Jurassic period) exfoliates into a pattern along Rim Overlook Trail in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, USA. Iron oxides (hematite and goethite) bled through the Navajo sandstone layers to paint the rock yellow, orange, and brown. Capitol Reef National Park is centered upon the 100-mile-long Waterpocket Fold, the steep eastern limb of the Circle Cliffs Uplift, raised in Late Cretaceous time, during the Laramide Orogeny. Pressure caused by the subduction of the Farallon Plate beneath the North American Plate along the west coast caused several huge folds like this in southeast Utah, USA.
    1503SW-0282_Navajo-sandstone-pattern.jpg
  • In morning light, dunes rise up to 750 feet tall in Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, on the eastern edge of San Luis Valley, Sangre de Cristo Range, south-central Colorado, USA.
    1909US1-2795.jpg
  • Golden sunrise light illuminates pegmatite intrusions of the Painted Wall seen from Dragon Point, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, near Montrose, Colorado, USA. Pressurized molten rock was forced into 1.7-billion-year-old metamorphic rock, forming pink pegmatite stripes on Colorado's highest cliffs. With two million years to work, the Gunnison River and weathering have sculpted a vertical wilderness of rock, water, and sky.
    1503SW-1786_The-Painted-Wall.jpg
  • Desert varnish streaks Sipapu Bridge, in Natural Bridges National Monument, near Blanding, San Juan County, Utah, USA. White Canyon Creek has cut Sipapu Natural Bridge with a span of 225 feet (with a height of 144 feet, width of 41 feet, and thickness of 53 feet, says www.naturalarches.org) through a meander of white Permian sandstone of the Cedar Mesa Formation. Manganese-rich desert varnish requires thousands of years to coat a rock face protected from precipitation and wind erosion. The varnish likely originates from airborne dust and external surface runoff, including: clay minerals, oxides and hydroxides of manganese (Mn) and/or iron (Fe), sand grains, trace elements, and usually organic matter. Streaks of black varnish often occur where water cascades over cliffs protected from wind. Varnish color varies from shades of brown to black. Manganese-poor, iron-rich varnishes are red to orange, and intermediate concentrations are shaded brown. Manganese-oxidizing microbes may explain the unusually high concentration of manganese in black desert varnish, which can be smooth and shiny where densest. This panorama was stitched from 4 overlapping photos.
    1503SW-0954-57pan_Sipapu-Natural-Bri...jpg
  • A hiker explores the elegant slot of Leprechaun Canyon in North Wash, between Hanksville & Hite, Utah, USA. Leprechaun Canyon's sandstone dates from the Triassic-Jurassic Period. Directions: from Hanksville, drive 26 miles south on Highway 95 to the junction with Utah 276 and stay left on H95 for another 2.0 miles across a wash, then park on the left (east) along a short road within the first 100 feet before its sandtrap end. Walk up the wash of Leprechaun Canyon 2 miles round trip to a gorgeous subway which narrows to a tight squeeze. Nearby, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area is just 8 miles south on H95.
    1503SW-0834_Leprechaun-Canyon.jpg
  • Sunrise light strikes orange and white hoodoos in Bryce National Park, Utah, USA. Bryce is actually not a canyon but a giant natural amphitheater created by erosion along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The ancient river and lake bed sedimentary rocks erode into hoodoos by the force of wind, water, and ice. (Panorama stitched from 4 photos.)
    06UT_7046-7049pan_Bryce-NP-sunrise.jpg
  • Sunrise light strikes orange and white hoodoos in Bryce National Park, Utah, USA. Bryce is actually not a canyon but a giant natural amphitheater created by erosion along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The ancient river and lake bed sedimentary rocks erode into hoodoos by the force of wind, water, and ice.
    06UT_6158-Bryce-NP-Sunrise.jpg
  • A limb of driftwood lodges high in the slot of Crack Canyon, on federal BLM land in San Rafael Swell, near Goblin Valley State Park, Utah, USA. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior that administers American public lands.
