In the first part of this article, the first six of the twelve natural land features in the United States are presented. In this second part, the last six of these spectacular landscapes are listed:
7. Mammoth Cave. Some 90 miles (144 kilometers) south of Louisville, Kentucky, is the world’s longest cave system – Mammoth Cave – with 330 miles (530 kilometers) of passageway. Europeans discovered the caves in 1797, and today the amazing stalactites, stalagmites, curtains of limestone cascading like waterfalls, and delicate, flowerlike white gypsum crystals still capture the imagination. Some 360 feet (110 meters) underground, the Echo River shelters a number of species of fish, crayfish, and shrimp, all blind and colorless, the result of generations spent in total darkness.
8. Mojave Desert. Located northeast of Los Angeles, the Mojave Desert occupies about 15,000 sq. miles (39,000 sq. kilometers) of southern California. The Mojave is almost completely surrounded by mountains, most notably to the north and west by the Sierra Nevada; to the southeast it merges with the Colorado Desert. The desert floor is made up of sedimentary rocks that are rich in minerals; vegetation is limited mainly to cacti and other succulents, since only 4-1/2 inches (115 millimeters) of rain fall annually, the majority in winter.
9. Redwood National Park. Redwood National Park covers an area of 88 sq. miles (228 sq. kilometers) along the coast of northern California. It was established in 1968 in order to conserve the tallest tree species in the world, the coast redwood. Many of these trees grow more than 325 feet (100 meters) high, with a girth of 26 feet (8 meters) – the bark alone is almost 1 foot (30 centimeters) thick. The tallest tree in the park, also the world’s tallest, is 367 feet (112 meters) high. In the distant past, the coast redwood was found in many parts of the world, China and Greenland included; it is now confined to coastal California and southwest Oregon.
10. Yellowstone National Park. The first national park in the world to be so designated (1872), Yellowstone has the distinction also of being the largest national park in the United States. It is situated in the Rocky Mountains in high plateau country of rugged mountain peaks, lakes, and forests. The majority of its 3,472 sq. miles (8,992 sq. kilometers) fall within the state of Wyoming, but there are portions in southern Montana and eastern Idaho. The many and varied attractions of the park include cliffs of black obsidian (volcanic glass); Yellowstone and Jackson lakes; Electric Peak (10,991 feet/3,350 meters), the park’s highest mountain; and thousands of steam vents and hot springs, including Mammoth Hot Springs with its terraces of travertine. There are also hundreds of geysers, among them Old Faithful, whose watery eruptions occur at intervals of roughly 33 and 93 minutes – this frequency has hardly altered in the last 100 years. Yellowstone Park is also the location of the largest forest of petrified logs in the United States, which is to be found near Specimen Ridge.
11. Yosemite National Park. This area of great natural beauty and varied landscape, from forest, waterfall and river to alpine meadow, glacial lake and ice field, covers 1,189 sq. miles (3,080 sq. kilometers) in the Sierra Nevada in California. It includes the Yosemite Valley, 7 miles (11 kilometers) long, with natural granite monoliths; Mount Lyell (13,090 feet/3,990 meters), the highest point in the park; and Half Dome Mountain. The park also takes in Yosemite Falls (2,425 feet/739 meters), North America’s highest waterfall, and the 2,700-year-old redwood known as Old Grizzly. This is a Sierra sequoia tree, one of many growing in the park’s three sequoia groves.
12. Zion National Park. This landscape of multicolored sandstone mesas and canyons in southern Utah was formed by the surging waters of the Virgin River and by wind erosion. The park is 229 sq. miles (593 sq. kilometers) in area and contains some spectacular and colorful rock formations, including one of the largest free-standing arches in the world, Kolob Arch, which has a span of almost 310 feet (95 meters). Zion Canyon, 15 miles (25 kilometers) long, lies at the center of the park. Ferns flourish along the banks of its streams, desert vegetation is evident on the canyon floor, and forest – largely Douglas fir, white fir and pine – grows along the canyon rim. The park is populated by many species of small animals and birds, but its special feature is the array of fossils – seashells, fish and trees – to be found in the rocks.
Of these twelve natural landscapes (including the six in this article’s part 1), four are World Heritage Sites (sites considered under the World Heritage Convention of 1972 to be of unique natural and cultural value): Bryce Canyon, Redwood National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and Yosemite National Park.
Two other great landscapes, Rocky Mountains and Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, cover portions of the United States and Canada.
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