Vicarious Tour of North America's Parks

[NGSamson]

Smuggler's luck...

Massive US fire somehow misses marijuana operation
Mon, Sep 05, 2011 - This summer’s Las Conchas fire in New Mexico scorched tribal lands, threatened one of the nation’s premier nuclear facilities and pushed bears into nearby cities. However, it somehow spared more than 9,000 marijuana plants in a remote area of Bandelier National Monument.

Officials said no arrests have been made in the sophisticated growing operation in the park’s backcountry. However, authorities said on Friday they were looking for at least two suspects. They estimate the plants were 1.83m to 10 3.05m tall and had a street value of about US$10 million. “It was a lot larger than we anticipated,” park superintendent Jason Lott said. “It [was] much bigger and more sophisticated than we ever expected.” The marijuana operation had an irrigation system and a possible evacuation route for those overseeing the plants, Lott said. Temporary housing structures, trash and food caches were also found nearby.

The pot was discovered in rugged terrain during an Aug. 23 helicopter flight surveying a flash flood, Lott said. That flooding was caused when monsoonal rains fell on the charred area of the monument, where soil and rocks had been loosened by the fire, the largest in New Mexico history. A number of local and federal law enforcement agencies raided the area early on Thursday morning. No one was captured, but investigators say at least two men were seen at the grow site earlier in the week. The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office and the New Mexico National Guard both lent helicopters to the operation and a National Guard Blackhawk helicopter airlifted the marijuana out, the National Park Service said. Most of it was transported to an undisclosed location for proper disposal and some was retained for testing as evidence.

Officials said on Thursday’s bust was the first marijuana growing operation detected in Bandelier National Monument, which features centuries-old dwellings carved into canyon walls by ancestors of the Native American pueblos that surround the area. The Las Conchas fire burned more than 632km2 over 36 days in the mountains surrounding the town of Los Alamos and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The fire started on June 26 when a tree fell on a power line. The flames raced across parts of the monument, Valles Caldera National Preserve and lands belonging to northern New Mexico pueblos.

Massive US fire somehow misses marijuana operation - Taipei Times

No luck involved. That is little more than an hour's drive from my house.
A plane flying over the massive burn spotted the patch of green and authorities went to look. Apparently the pot growers defended their pot field as there was evidence they fought the fire on all sides until it passed. Some of the crop had been harvested but the remaining healthy plants would have yielded something like $12 million on the street?

Bandelier is definitely one of our local treasures though. As is the case of most places, the photos don't really do it justice, but it is always alive with myriad wildlife, song birds, butterfles, wild flowers and flowering cactuses depending on what time of year it is. The fires roar through there from time to time but by the next year it is always back to normal and beautiful again.

Saw that on the news. Crazy.

 

[freedombecki]

Yes, the Appalachians are something to behold, yidnar. We've driven through a time or two in our travels across this country.

The Resiliant Earth: Appalachian Mountains

At is on my list of hikes to make. I have done the Western States trail, that was a blast, All thees areas are nice, and I plan on doing alloy of exploring when we get moved to Utah.

Utah is a huge state of beauty, Sampson. Salt Lake City was the regional hub for airline flights during our 35 years in Wyoming. Denver was glad to get rid of us due to the bumpy ride over Cheyenne to get to any other part of the state. I don't know why, it was like bucking broncos over Cheyenne, whether you crossed it N, S, E, or W.

Anyhow, Utah is a grid search in fabulous scenery. There are Arches Park, skiing everywhere though there's a town a little to the east of SLC, Park City, where everybody goes for great skiing. We drove to Salt Lake City often, because it was a beautiful 8 hours through the mountains to get there through some of America's still rugged country. We also drove from Salt Lake to Las Vegas, where we are parents to one of N. Las Vegas' finest. We used to love the drive between Wyoming and Houston to visit family, back when the biggest building in Colorado Springs was the Broadmoor Hotel. Now, it's just a suburb of Denver with day-long traffic jams, so we started driving through Lamar Colorado by way of Scott's Bluff, Nebraska. We just didn't care for the traffic. Driving through Denver was disgusting. No matter what time of the year, they were busy building freeways that would have been great 5 years earlier, but the population kept expanding exponentially, which smashed all planning records, every 3 or 4 years. The people in Denver never seemed to notice, they just put up with the stop and go of it the entire 35 years we commuted to Wyoming. The last 5 or 6 years, though, wind farms were build from Lamar all the way down to and beyond Amarillo.

You sound like the good life of hiking suits you. Good luck in Utah. Give my regards to the Jazz.

