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National Geographic Atlas of Natural America
Atlas of Natural America showcases some of the most awe-inspiring scenery on the planet and underscores the importance of safeguarding our continent's myriad landforms, endangered creatures, and plant life. Explaining the natural forces shaping topography, soil, climate, flora, and fauna across the centuries, writers Thomas Schmidt, Mel White, Mark Miller, and others discuss key contributions made by such legends as John Muir and Aldo Leopold. The atlas also serves as an indispensable travel guide, offering information on visitor services and activities to help make many a North American journey a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
- GenresNature
304 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2000
24 people want to read
About the author
National Geographic Society
4,225 books1,121 followersThe National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world.
Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical conservation, and the study of world culture and history. The National Geographic Society's logo is a yellow portrait frame—rectangular in shape—which appears on the margins surrounding the front covers of its magazines and as its television channel logo. Through National Geographic Partners (a joint venture with The Walt Disney Company), the Society operates the magazine, TV channels, a website, worldwide events, and other media operations.
Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical conservation, and the study of world culture and history. The National Geographic Society's logo is a yellow portrait frame—rectangular in shape—which appears on the margins surrounding the front covers of its magazines and as its television channel logo. Through National Geographic Partners (a joint venture with The Walt Disney Company), the Society operates the magazine, TV channels, a website, worldwide events, and other media operations.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 13, 2022
This is an interesting book about the geography of North America.
"The Appalachian Mountains, link... two otherwise disparate places (p. 14)."
"To a trained eye [Gros Morne National Park]'s 697 miles encompass clear evidence of Earth's turbulent past (p. 16)."
"The most imposingly rugged terrain in Nova Scotia can be found within Cape Breton Highlands National Park (p. 19)."
"Places, like people, often take on their own personalities, made up of sights and sounds, of pleasures and disappointments, of the cumulative experiences of repeated visits. For many travelers, Maine's Acadia National Park shines in the memory with its own very distinctive character (p. 20)."
"Maine's famously rugged coast is the main attraction on Acadia's loop road (p. 22)."
"You will find a fascinating mini-universe in the intertidal zone at Acadia, where, between the extremes of high and low tide, life has adapted to a partly dry, partly submerged existence (p. 23)."
"The Long Trail and national forest paths provide access to Green Mountain ecosystems ranging from lakes and bog to northern hardwood forests to spruce-fir woodland to alpine tundra (p. 27)."
"Cape Cod has long held a special mystique for travelers, a beguiling aura conferred upon it by both geography and history... You will find evidence of the glaciers that formed Cape Cod at Fort Hill, a popular hiking area in the middle of the national seashore near Eastham (p. 28)."
"Many people don't know that the Pilgrims landed first at Cape Cod in November 1620, before continuing to Plymouth Bay a month later. The national seashore's Pilgrim Spring Trail commemorates that historic landfall (p. 30)."
"The Adirondack Mountains were at the center of much of our country's earliest debate on issues of preservation and exploitation, of natural beauty and economic development, of public lands and private-property rights (p. 32)."
"Because all this glacial activity ended only about 14,000 years ago, Adirondack soil is generally thin and infertile, as early settlers discovered when they tried to farm the land (p. 34)."
"As you walk the beach at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, the landscape around you seems a place of simple elements: sea, sand, sky, and the ever present wind (p. 36)."
"Visitors to Cape Lookout must be self-sufficient in their wanderings over the isolated islands; carrying adequate fresh water, sun protection, and insect repellent is especially important. But for those who arrive prepared, the chance to enjoy this world of marsh, beach, and surf in relative seclusion makes the effort of preparation more than worthwhile (p. 40)."
"No one who loves the outdoors... could fail to be impressed with the range of opportunities available in the Monongahela National Forest (p. 44)."
"In their 1,800-mile course from Alabama to Canada, the Appalachian Mountains trend from southwest to northeast in parallel lines of wooded highlands, which from lookouts often resemble nothing so much as green waves stretching to the horizon (p. 48)."
"One of the best ways to see [Delaware Water Gap] is from the water (p. 49)."