    1503SW-0675_slot-driftwood_Crack-Can...jpg
  • The impressive Fisher Towers are eroded from Cutler sandstone capped with Moenkopi sandstone, on BLM federal land near Moab, Utah, USA. Hike the Fisher Towers Trail 4.5 miles round trip with 800 feet gain. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior that administers American public lands.
    1403UT-030_Fisher-Towers_Utah.jpg
  • Sunrise light strikes orange and white hoodoos in Bryce National Park, Utah, USA. Bryce is actually not a canyon but a giant natural amphitheater created by erosion along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The ancient river and lake bed sedimentary rocks erode into hoodoos by the force of wind, water, and ice.
    06UT_6150-Bryce-NP-Sunrise.jpg
  • Sandstone rock patterns in Kaolin Wash, Valley of Fire State Park, near Moapa Valley, Nevada, USA. Starting more than 150 million years ago, great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs were compressed, uplifting, faulted, and eroded to form the park's fiery red sandstone formations.
    2103SW-A1271.jpg
  • Large columns, in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, in the Guadalupe Mountains, Chihuahuan Desert, southeast New Mexico, USA. Hike in on your own via the natural entrance or take an elevator from the visitor center. Geology: 4 to 6 million years ago, an acid bath in the water table slowly dissolved the underground rooms of Carlsbad Caverns, which then drained along with the uplift of the Guadalupe Mountains. The Guadalupe Mountains are the uplifted part of the ancient Capitan Reef which thrived along the edge of an inland sea more than 250 million years ago during Permian time. Carlsbad Caverns National Park protects part of the Capitan Reef, one of the best-preserved, exposed Permian-age fossil reefs in the world. The park's magnificent speleothems (cave formations) are due to rain and snowmelt soaking through soil and limestone rock, dripping into a cave, evaporating and depositing dissolved minerals. Drip-by-drip, over the past million years or so, Carlsbad Cavern has slowly been decorating itself. The slowest drips tend to stay on the ceiling (as stalactites, soda straws, draperies, ribbons or curtains). The faster drips are more likely to decorate the floor (with stalagmites, totem poles, flowstone, rim stone dams, lily pads, shelves, and cave pools). Today, due to the dry desert climate, few speleothems inside any Guadalupe Mountains caves are wet enough to actively grow. Most speleothems inside Carlsbad Cavern would have been much more active during the last ice age-up to around 10,000 years ago, but are now mostly inactive.
    1404NM-5178_Carlsbad-Caverns-NP.jpg
  • Sunrise light strikes orange and white hoodoos in Bryce National Park, Utah, USA. Bryce is actually not a canyon but a giant natural amphitheater created by erosion along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The ancient river and lake bed sedimentary rocks erode into hoodoos by the force of wind, water, and ice.
    06UT_6149-Bryce-NP-Sunrise.jpg
  • Chiricahua National Monument, Arizona: The Heart of the Rocks Loop Trail (7 to 9 miles) makes a perfect day hike through the hoodoos here. 27 million years ago, huge volcanic eruptions laid down 2000 feet of ash and pumice in this area, which fused into a rock known as rhyolitic tuff.  Since then this rock has eroded into fascinating hoodoos, spires, and balanced rocks which lie above the surrounding desert grasslands at elevations between 5100 and 7800 feet. At Chiricahua, the Sonoran desert meets the Chihuahuan desert, and the Rocky Mountains meet Mexico's Sierra Madre, making one of the most biologically diverse areas in the northern hemisphere. While we drove the dirt road to nearby Portal, Arizona, Carol saw a mountain lion crossing the road! Other animals here include javelina, coatimundi, bears, skunks, and deer. Published in "Light Travel: Photography on the Go" book by Tom Dempsey 2009, 2010.
    03AZ-13-07-Chiricahua-NM.jpg
  • Scalloped rock pattern. Day 11 of 16 days rafting 226 miles down the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA.
    2103SW-C2278.jpg
  • Rock patterns in Kaolin Wash, Valley of Fire State Park, near Moapa Valley, Nevada, USA. Starting more than 150 million years ago, great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs were compressed, uplifting, faulted, and eroded to form the park's fiery red sandstone formations.