 

[freedombecki]

Here ya go for some Big Bend pics. I have been there, several times, and it, plus Guadalupe Peak, is perhaps the only shining jewel in otherwise pretty monotonous and featureless West Texas scenery, though to me a ripe wheat field rippling in the wind is beautiful too:

Thanks, Foxy. That's absolutely out of this world. I talked to my sister about going there yesterday, but I don't think she's ever been. Her friends had, though, and they advised a winter trip. I love it when the cactus blooms, though. That could be any time from November to February, I'm sure someone closer to there knows. We need to go soon, though. I have sand in my shoes.

 

[freedombecki]

Smuggler's luck...

Massive US fire somehow misses marijuana operation
Mon, Sep 05, 2011 - This summer’s Las Conchas fire in New Mexico scorched tribal lands, threatened one of the nation’s premier nuclear facilities and pushed bears into nearby cities. However, it somehow spared more than 9,000 marijuana plants in a remote area of Bandelier National Monument.

Officials said no arrests have been made in the sophisticated growing operation in the park’s backcountry. However, authorities said on Friday they were looking for at least two suspects. They estimate the plants were 1.83m to 10 3.05m tall and had a street value of about US$10 million. “It was a lot larger than we anticipated,” park superintendent Jason Lott said. “It [was] much bigger and more sophisticated than we ever expected.” The marijuana operation had an irrigation system and a possible evacuation route for those overseeing the plants, Lott said. Temporary housing structures, trash and food caches were also found nearby.

The pot was discovered in rugged terrain during an Aug. 23 helicopter flight surveying a flash flood, Lott said. That flooding was caused when monsoonal rains fell on the charred area of the monument, where soil and rocks had been loosened by the fire, the largest in New Mexico history. A number of local and federal law enforcement agencies raided the area early on Thursday morning. No one was captured, but investigators say at least two men were seen at the grow site earlier in the week. The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office and the New Mexico National Guard both lent helicopters to the operation and a National Guard Blackhawk helicopter airlifted the marijuana out, the National Park Service said. Most of it was transported to an undisclosed location for proper disposal and some was retained for testing as evidence.

Officials said on Thursday’s bust was the first marijuana growing operation detected in Bandelier National Monument, which features centuries-old dwellings carved into canyon walls by ancestors of the Native American pueblos that surround the area. The Las Conchas fire burned more than 632km2 over 36 days in the mountains surrounding the town of Los Alamos and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The fire started on June 26 when a tree fell on a power line. The flames raced across parts of the monument, Valles Caldera National Preserve and lands belonging to northern New Mexico pueblos.

Massive US fire somehow misses marijuana operation - Taipei Times

No luck involved. That is little more than an hour's drive from my house.
A plane flying over the massive burn spotted the patch of green and authorities went to look. Apparently the pot growers defended their pot field as there was evidence they fought the fire on all sides until it passed. Some of the crop had been harvested but the remaining healthy plants would have yielded something like $12 million on the street?

Bandelier is definitely one of our local treasures though. As is the case of most places, the photos don't really do it justice, but it is always alive with myriad wildlife, song birds, butterfles, wild flowers and flowering cactuses depending on what time of year it is. The fires roar through there from time to time but by the next year it is always back to normal and beautiful again.

Those are fabulous pictures, Foxy. Thanks so much for the graphics. My faves of NM earlier were of the Charro Canyon area, from which I got ideas to add to the Southwest Quilt I designed and won Best of Show in 1993 at the Wyoming State Fair. I'll see if I can find a pic.

 

[freedombecki]

Oops, can't find. I did find an image of conquistadors on horseback at the Canyon de Chelly, though, here: Rock Art Photos and Pictures
All I could find at short notice were a professional photographer's collection, but it is totally good at the link.

 

[freedombecki]

This morning, I found a video of Canyon de Chelly (very sleepy last night), and they say it's in Arizona, not New Mexico. (No wonder I couldn't find it last night!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxHt8HLRJuI&feature=player_detailpage"]Canyon de Chelly - YouTube[/ame]​

 

[Foxfyre]

Right Becki. Canyon de Chelly is in Arizona.

But not far east of there is the interesting Chaco Canyon National Historical Park:

All of these sites: Mesa Verde in Colorado, Canyon de Chelly, Choco Canyon, Bandelier et al are discovered remnants of the lost Anazazi civilization, the 'ancient ones' who were a thriving culture in the Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico Four Corners area for more than a thousand years. They disappeared around the end of the 12th Century however and nobody has yet figured out what happened to them or where they went. It is theorized they left because of extreme drought or other environmental conditions and were assimilated into the existing Pueblo cultures, but nobody knows for sure.

 

[freedombecki]

Right Becki. Canyon de Chelly is in Arizona.

But not far east of there is the interesting Chaco Canyon National Historical Park:

All of these sites: Mesa Verde in Colorado, Canyon de Chelly, Choco Canyon, Bandelier et al are discovered remnants of the lost Anazazi civilization, the 'ancient ones' who were a thriving culture in the Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico Four Corners area for more than a thousand years. They disappeared around the end of the 12th Century however and nobody has yet figured out what happened to them or where they went. It is theorized they left because of extreme drought or other environmental conditions and were assimilated into the existing Pueblo cultures, but nobody knows for sure.