"This elevation span, combined with the [Great Smoky Mountains]'s high precipitation... creates a diversity matched in few temperate-zone locations around the globe (p. 50)."
"Driving north up the Atlantic coast from the historic old city of Charleston, South Carolina, a nature enthusiast encounters a dilemma, although a pleasant one: Would it be more fun to visit a beach or a pine forest? A swamp or a salt marsh (p. 54)?"
"Millions of years ago, when sea levels were higher, ancient rivers formed a huge, sandy delta along the East Coast of North America. Later, when the ocean retreated, erosion created the rolling topography of the region now called the Carolina Sandhills, which spans 15 counties in North and South Carolina. Exceptional in both plant and animal species (p. 56)."
"The Okefenokee encompasses expansive, grassy marshes spangled with wildflowers... rivers were born here, flowing briskly along broad channels through the woods... countless lakes, large and small, dot the landscape (p. 60)."
"Everglades National Park is a place of extremes... it makes up the largest subtropical wild landscape in the country. It is the only U.S. national park to be designated a World Heritage site, and international biosphere reserve, and a wetland of international importance (p. 66)."
"Short trails like the Nine Mile Pond Canoe Trail and the Noble Hammock Canoe Trail provide a true Everglades wildlife experience for a relatively small effort (p. 69)."
"History, both natural and human, adds complex layers of discovery to a journey through this granddaddy of America's underground wonders. The Mammoth Cave story begins more than 350 million years ago, when what is now Kentucky lay near the Equator, and a warm, shallow sea spread across the entire Southeast... Much later, this region rose about the sea. Rainwater, made slightly acidic by naturally occurring carbon dioxide, seeped into cracks in the sandstone and limestone over millions of years, dissolving ever widening passages (p. 72)."
"Whether aboveground or underground, Mammoth Cave's attractions deserve far more time than most travelers allot for their visits... the park tells a story as intriguing as it is ancient (p. 75)."
"Extremes of climate and landscape characterize the broad Midlands of North American--buggy tundra in the north, steamy bayous in the south. The oldest known rocks on earth--the Canadian Shield, dating back perhaps 3.96 billion years--sprawl across much of the Canadian north, and in the south saltwater marshes are home to pelicans and egrets... The Midlands offers a subtler beauty... The Lewis and Clark Expedition crossed much of the Midlands in 1804, charting a route to the Pacific Ocean (p. 80)."
"You hike [in Pukaskwa National Park] on some of the oldest rock on the planet, the protruding edge of the Precambrian Canadian Shield (p. 82)."
"Paddlers not averse to risk-taking run the Coastal Canoe Route, an 8- to 14-day sea-kayak run along the coast of Lake Superior. Count on being wind-bound at least part of the time (p. 85)."
"Fans of Picture Rocks National Lakeshore on Michigan's Upper Peninsula disagree about the 'best' time to visit, for each season offers something special (p. 91)."
"'They have seen the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep (p. 93).'"
"'At a distance of one to five miles in the lake lie a cluster of wooded islands... the Twelve Apostles. There appears to be fifteen to twenty in number, and they present a very beautiful and picturesque group... at the western end of Lake Superior... Half a dozen lighthouses still stand on various islands. The Sand Island station is the only one built of locally quarried brownstone. Strong winds cause the lighthouse on remote Outer Island to sway (p. 93)."
"Superior is at the southernmost edge of the boreal--or northern--forest, so pine, fir, birch, aspen, maple, and spruce rise around you (p. 94)."
"Nearly two hundred years ago, explorer and geographer David Thompson passed through this country while mapping the U.S.-Canada border. In 34 years, he covered some 800,000 miles by foot, horseback, dogsled, snowshoe, and canoe and recorded his findings in 77 volumes of journals (p. 97)."
"Six nationally designated scenic byways, totaling about 183 miles, run through the Ozark National Forest and its companion St. Francis National Forest... The Ozark is a working forest, so you may see evidence of logging or happen upon cattle grazing in open meadows (p. 102)."
"The passing seasons provide an ever changing panorama (p. 104)."