    2103SW-A1309.jpg
  • Slot Canyon Trail. See fantastic hoodoos and a great slot canyon in Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, in New Mexico, USA. Hike the easy Cave Loop Trail plus Slot Canyon Trail side trip (3 miles round trip), 40 miles southwest of Santa Fe, on the Pajarito Plateau. Distinctive cone-shaped caprocks protect soft pumice and tuff beneath. Geologically, the Tent Rocks are made of Peralta Tuff, formed from volcanic ash, pumice, and pyroclastic debris deposited over 1000 feet thick from the Jemez Volcanic Field, 7 million years ago. Kasha-Katuwe means "white cliffs" in the Pueblo language Keresan. This panorama was stitched from 7 overlapping photos.
    1403NM-1174-80pan_Kasha-Katuwe_Tent-...jpg
  • Flash floods have eroded a slot of Navajo sandstone into a natural cathedral at Lower Antelope Canyon, in Antelope Canyon Navajo Tribal Park, near Page, Arizona, USA. (The older spelling "Navaho" is no longer used by the Navajo, an American Indian group who call themselves Diné, or Dineh, "The People.")
    06AZ_4171-Lower_Antelope_Canyon.jpg
  • Flash floods have eroded a slot of Navajo sandstone into a natural cathedral at Lower Antelope Canyon, in Antelope Canyon Navajo Tribal Park, near Page, Arizona, USA. (The older spelling "Navaho" is no longer used by the Navajo, an American Indian group who call themselves Diné, or Dineh, "The People.")
    06AZ_4143-Lower_Antelope_Canyon.jpg
  • Hike to Garnet Canyon from a beach at Colorado River Mile 115.5 (measured downstream from Lees Ferry). Day 8 of 16 days rafting 226 miles down the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA. Multiple overlapping photos were stitched to make this panorama.
    2103SW-B0683-691-Pano.jpg
  • Mesa Arch frames buttes back lit by sunrise at Canyonlands National Park, Utah, USA.
    06UT_2122_Mesa-Arch_Canyonlands-NP.jpg
  • Admire fanciful hoodoos, mushroom shapes, and rock pinnacles in Goblin Valley State Park, in Emery County between the towns of Green River and Hanksville, in central Utah, USA. The Goblin rocks eroded from Entrada Sandstone, which is comprised of alternating layers of sandstone (cross-bedded by former tides), siltstone, and shale debris which were eroded from former highlands and redeposited in beds on a former tidal flat.
    06UT_1054-55pan_Goblin-Valley.jpg
  • Lower Antelope Canyon (or "the Corkscrew") is a beautiful slot canyon in Antelope Canyon Navajo Tribal Park, near Page, Arizona, USA. Antelope Canyon is the most-visited and most-photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest. Flash floods and other erosion have carved Navajo Sandstone into this natural rock cathedral. (Panorama stitched from 2 photos.)
    11AZ1-2308-09pan_Lower-Antelope-Cany...jpg
  • Sandstone rock patterns in Kaolin Wash, Valley of Fire State Park, near Moapa Valley, Nevada, USA. Starting more than 150 million years ago, great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs were compressed, uplifting, faulted, and eroded to form the park's fiery red sandstone formations.
    2103SW-A1302.jpg
  • Sandstone rock patterns in Kaolin Wash, Valley of Fire State Park, near Moapa Valley, Nevada, USA. Starting more than 150 million years ago, great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs were compressed, uplifting, faulted, and eroded to form the park's fiery red sandstone formations.
    2103SW-A1260.jpg
  • Sandstone rock patterns in Kaolin Wash, Valley of Fire State Park, near Moapa Valley, Nevada, USA. Starting more than 150 million years ago, great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs were compressed, uplifting, faulted, and eroded to form the park's fiery red sandstone formations.
    2103SW-A1211.jpg
  • The Fire Wave in Valley of Fire State Park, Moapa Valley, Nevada, USA. Starting more than 150 million years ago, great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs were compressed, uplifting, faulted, and eroded to form the park's fiery red sandstone formations.