This petroglyph at Canyon de Chelly had to have been made sometime after 1500 because it includes hunters on horseback. Coronado came through New Mexico and other parts of the southwest from 1540-1542. I wonder if those who recorded their presence were descendants of the Anasazis or a different tribe altogether? I'm pretty sure the Spaniards introduced horses into the new world, and the wild horses were thought to be descendants of those that may have escaped or been traded to natives for precious stones or something by the conquistadors.

Thank you for the beautiful photographs, Foxfyre.

 

[Foxfyre]

My best guess relates to your Canon de Shelly video you posted. After the Anasazi left, other tribes moved into the area--Apache, Comanche, Hopi, Navajo--and no doubt all left their mark.

 

[freedombecki]

My best guess relates to your Canon de Shelly video you posted. After the Anasazi left, other tribes moved into the area--Apache, Comanche, Hopi, Navajo--and no doubt all left their mark.

I truly admire the way you can take information and make sense of it. I missed the forest for the trees. Thank you, Foxfyre.

 

[FuelRod]

California's Hetch Hetchy inside the Yosemite National Forest.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBv7pARTYpE]Hetch Hetchy - Yosemite's Lost Valley - Trailer - YouTube[/ame]

 

[freedombecki]

Fuel Rod, your video is truly fabulous. Thanks.

 

[Ringel05]

Here we are fly fishing in Yosemite.

Touring the Everglades.

Annnnnnddd, I forget which National park this was.

 

[freedombecki]

Why Ringel05, being in the Outdoors brings out the wild life in ya does it?

 

[freedombecki]

Doyle River Falls, Shenandoah National Park, VA

 

[Ringel05]

Why Ringel05, being in the Outdoors brings out the wild life in ya does it?

Nah, it just takes breathing.......

 

[edjax1952]

http://www.forestcamping.com/dow/southern/oscinfo.htm
The Osceola National Forest, located in northern Florida, is comprised of 187,554 acres. I enjoy visiting both the developed campsites with amenities and 12 miles from the city of Lake City, Florida and the primitive (hunters) campsites that can be as far away as 15 miles from the nearest point of commercial development and 12 miles to the main US Highway 90 to the south of the forest. The Osceola National Forest, named for a Native American war leader, was created in 1931.
Visit my Facebook page for a view of a trip to the primitive campsite area.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/.../?set=a.215628565128169.65988.100000430810555

 

[edjax1952]

http://floridastateparks.org/standrews/default.cfm
St Andrews State Park, Florida
Well-known for its sugar white sands and emerald green waters, this former military reservation has over one-and-a-half miles of beaches on the Gulf of Mexico and Grand Lagoon. Water sports enthusiasts can enjoy swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, kayaking, and canoeing. Two fishing piers, a jetty, and a boat ramp provide ample fishing opportunities for anglers. Two nature trails wind through a rich diversity of coastal plant communities - a splendid opportunity for bird-watching. Those wanting to relax can sunbathe on the beach or enjoy a leisurely lunch under the shade of a picnic pavilion.
View my visit there (on my Facebook page). It was just a short preview trip on the way back from my brother’s house in Alabama. I most certainly will return.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.210340765656949.59529.100000430810555&type=1

 

[edjax1952]

http://floridastateparks.org/sebastianinlet/default.cfm
Sebastian Inlet State Park, Florida
The premier saltwater fishing spot on Florida's east coast, this park is a favorite for anglers nationwide for catching snook, redfish, bluefish, and Spanish mackerel from its jetties. Surfing is also a popular recreation and several major competitions are held here every year. Two museums provide a history of the area.
Once more, my facebook photo album of my visit:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.168990953125264.41975.100000430810555&type=1
The individual pictures don&#8217;t seem to upload properly to the post. <:^{

 

[edjax1952]

http://www.12stepmusicfest.com/general/about12step.php
12 Step Music Fest is a campout for ALL 12 step fellowships. It will be held November 3-6, 2011 at Sugarloaf Key (mile marker 20) KOA Campground in the Florida Keys. The entire campground will be closed to the public.

It's a mini Woodstock, minus the drugs and alcohol, but add meetings and fellowship! It is being produced by No Matter What Productions, a not for profit, 501 c 3 charity. Our mission is to help people suffering from all forms of addiction to recover and become acceptable, responsible and productive members of society. Our vision is to eradicate the stigma "Once an addict always an addict."
I have enjoyed 27 years of sobriety. <:^}
My Facebook photos of the visit last year:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.169002356457457.41979.100000430810555&type=1
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.168993619791664.41977.100000430810555&type=1