"[Big Thicket National Preserve] was a wilderness of enormous trees and tangles of holly and leatherwood, interspersed with open savannas. Panthers, bears, and wolves prowled here (p. 108)."
"Birds are the predominate animals of Padre Island (p. 114)."
"Managers speculate that the refuge has more than a thousand alligator nests (p. 119)."
"If you are looking for a scenic drive through Black Hills National Forest, two fine ones await... The Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway... And the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway (p. 122)."
"Wood Buffalo is a long way from anywhere (p. 128)."
"Ownership of [Little Missouri National Grassland] is a checkerboard... so get permission from landowners if you venture onto the backcountry roads and trails (p. 130)."
"Both the summer and the winter can be brutal (p. 131)."
"There are few places on Earth as untouched as the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary on the border of Canada's Northwest and Nunavut Territories (p. 134)."
"The most practical way to visit the Thelon sanctuary is by canoe (p. 137)."
"Stretching northwest from Colorado through Wyoming and Montana and along the Alberta-British Columbia boundary, this spectacular region of mountain, gorge, and glacier follows the Continental Divide along the spine of the Rocky Mountains for roughly a thousand straight-line miles. It takes in some of the most dramatic alpine scenery in the world and preserves irreplaceable biotic communities... The Great Divide is the continent's primary watershed... The western edge of the lighter North American continental plate overrode the Pacific oceanic plate. The collision crumpled the western margin of the continent and caused the uplift that created the Colorado Rockies and the folding and faulting that raised the central, Canadian, and northern Rockies (p. 140)."
"Approximately one-third of [Rocky Mountain National Park] lies above tree line in the supremely fragile, weather-beaten life zone of the alpine tundra. Carpeted with an abundance of tiny but tenacious wildflowers, it is a vast, open, and gently rolling landscape. Panoramic vistas across a sea of peaks delight the eyes of visitors in all seasons (p. 142)."
"This magnificent cluster of four national parks stretches along the crest of the Canadian Rockies and takes in a staggering 7,814 square miles of jaw-dropping alpine terrain... Taken together, the four parks form one of the largest mountain preserves in the world... Banff... Jasper... Yoho... Kootenay... Fortunately for visitors, the parks are tied together by the single most spectacular road network anywhere in the Rockies (p. 156)."
"Glacier lies at the heart of an immense tract of wild lands that include the adjoining Canadian national park of Waterton Lakes... These protected areas encompass roughly 6,400 square miles. It is a magnificent landscape (p. 160)."
"The Sawtooth National Recreation Area takes in nearly 1,200 square miles of jagged granite peaks, spacious valleys, pristine mountain lakes, a handsome river chasm, and dozens of natural hot springs... The core of the range is made up of pink granite that welled up through the Earth's crust 50 million years ago and intruded into the surface of an older mass of granite (p. 164)."
"Geologically, Hells Canyon offers some of the most intriguing stories in the Great Divide region (p. 168)."
"Strange things live in this Southwest desert region--saguaros, Joshua trees, gila monsters, jumping cholla, pupfish, ocotillo, sidewinders, kangaroo rats, and vampire bats--in addition to many species found elsewhere on the continent (p. 172)."
"The [Grand Canyon] seems to have existed forever but, in fact, is relatively young. An important part of the proof lies at its western, downstream end, where lakebed deposits... show that five to six million years ago, no Colorado River was flowing through a Grand Canyon in its present location (p. 174)."
"'Leave it as it is. You cannot improve upon it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it' (Theodore Roosevelt, p. 175)."
"Vermilion Cliffs is one of several release points int he effort to recover wile populations of endangered California condors (p. 180)."
"In spring, if winter rains have been sufficient, the desert erupts in dense carpets of orange poppy, blue lupine, globemallow, scorpion weed, primrose, and brittlebush (p. 186)."
"Big Bend was uplifted when the Rocky Mountains rose some 70 million years ago (p. 196)."
"No wonder geologists love the Colorado Plateau, that vast expanse of colorful rock centered in much of Utah, western Colorado, northern Arizona, and northern New Mexico (p. 200)."