    2103SW-A1169.jpg
  • Corona Arch Trail, on BLM federal land near Moab, Utah, USA. Hike 3 miles round trip up Bootlegger Canyon to the half-freestanding Corona Arch, also called Little Rainbow Bridge, which has an impressive opening of 140 feet wide by 105 feet high. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior that administers American public lands.
    1403UT-248_Corona-Arch.jpg
  • Paint Mines Interpretive Park is run by El Paso County, near Calhan, Colorado. Its colorful sediments outwashed from the Rockies 55 million years ago. The Paint Mines are named for their colorful clays that were collected by American Indians to make paint. Oxidized iron compounds cause brightly colored bands in various layers of clay. When outcrops erode, a hard capstone allows columns of clay to be preserved beneath, creating fantastic spires called hoodoos. Selenite (gypsum) contributes to the color, and white quartzitic crystals dazzle the eye.
    1709US1-2079_Paint-Mines_CO.jpg
  • Large columns, in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, in the Guadalupe Mountains, Chihuahuan Desert, southeast New Mexico, USA. Hike in on your own via the natural entrance or take an elevator from the visitor center. Geology: 4 to 6 million years ago, an acid bath in the water table slowly dissolved the underground rooms of Carlsbad Caverns, which then drained along with the uplift of the Guadalupe Mountains. The Guadalupe Mountains are the uplifted part of the ancient Capitan Reef which thrived along the edge of an inland sea more than 250 million years ago during Permian time. Carlsbad Caverns National Park protects part of the Capitan Reef, one of the best-preserved, exposed Permian-age fossil reefs in the world. The park's magnificent speleothems (cave formations) are due to rain and snowmelt soaking through soil and limestone rock, dripping into a cave, evaporating and depositing dissolved minerals. Drip-by-drip, over the past million years or so, Carlsbad Cavern has slowly been decorating itself. The slowest drips tend to stay on the ceiling (as stalactites, soda straws, draperies, ribbons or curtains). The faster drips are more likely to decorate the floor (with stalagmites, totem poles, flowstone, rim stone dams, lily pads, shelves, and cave pools). Today, due to the dry desert climate, few speleothems inside any Guadalupe Mountains caves are wet enough to actively grow. Most speleothems inside Carlsbad Cavern would have been much more active during the last ice age-up to around 10,000 years ago, but are now mostly inactive.
    1404NM-5110_Carlsbad-Caverns-NP.jpg
  • Sunset light illuminates colorful orange, pink, yellow, and white sandstone in White Domes area of Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada, USA. Starting more than 150 million years ago, great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs were compressed, uplifting, faulted, and eroded to form the park's fiery red sandstone formations. The park also boasts fascinating patterns in limestone, shale, and conglomerate rock. The park adjoins Lake Mead National Recreation Area at the Virgin River confluence, at an elevation of 2000 to 2600 feet (610-790 m), 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Las Vegas, USA. Park entry from Interstate 15 passes through the Moapa Indian Reservation. (Panorama stitched from 19 photos.)
    11NV1-1467-85pan_Valley-of-Fire-SP-N...jpg
  • A ray of sunlight pierces Upper Antelope Canyon, near Page, Arizona, USA. Antelope Canyon Navajo Tribal Park. Panorama stitched from three overlapping images. Published in "Light Travel: Photography on the Go" book by Tom Dempsey 2009, 2010.
    06AZ_4062-4064pan_Upper-Antelope-Can...jpg
  • Little Wild Horse Canyon, Utah. A short drive from Goblin Valley State Park Campground is a great 9 mile loop hike up Little Wild Horse Canyon and back down Bell Canyon. The hike requires some scrambling up and down sandstone ledges, through occasional shallow water holes and fascinating narrow slots. The Navajo and Wingate sandstone of the San Rafael Reef was uplifted fifty million years ago into a striking bluff which now runs from Price to Hanksville, bisected by Interstate 70 at a breach fifteen miles west of the town of Green River. The San Rafael Reef (and Swell) is one of the wildest places left in Utah. Published in "Light Travel: Photography on the Go" by Tom Dempsey 2009, 2010.
