Crater Lake, summer 2012
For the third installment of my Seven Wonders series, I got help from my friends and readers. The USA has too many natural wonders for me alone to create a list! In just a couple weeks, we’ll be celebrating this great country’s independence. So I’d like to celebrate some of the amazing reasons I love this country.
With so many fantastic places to choose from, it’s hard to narrow it down to seven. But I’ll try. To create this list, I’m automatically naming the most-voted on places, and then adding my own ideas to ensure variety. Otherwise they would almost all be either national parks or places in the American Southwest! The suggestions I had coming in certainly validates America’s national parks program as protecting many of America’s greatest wonders!
All right, enough blabbing by me. Without further adieu, here’s the list:
1. Yosemite National Park. There was a vote for El Capitan specifically, a giant monolith that brave adventurers dare to rock climb. I’d also add Yosemite Falls, being the highest in America and the third highest in the world. Bridal Veil Falls is what first sold me on going to Yosemite, after learning about hanging valleys in college geology class.
2. Arches National Park. One voter specified watching the sun set over it, and then watching the moon rise. I’m sure it was magical! This, along with Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, and Zion, is on my list of places in the Southwest that I really want to go. They should just call the Southwest “National Park Land.”
3. Mammoth Caves National Park. Yes, another national park, but it happens to be the largest cave system in the world. I’d hate to get lost here! Except on a summer day. Above ground is brutal in Kentucky that time of year, so a cave tour is a refreshing treat! I’ve been on the Frozen Niagara tour.
4. Slot canyons and “wave” formations of the Southwest. I think these look amazing in pictures, and I’m sure they’re even more impressive in real life! Other amazing rock formations of the Southwest that got votes were Red Rocks in Sedona, and my own vote for Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas.
5. Geysers of Yellowstone National Park. Yeah, I know. Another national park. But there’s a reason that this one was America’s first. Water shooting out of the earth at regular intervals, all because the whole area is sitting on top of a supervolcano. Epic!
6. Redwood and Sequoia trees. This one’s not really a place (although most of them are found in California) but is a natural wonder for sure. The tallest and largest trees in the world deserve some respect! I was lucky enough to grow up with a sequoia tree in my front yard. I climbed it nearly every day in the summer, and sat way up high to view the entire neighborhood.
7. This one was tough. It has to go to a mountain. America has amazing mountains. There’s Mt. McKinley in Alaska, the highest mountain in North America. Then there’s Kilauea in Hawaii, one of the most active volcanoes on the planet. But the blog posts leading up to this one allude to my loyalty to my home state. So here it is: Crater Lake National Park. It’s the deepest lake in America, and one of the world’s clearest. Outside the rim are lacy waterfalls and otherworldly hoodoos. And hey, it’s in Oregon!
Well, that’s my list. There are so many wonders I’d have liked to (and possibly should have) placed on this list, so please comment below to add your favorites! Feel free also to share your experiences of any of these places or the ones you add.
Here are some that were nominated that didn’t make the list (or weren’t at least mentioned in the list): Olympic National Park (complete with breathtaking mountain vistas, waterfalls, glacier-formed lakes, hot springs, and rainforests), Devil’s Churn on the Oregon coast, and dinosaur footprints in Texas. Dinosaur National Monument is another that could have made the list, containing fossils of Allosaurus and others. As my cousin put it (regarding the footprints in Texas), it’s an experience “To reach across unfathomable millions of years and step in their footprints.”
Now go out there an experience the natural wonders of America!
The Compass Rose Queen 