"The naming of Arches National Park was no challenge. What else could you call a place with one of the world's largest concentrations of natural sandstone arches? Elsewhere a rare landform, here are more than 2,000 in a variety of shapes and sizes (p. 206)."
"Lehman Cave is one of the best decorated caverns in America. Of particular interest along the half-mile underground trail are the unusual shield formations: twin stone disks, often draped with stalactites and other flowstone shapes, that grow outward from cave walls like clam shells (p. 208)."
"The Far West's topography includes many mountain ranges, including the Cascade Range and the Coast Mountains. These volcanic peaks were rough-cast during a fiery, eruptive era beginning sometime between 25 and 10 million years ago and continuing to this day (p. 218)."
"Some biologists have gone so far as to dub this windswept collection of grasslands, marshes, cliffs, beaches, tide pool shelves, and 200-odd sea caves the North American Galapagos (p. 220)."
"Until 1833, Yosemite's spectacularly deep glacial valley in the Sierra Nevada of California and its thundering waterfalls were known only to the Miwok people who summered there (p. 224)."
"Most visitors... come seeking restorative communion with nature... Of all the things on Earth that exhibit some form of what we call life, one of the largest is the sequoia tree (p. 227)."
"'God has cared for these trees... saved them from drought, disease, avalanches and a thousand straining, leveling tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools' (John Muir, p. 230)."
"The park's tallest coast redwood--also believed to be the world's tallest tree--is the National Geographic tree, a 365.5-footer estimated at more than 600 years of age (p. 230)."
"Some visitors find the frequent rain and fog that nurture these forests a nuisance... During storms, the great trees may shed large lower branches... But most who wander even a short way into the park's ancient groves embrace a broader perspective, as they behold the primordial Earth, abiding in all its perfect chaos (p. 233)."
"'All ingenuity of nature seems to have been exerted to the fullest capacity to build a grand awe-inspiring temple, the likes of which the world has never seen before' (William Gladstone Steel about Crater Lake, p. 238)."
"Most have compared the North Cascades to the European Alps, and although Europe's famed mountains are not volcanic, there are striking similarities, including dramatically precipitous inclines and lushly flowered mountain meadows (p. 244)."
"It is possible to explore the forest by car and with no exertion whatever. The dizzying switchbacks of the two-lane 24-mile-long Mount Baker Scenic Byway from Glacier to Artist Point on Mount Baker reward motorists with eagle-eye vies of Mount Shuksan and the Nooksack Valley (p. 246)."
"In 1899, President William McKinley designated the mountain and the densely forested wilderness surrounding it, now an area of 235,625 acres, America's fifth national park (p. 248)."
"One of Mount Rainier's early advocates was the naturalist John Muir, the Sierra Club co-founder who once noted the contrast between mankind's desire 'to establish a narrow line between ourselves and the feathery zeros we dare call angels' and the contrary human tendency to erect 'a partition barrier of infinite width to show the rest of creation its proper place' (p. 249)."
"'If that not be the home where dwell the Gods,' wrote an 18th-century British naval captain of the peak he named Mount Olympus, 'it is beautiful enough to be' (p. 252)."
"Abundant precipitation--hundreds of inches of rain and snow per year--and rich soil have produced some of the largest evergreens yet found in this temperate rain forest (p. 253)."
"There are no uncharted regions remaining in the Olympics; the topographic maps hikers use to find their way to primitive wilderness camps depict a 600-mile-long trail system that covers the park like a net (p. 254)."
"The rugged, 47-mile-long West Coast Trail, connecting Banfield and Port Renfrew, offers come of Canada's most photogenic coastal and rain forest scenery (p. 257)."
"Access by visitors is possible only by helicopter or floatplane. In 1978, UNESCO designated [Nahanni National Park Reserve] its first World Heritage site, proclaiming its principal waterway, the Nahanni, 'one of the most spectacular wild rivers in North America.' The river, named after the Naha--'People of the West,' is an ancient one, believed to predate most of the mountains it cuts through (p. 258)."