    06UT_2001_Little-Wild-Horse-Canyon.jpg
  • Explore the cool honeycombed-sandstone slot of Crack Canyon in San Rafael Swell, near Goblin Valley State Park, Utah, USA. As part of the Colorado Plateau, the San Rafael Swell is a giant dome-shaped anticline of sandstone, shale, and limestone (160-175 million years old) that was pushed up during the Paleocene Laramide Orogeny 60-40 million years ago. Since then, infrequent but powerful flash floods have eroded the sedimentary rocks into valleys, canyons, gorges, mesas, and buttes. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior that administers American public lands.
    1503SW-0717_Crack-Canyon_pattern.jpg
  • Large columns, in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, in the Guadalupe Mountains, Chihuahuan Desert, southeast New Mexico, USA. Hike in on your own via the natural entrance or take an elevator from the visitor center. Geology: 4 to 6 million years ago, an acid bath in the water table slowly dissolved the underground rooms of Carlsbad Caverns, which then drained along with the uplift of the Guadalupe Mountains. The Guadalupe Mountains are the uplifted part of the ancient Capitan Reef which thrived along the edge of an inland sea more than 250 million years ago during Permian time. Carlsbad Caverns National Park protects part of the Capitan Reef, one of the best-preserved, exposed Permian-age fossil reefs in the world. The park's magnificent speleothems (cave formations) are due to rain and snowmelt soaking through soil and limestone rock, dripping into a cave, evaporating and depositing dissolved minerals. Drip-by-drip, over the past million years or so, Carlsbad Cavern has slowly been decorating itself. The slowest drips tend to stay on the ceiling (as stalactites, soda straws, draperies, ribbons or curtains). The faster drips are more likely to decorate the floor (with stalagmites, totem poles, flowstone, rim stone dams, lily pads, shelves, and cave pools). Today, due to the dry desert climate, few speleothems inside any Guadalupe Mountains caves are wet enough to actively grow. Most speleothems inside Carlsbad Cavern would have been much more active during the last ice age-up to around 10,000 years ago, but are now mostly inactive.
    1404NM-5119_Carlsbad-Caverns-NP.jpg
  • Lower Antelope Canyon (or "the Corkscrew") is a beautiful slot canyon in Antelope Canyon Navajo Tribal Park, near Page, Arizona, USA. Antelope Canyon is the most-visited and most-photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest. Flash floods and other erosion have carved Navajo Sandstone into this natural rock cathedral. (Panorama stitched from 2 photos.)
    11AZ1-2233-34pan_Lower-Antelope-Cany...jpg
  • Flash floods have eroded a slot of Navajo sandstone into a natural cathedral at Lower Antelope Canyon, in Antelope Canyon Navajo Tribal Park, near Page, Arizona, USA. Panorama stitched from 2 photos.
    06AZ_5064+66pan_Lower-Antelope-Canyo...jpg
  • Flash floods have eroded a slot of Navajo sandstone into a natural cathedral at Lower Antelope Canyon, in Antelope Canyon Navajo Tribal Park, near Page, Arizona, USA. (The older spelling "Navaho" is no longer used by the Navajo, an American Indian group who call themselves Diné, or Dineh, "The People.")
    06AZ_4162-Lower_Antelope_Canyon.jpg
  • Ice on branches, Lower Emerald Pool waterfall, Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah, USA. The North Fork of the Virgin River carved spectacular Zion Canyon through reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone up to half a mile (800 m) deep and 15 miles (24 km) long. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3000 m) starting 13 million years ago. Zion and Kolob canyon geology includes 9 formations covering 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation, from warm, shallow seas, streams, lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments. Mormons discovered the canyon in 1858 and settled in the early 1860s. U.S. President Taft declared it Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909. In 1918, the name changed to Zion (an ancient Hebrew name for Jerusalem), which became a National Park in 1919. The Kolob section (a 1937 National Monument) was added to Zion National Park in 1956. Unusually diverse plants and animals congregate here where the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert meet.
