Category Archives: Mountains

LANDS OF THE WILD, WILD EAST – MAGIC OF EAST GREENLAND

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Icebergs, fjords, white wilderness of the east coasts of Greenland - Kangertittivatsiaq is the large fjord stretching inwards above the large island.
Icebergs, fjords, white wilderness of the east coasts of Greenland – Kangertittivatsiaq is the large fjord stretching inwards above the large island.

1000 Places to See Before You Die includes only one entry for the Autonomous Territory of Greenland – Disko Bay.  Nowhere is East Greenland mentioned. Author Patricia Schultz only gives the Faeroe Islands one entry as well while Iceland merits two.  The mother country, Denmark, gets ten.  But as she said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune when she was out promoting her 2019 update of her book; 1000 places, can you really find that many spots?  Her reply, “How can I narrow it down to just 1,000?”

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DIFFERENCE A CENTURY MAKES – THROUGH THE LARCH MOUNTAIN CRATER

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Aerial shot of fire damage in the upper Multnomah Creek basin - Franklin Ridge is on the right. Rock slide traversed by the trail in the middle. The dead trees are much more open today.
Aerial shot of fire damage in the upper Multnomah Creek basin – Franklin Ridge is on the right. Rockslide traversed by the trail in the middle. The dead trees are much more open today. The view looks north from the open part of the Larch Mountain crater. State of Oregon photo.

Larch Mountain stands as one of the three big shield volcanoes of the extended Boring Lava Fields. Rising to 4055 feet high, the mountain presents an array of contrasts. Once the site of intense logging industry, the mountain shows an amazing natural renewal a century after most of the timber production came to a halt. Pockets of old growth, wonderful views from the top and remnants of past industry all make Larch Mountain and its crater, a fascinating walk in the woods.

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A WALK IN THE TREES – THE LARCH MOUNTAIN CRATER RIM

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View to the northeast off Sherrard Point. Note the west and east rims of the volcanic crater atop Larch Mountain.
View to the northeast off Sherrard Point. Note the west and east rims of the volcanic crater atop Larch Mountain.

We saw earlier how to climb to the top of the Larch Mountain crater from the Columbia River on the 1915 historic Larch Mountain Trail. But you don’t have to gain 4,400 feet over the 6.6-mile trek up to Sherrard Point. You can actually cheat and start at the top. Simply drive up Larch Mountain Road to its end. Fourteen miles up from the Columbia River Highway just west from Crown Point. Park in the large lot near the summit.

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DROPPING THROUGH HISTORY IN THE FORESTED SLOPES OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN

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Monument to the 111th Pennsylvania Regiment's fight on the upper slopes of Lookout Mountain. The monument - as with the 29th Pennsylvania - is in place on the cliffs below Och's Observatory.
Monument to the 111th Pennsylvania Regiment’s fight on the upper slopes of Lookout Mountain. The monument – as with the 29th Pennsylvania – is in place on the cliffs below Och’s Observatory.

Lookout Mountain is an amazing place to discover nature, history and enjoy vistas reaching out to a claimed seven states.  The Mountain is best explored on foot along its myriad of trails traversing the dense forest slopes of this quintessential Appalachian prominence.  Surrounded to the north, east and on top by urbanity, it is easy to forget you are never far from civilization if not for the subtle roar of traffic on Interstate 24 far below.

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DOBERDO – HUNGARIAN SACRIFICE RECAPTURED IN THE KRAS

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Headstone in the Austro-Hungarian military cemetery in Bovec, Slovenia bedecked with a faded Hungarian tri-colored ribbon.
Headstone in the Austro-Hungarian military cemetery in Bovec, Slovenia bedecked with a faded Hungarian tri-colored ribbon similar to graves in cemeteries in Doberdo.

In 2018, as part of centenary observances of World War 1, a monument unveiled at Fiume Road Graveyard in Budapest.  This became the first national memorial erected commemorating the efforts Hungarians undertook during the Great War.  Government officials noted the memorial was in line with a fundamental theme of the nation: to restore historical continuity broken during the Nazi and Communist occupations.

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RAVELNIK AND ČELO – MEMORIES OF THE GREAT WAR IN THE BOVEC BASIN

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Ravelnik lies at the head of fields extending east of Bovec – Svinjak rises high in the distance.

Ravelnik and Čelo are two open-air museums allowing visitors a chance to visit spaces where soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army defended the Bovec basin from invading Italian troops from the end of May 1915 until the end of October 1917. The two sites restored by locals and the Slovene government are different in what they offer as well as their original purpose with regard to their roles in holding off the Italians.

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DEFEAT ON THE KOLOVRAT CHANGES INTO CATASTROPHE

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Restored Italian trench line atop Na gradu – Green mountain in background is Mrzli vrh.

Standing in the renewed Italian positions of the open-air museum of the Kolovrat, you are rewarded with an all-world view over the Isonzo River valley with the Krn-MonteNero massif rising dramatically on the other side. Of the Bovec-Kobarid open-air museums, the view from here is only matched by what you gain at the former Austrian artillery base on Čelo above Bovec.

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LONG-DISTANCE PATHS RECOUNT THE GREAT WAR HIGH IN THE ALPS

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Unknown Austro-Hungarian grave in one of the countless sinkholes - dolinas - of the Carso found along the Pot miru - Path of Peace.
Unknown Austro-Hungarian grave in one of the countless sinkholes – dolinas – of the Carso found along the Pot miru – Path of Peace – one of Europe’s long-distance paths.

Long-distance paths have acquired quite a following in the past few decades.  In the US you have ways like the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail standing as the Big Three.  There are plenty of other long-distance paths to spend days upon days on, as well, such as the Arizona Trail, the Green Mountain Trail, and on and on.  Of course, the American examples pale in number when compared to the Old World.

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SUPERGA DEMONSTRATES HOUSE OF SAVOY LOVE FOR TORINO

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Basilica atop Superga houses the Royal Tombs of the House of Savoy before Italian Reunification.

Three euros and one hundred thirty-one winding steps leads to the observation platform atop the base of the dome of La Basilica di Superga.  Only so many people are allowed to climb up at one time.  For the best of times, morning. Then, the sun illuminates the snow-clad peaks of the Alps to the west and north.  The city of Torino – Turin – sits far below resting on the banks of the Po River.  It is a magical scene, one allowing for reflection on the utter beauty, natural and urban.  The Basilica also represents the tie between an adopted city and the family that adopted it, the House of Savoy.

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MONTE SAN MICHELE ZONA MONUMENTAL – MEMORIES OF THE LONG YEAR

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Flagpole atop Monte San Michele remembers the Italian brigades who fought here as well as the Unknown Soldier in Rome whom was one of the Fallen from the battles here.
Flagpole atop Monte San Michele remembers the Italian brigades who fought here as well as the Unknown Soldier in Rome whom was one of the Fallen from the battles here.

Monte San Michele.  Welcome to one of the battlefields upon where so many Italians, as well as their opponents from Austria-Hungary, spilled blood during the 1915 to 1916. These campaigns fought in the harsh limestone hills just east off the Isonzo River.  The extreme efforts of that long year and three months remembered by King Vittorio Emanuele III’s proclamation in 1922 of the hill’s inclusion as a zona sacra, a place of special memory to the Italian nation.  At least three zone sacra in Italy relate to World War 1 – Pasubio and Monte Grappa are the other two.  There might be more but those along with Monte San Michele are the big three.

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