"To roam on one's own requires considerable experience--there are no lodges, facilities, or telephones inside the reserve--and even seasoned canoeists, kayakers, and hikers may find it more practical to join an outfitter's guided tour (p. 258)."
"One of the park's most impressive natural features is Virginia Falls, a thundering 410-foot-high wall of water... cascading around a central rock spire (p. 258)."
"The size of Connecticut, Glacier Bay is North America's largest water-area park. It is a wilderness of extreme contrasts, including lofty peaks, ponderous tidewater glaciers, bogs, and alpine tundra, fjords, beaches recessed in sheltered coves, freshwater lakes, and dense coastal rain forests (p. 260)."
"A glacier's journey can be a long one. Fairweather Glacier begins on the slopes of 15,320-foot Mount Fairweather. Others--remnants of the little ice age that began about 4,000 years ago, such as those at John Hopkins Inlet--descend steeply over short distances, dropping from mountains that rise to 6,520 feet from sea level in as few as four miles (p. 260)."
"Three times larger than any other national forest in the United States, southeastern Alaska's Tongass is the ultimate example of a northern-latitude rain forest (p. 262)."
"The burgeoning popularity of sea kayaking and canoeing in the Pacific Northwest is due in large part to the Inside Passage's enticing usually placid labyrinth of waterways (p. 262)."
"Within the cluster of the Alexander Archipelago is Prince of Wales, the third largest island in the United States (p. 263)."
"The edge's of America's largest national park [Wrangell-St. Elias]... is an easy day's drive from Anchorage (p. 264)."
"Denali encompasses a complete subarctic ecosystem (p. 272)."
"The people's resourceful stewardship of refuge land demonstrates that it is possible for humans to live in balance with even the most delicate of natural environments (p. 279)."
"The Appalachian Mountains, link... two otherwise disparate places (p. 14)."
"To a trained eye [Gros Morne National Park]'s 697 miles encompass clear evidence of Earth's turbulent past (p. 16)."
"The most imposingly rugged terrain in Nova Scotia can be found within Cape Breton Highlands National Park (p. 19)."
"Places, like people, often take on their own personalities, made up of sights and sounds, of pleasures and disappointments, of the cumulative experiences of repeated visits. For many travelers, Maine's Acadia National Park shines in the memory with its own very distinctive character (p. 20)."
"Maine's famously rugged coast is the main attraction on Acadia's loop road (p. 22)."
"You will find a fascinating mini-universe in the intertidal zone at Acadia, where, between the extremes of high and low tide, life has adapted to a partly dry, partly submerged existence (p. 23)."
"The Long Trail and national forest paths provide access to Green Mountain ecosystems ranging from lakes and bog to northern hardwood forests to spruce-fir woodland to alpine tundra (p. 27)."
"Cape Cod has long held a special mystique for travelers, a beguiling aura conferred upon it by both geography and history... You will find evidence of the glaciers that formed Cape Cod at Fort Hill, a popular hiking area in the middle of the national seashore near Eastham (p. 28)."
"Many people don't know that the Pilgrims landed first at Cape Cod in November 1620, before continuing to Plymouth Bay a month later. The national seashore's Pilgrim Spring Trail commemorates that historic landfall (p. 30)."
"The Adirondack Mountains were at the center of much of our country's earliest debate on issues of preservation and exploitation, of natural beauty and economic development, of public lands and private-property rights (p. 32)."
"Because all this glacial activity ended only about 14,000 years ago, Adirondack soil is generally thin and infertile, as early settlers discovered when they tried to farm the land (p. 34)."
"As you walk the beach at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, the landscape around you seems a place of simple elements: sea, sand, sky, and the ever present wind (p. 36)."
"Visitors to Cape Lookout must be self-sufficient in their wanderings over the isolated islands; carrying adequate fresh water, sun protection, and insect repellent is especially important. But for those who arrive prepared, the chance to enjoy this world of marsh, beach, and surf in relative seclusion makes the effort of preparation more than worthwhile (p. 40)."
"No one who loves the outdoors... could fail to be impressed with the range of opportunities available in the Monongahela National Forest (p. 44)."