    1303UT-1186.jpg
  • A hiker chimneys up the narrow walls of Zebra Slot Canyon, in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah, USA. Directions to unmarked trailhead for Zebra and Tunnel Slot Canyons: From Escalante town, drive 6 miles east on Highway 12, turn right on Hole-in-the-Rock Road, drive 7.8 miles to the third cattle guard and park on west side of road. Hike east on well-trodden but unmarked path, 5 miles round trip to Zebra Slot, plus an optional 3 miles round trip to Tunnel Slot (750 feet gain over 8 miles), using map from GSENM Visitor Center or canyoneeringusa.com.
    1303UT-2019_Zebra-Slot_Grand-Stairca...jpg
  • Million-year-old lake sediments have eroded into fantastic mud castles at Cathedral Gorge State Park, Panaca, Nevada, USA. Multiple overlapping photos were stitched to make this panorama.
    2103SW-A1539-1544-Pano.jpg
  • Valley of Fire State Park, Moapa Valley, Nevada, USA. Starting more than 150 million years ago, great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs were compressed, uplifting, faulted, and eroded to form the park's fiery red sandstone formations.
    2103SW-A1137.jpg
  • White Sands National Monument preserves one of the world's great natural wonders - the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Here in the northern Chihuahuan Desert rises the largest gypsum dune field in the world. Visit the park 16 miles southwest of Alamogordo, NM, USA. White Sands National Monument preserves 40% of the gpysum dune field, the remainder of which is on White Sands Missile Range and military land closed to the public. Geology: The park’s gypsum was originally deposited at the bottom of a shallow sea that covered this area 250 million years ago. Eventually turned into stone, these gypsum-bearing marine deposits were uplifted into a giant dome 70 million years ago when the Rocky Mountains were formed. Beginning 10 million years ago, the center of this dome began to collapse and create the Tularosa Basin. The remaining sides of the original dome now form the San Andres and Sacramento mountain ranges that ring the basin. The common mineral gypsum is rarely found in the form of sand because rain dissolves it in runoff which usually drains to the sea; but mountains enclose the Tularosa Basin and trap surface runoff. The pure gypsum (hydrous calcium sulfate) comes from ephemeral Lake Lucero (a playa), which is the remnant of ice-age Lake Otero (now mostly an alkali flat) in the western side of the park. Evaporating water (up to 80 inches per year) leaves behind selenite crystals which reach lengths of up to three feet (1 m)! Weathering breaks the selenite crystals into sand-size gypsum grains that are carried away by prevailing winds from the southwest, forming white dunes. Several types of small animals have evolved white coloration that camouflages them in the dazzling white desert; and various plants have specially adapted to shifting sands. Based on an application by two US Senators from New Mexico, UNESCO honored the monument on the Tentative List of World Heritage Sites in 2008.
    1404NM-6003_White-Sands-NM.jpg
  • Zebra Slot Canyon, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah, USA. Directions to unmarked trailhead for Zebra and Tunnel Slot Canyons: From Escalante town, drive 6 miles east on Highway 12, turn right on Hole-in-the-Rock Road, drive 7.8 miles to the third cattle guard and park on west side of road. Hike east on well-trodden but unmarked path, 5 miles round trip to Zebra Slot, plus an optional 3 miles round trip to Tunnel Slot (750 feet gain over 8 miles), using map from GSENM Visitor Center or canyoneeringusa.com. The image was stitched from 2 overlapping photos to increase depth of focus.
    1303UT-2032-2033stit_Zebra-Slot_Gran...jpg
  • Canyon walls reflect in the Colorado River on Day 13 of 16 days rafting 226 miles down Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA.
    2103SW-C2386.jpg
  • Intricate honeycombs of weathered sandstone decorate Crack Canyon, on federal BLM land in San Rafael Swell, near Goblin Valley State Park, Utah, USA. Honeycomb weathering: rainwater soaks into sandstone, dissolves its cement, and redeposits it near the surface as the water evaporates, forming a resistant outer layer, pockmarked with holes into the soft inner layers enlarged by wind and moisture. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior that administers American public lands.
    1503SW3-107_Crack-Canyon_pattern.jpg
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