Recently, on a long distance walk I was involved with, the Grand Randonée – GR – 51 figured prominently with our last day’s trek. From the hilltop village of Sainte-Agnés, initial plans called for an ascent of the Cime du Basson and then a traverse of the eastern slopes of Mont Agel. From there, we planned on dropping down into Roquebrune and Cap Martin on the Mediterranean coast past Mont Gros.
Continue reading
A recent trip took me to the Caldera de Taburiente on the island of La Palma on the western edge of the Canary Islands. The Canaries – not named for the birds but for dogs the pre-Spanish people kept and ate – are hugely popular destinations for sunseekers from northern Europe. The interesting geology of the islands is not what brings in the plane loads of tourists, though what they seek for a large part, results from geological processes. Beaches, sun and alcohol, not necessarily in that order. Fuerteventura, Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote all promise kilometers of beaches for the sun-deprived northerners to escape the long winters with.
Continue reading
For neophytes to the study of the American Civil War, the function played by the pre-war Federal Regular Army before, during and after continues to reside a bit in obscurity. Officers from the antebellum army played large roles on both sides during the war, though they rarely achieved greatness remaining a part of the Federal Regular Army, even if staying true to their oath as army officers. Those officers usually took up new commissions in the many militia units raised by the different States – again on both sides. Rapid promotion and the chance to play much larger roles than they played before the war represented key factors in the exodus. Which comes back to the question, what role did the Regular Army play during the war?
Continue reading
Nature comes to mind when reflecting upon Iceland. Two aspects of Iceland’s natural beauty come bundled together on the Golden Circle Tour through which many tourists to the island nation gain their introductions – geysirs and waterfalls in the form of the geothermal area of Haukadaulur and the amazing waterfall, Gullfoss – Golden Waterfall.
Continue reading
A recent trip to Europe ended up flying us through the far northern island country of Iceland. I had wanted to visit this country since hiking about in the tundra and mountains of Norway back in the early years of the 1980s. The vast treeless moors of the Hadangervidda and the Jotunheimen served as magnificent introductions into the immense beauty to be discovered in the subarctic. Iceland figured to take the natural beauty up a notch or two. The tundra also provided a bridge between magical nature with the political past at Þingvellir.
Continue reading
The number of monuments and marker you can find in some of the National Battlefield Parks preserving American Civil War battlefields can simply numb you. Granite monuments form literal forests inside some National Battlefield Parks from the American Civil War. Each monument does have a story, even those not as fancy, expensive and artistic as others. If you want to see all of them, say in a day or so – a true monumental dash, you will need to put on your running shoes – boots, in some cases, depending on the weather.
Continue reading
If you have lived in Portland long enough, you will end up making a visit to visit the fish hatchery at Bonneville Dam, home to Herman the Sturgeon. The dams along the Columbia River system have hugely curtailed the once humongous runs of salmonids up and down the river and its tributaries. Overfishing definitely has a role to play in the depletion of the huge runs, but the hydroelectric – flood control dams have even more hugely impacted the once vast movements of fish. A recent visit to a small local waterfall brought to light part of the plight of the fish encountering physical obstructions to their journeys. One answer to the problem, fish ladders.
Continue reading
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?”
Continue reading
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.
Continue reading
I knew before that a certain Captain George Pickett, a thirty-four-year-old veteran of the Mexican War and graduate of West Point – albeit, last in his class – served on San Juan Island in the Puget Sound just before the American Civil War. What I did not know, was one of his opposites in the whole Pig War ordeal in 1859 was an Anglo-Irish peer by the name of John De Courcy. Like Pickett, De Courcy would figure in the next war, as well. Pickett’s role would be bigger and better known, but De Courcy’s role was big enough for someone involved in command. And not even as a citizen of either side.
Continue reading