"In their 1,800-mile course from Alabama to Canada, the Appalachian Mountains trend from southwest to northeast in parallel lines of wooded highlands, which from lookouts often resemble nothing so much as green waves stretching to the horizon (p. 48)."
"One of the best ways to see [Delaware Water Gap] is from the water (p. 49)."
"This elevation span, combined with the [Great Smoky Mountains]'s high precipitation... creates a diversity matched in few temperate-zone locations around the globe (p. 50)."
"Driving north up the Atlantic coast from the historic old city of Charleston, South Carolina, a nature enthusiast encounters a dilemma, although a pleasant one: Would it be more fun to visit a beach or a pine forest? A swamp or a salt marsh (p. 54)?"
"Millions of years ago, when sea levels were higher, ancient rivers formed a huge, sandy delta along the East Coast of North America. Later, when the ocean retreated, erosion created the rolling topography of the region now called the Carolina Sandhills, which spans 15 counties in North and South Carolina. Exceptional in both plant and animal species (p. 56)."
"The Okefenokee encompasses expansive, grassy marshes spangled with wildflowers... rivers were born here, flowing briskly along broad channels through the woods... countless lakes, large and small, dot the landscape (p. 60)."
"Everglades National Park is a place of extremes... it makes up the largest subtropical wild landscape in the country. It is the only U.S. national park to be designated a World Heritage site, and international biosphere reserve, and a wetland of international importance (p. 66)."
"Short trails like the Nine Mile Pond Canoe Trail and the Noble Hammock Canoe Trail provide a true Everglades wildlife experience for a relatively small effort (p. 69)."
"History, both natural and human, adds complex layers of discovery to a journey through this granddaddy of America's underground wonders. The Mammoth Cave story begins more than 350 million years ago, when what is now Kentucky lay near the Equator, and a warm, shallow sea spread across the entire Southeast... Much later, this region rose about the sea. Rainwater, made slightly acidic by naturally occurring carbon dioxide, seeped into cracks in the sandstone and limestone over millions of years, dissolving ever widening passages (p. 72)."
"Whether aboveground or underground, Mammoth Cave's attractions deserve far more time than most travelers allot for their visits... the park tells a story as intriguing as it is ancient (p. 75)."
"Extremes of climate and landscape characterize the broad Midlands of North American--buggy tundra in the north, steamy bayous in the south. The oldest known rocks on earth--the Canadian Shield, dating back perhaps 3.96 billion years--sprawl across much of the Canadian north, and in the south saltwater marshes are home to pelicans and egrets... The Midlands offers a subtler beauty... The Lewis and Clark Expedition crossed much of the Midlands in 1804, charting a route to the Pacific Ocean (p. 80)."
"You hike [in Pukaskwa National Park] on some of the oldest rock on the planet, the protruding edge of the Precambrian Canadian Shield (p. 82)."
"Paddlers not averse to risk-taking run the Coastal Canoe Route, an 8- to 14-day sea-kayak run along the coast of Lake Superior. Count on being wind-bound at least part of the time (p. 85)."
"Fans of Picture Rocks National Lakeshore on Michigan's Upper Peninsula disagree about the 'best' time to visit, for each season offers something special (p. 91)."
"'They have seen the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep (p. 93).'"
"'At a distance of one to five miles in the lake lie a cluster of wooded islands... the Twelve Apostles. There appears to be fifteen to twenty in number, and they present a very beautiful and picturesque group... at the western end of Lake Superior... Half a dozen lighthouses still stand on various islands. The Sand Island station is the only one built of locally quarried brownstone. Strong winds cause the lighthouse on remote Outer Island to sway (p. 93)."
"Superior is at the southernmost edge of the boreal--or northern--forest, so pine, fir, birch, aspen, maple, and spruce rise around you (p. 94)."
"Nearly two hundred years ago, explorer and geographer David Thompson passed through this country while mapping the U.S.-Canada border. In 34 years, he covered some 800,000 miles by foot, horseback, dogsled, snowshoe, and canoe and recorded his findings in 77 volumes of journals (p. 97)."
"Six nationally designated scenic byways, totaling about 183 miles, run through the Ozark National Forest and its companion St. Francis National Forest... The Ozark is a working forest, so you may see evidence of logging or happen upon cattle grazing in open meadows (p. 102)."
"The passing seasons provide an ever changing panorama (p. 104)."
"[Big Thicket National Preserve] was a wilderness of enormous trees and tangles of holly and leatherwood, interspersed with open savannas. Panthers, bears, and wolves prowled here (p. 108)."
"Birds are the predominate animals of Padre Island (p. 114)."
"Managers speculate that the refuge has more than a thousand alligator nests (p. 119)."
"If you are looking for a scenic drive through Black Hills National Forest, two fine ones await... The Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway... And the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway (p. 122)."
"Wood Buffalo is a long way from anywhere (p. 128)."
"Ownership of [Little Missouri National Grassland] is a checkerboard... so get permission from landowners if you venture onto the backcountry roads and trails (p. 130)."
"Both the summer and the winter can be brutal (p. 131)."
"There are few places on Earth as untouched as the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary on the border of Canada's Northwest and Nunavut Territories (p. 134)."
"The most practical way to visit the Thelon sanctuary is by canoe (p. 137)."
"Stretching northwest from Colorado through Wyoming and Montana and along the Alberta-British Columbia boundary, this spectacular region of mountain, gorge, and glacier follows the Continental Divide along the spine of the Rocky Mountains for roughly a thousand straight-line miles. It takes in some of the most dramatic alpine scenery in the world and preserves irreplaceable biotic communities... The Great Divide is the continent's primary watershed... The western edge of the lighter North American continental plate overrode the Pacific oceanic plate. The collision crumpled the western margin of the continent and caused the uplift that created the Colorado Rockies and the folding and faulting that raised the central, Canadian, and northern Rockies (p. 140)."
"Approximately one-third of [Rocky Mountain National Park] lies above tree line in the supremely fragile, weather-beaten life zone of the alpine tundra. Carpeted with an abundance of tiny but tenacious wildflowers, it is a vast, open, and gently rolling landscape. Panoramic vistas across a sea of peaks delight the eyes of visitors in all seasons (p. 142)."
"This magnificent cluster of four national parks stretches along the crest of the Canadian Rockies and takes in a staggering 7,814 square miles of jaw-dropping alpine terrain... Taken together, the four parks form one of the largest mountain preserves in the world... Banff... Jasper... Yoho... Kootenay... Fortunately for visitors, the parks are tied together by the single most spectacular road network anywhere in the Rockies (p. 156)."
"Glacier lies at the heart of an immense tract of wild lands that include the adjoining Canadian national park of Waterton Lakes... These protected areas encompass roughly 6,400 square miles. It is a magnificent landscape (p. 160)."
"The Sawtooth National Recreation Area takes in nearly 1,200 square miles of jagged granite peaks, spacious valleys, pristine mountain lakes, a handsome river chasm, and dozens of natural hot springs... The core of the range is made up of pink granite that welled up through the Earth's crust 50 million years ago and intruded into the surface of an older mass of granite (p. 164)."
"Geologically, Hells Canyon offers some of the most intriguing stories in the Great Divide region (p. 168)."
"Strange things live in this Southwest desert region--saguaros, Joshua trees, gila monsters, jumping cholla, pupfish, ocotillo, sidewinders, kangaroo rats, and vampire bats--in addition to many species found elsewhere on the continent (p. 172)."
"The [Grand Canyon] seems to have existed forever but, in fact, is relatively young. An important part of the proof lies at its western, downstream end, where lakebed deposits... show that five to six million years ago, no Colorado River was flowing through a Grand Canyon in its present location (p. 174)."
"'Leave it as it is. You cannot improve upon it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it' (Theodore Roosevelt, p. 175)."
"Vermilion Cliffs is one of several release points int he effort to recover wile populations of endangered California condors (p. 180)."
"In spring, if winter rains have been sufficient, the desert erupts in dense carpets of orange poppy, blue lupine, globemallow, scorpion weed, primrose, and brittlebush (p. 186)."
"Big Bend was uplifted when the Rocky Mountains rose some 70 million years ago (p. 196)."
"No wonder geologists love the Colorado Plateau, that vast expanse of colorful rock centered in much of Utah, western Colorado, northern Arizona, and northern New Mexico (p. 200)."
"The naming of Arches National Park was no challenge. What else could you call a place with one of the world's largest concentrations of natural sandstone arches? Elsewhere a rare landform, here are more than 2,000 in a variety of shapes and sizes (p. 206)."
"Lehman Cave is one of the best decorated caverns in America. Of particular interest along the half-mile underground trail are the unusual shield formations: twin stone disks, often draped with stalactites and other flowstone shapes, that grow outward from cave walls like clam shells (p. 208)."
"The Far West's topography includes many mountain ranges, including the Cascade Range and the Coast Mountains. These volcanic peaks were rough-cast during a fiery, eruptive era beginning sometime between 25 and 10 million years ago and continuing to this day (p. 218)."
"Some biologists have gone so far as to dub this windswept collection of grasslands, marshes, cliffs, beaches, tide pool shelves, and 200-odd sea caves the North American Galapagos (p. 220)."
"Until 1833, Yosemite's spectacularly deep glacial valley in the Sierra Nevada of California and its thundering waterfalls were known only to the Miwok people who summered there (p. 224)."
"Most visitors... come seeking restorative communion with nature... Of all the things on Earth that exhibit some form of what we call life, one of the largest is the sequoia tree (p. 227)."
"'God has cared for these trees... saved them from drought, disease, avalanches and a thousand straining, leveling tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools' (John Muir, p. 230)."
"The park's tallest coast redwood--also believed to be the world's tallest tree--is the National Geographic tree, a 365.5-footer estimated at more than 600 years of age (p. 230)."
"Some visitors find the frequent rain and fog that nurture these forests a nuisance... During storms, the great trees may shed large lower branches... But most who wander even a short way into the park's ancient groves embrace a broader perspective, as they behold the primordial Earth, abiding in all its perfect chaos (p. 233)."
"'All ingenuity of nature seems to have been exerted to the fullest capacity to build a grand awe-inspiring temple, the likes of which the world has never seen before' (William Gladstone Steel about Crater Lake, p. 238)."
"Most have compared the North Cascades to the European Alps, and although Europe's famed mountains are not volcanic, there are striking similarities, including dramatically precipitous inclines and lushly flowered mountain meadows (p. 244)."
"It is possible to explore the forest by car and with no exertion whatever. The dizzying switchbacks of the two-lane 24-mile-long Mount Baker Scenic Byway from Glacier to Artist Point on Mount Baker reward motorists with eagle-eye vies of Mount Shuksan and the Nooksack Valley (p. 246)."
"In 1899, President William McKinley designated the mountain and the densely forested wilderness surrounding it, now an area of 235,625 acres, America's fifth national park (p. 248)."
"One of Mount Rainier's early advocates was the naturalist John Muir, the Sierra Club co-founder who once noted the contrast between mankind's desire 'to establish a narrow line between ourselves and the feathery zeros we dare call angels' and the contrary human tendency to erect 'a partition barrier of infinite width to show the rest of creation its proper place' (p. 249)."
"'If that not be the home where dwell the Gods,' wrote an 18th-century British naval captain of the peak he named Mount Olympus, 'it is beautiful enough to be' (p. 252)."
"Abundant precipitation--hundreds of inches of rain and snow per year--and rich soil have produced some of the largest evergreens yet found in this temperate rain forest (p. 253)."
"There are no uncharted regions remaining in the Olympics; the topographic maps hikers use to find their way to primitive wilderness camps depict a 600-mile-long trail system that covers the park like a net (p. 254)."
"The rugged, 47-mile-long West Coast Trail, connecting Banfield and Port Renfrew, offers come of Canada's most photogenic coastal and rain forest scenery (p. 257)."
"Access by visitors is possible only by helicopter or floatplane. In 1978, UNESCO designated [Nahanni National Park Reserve] its first World Heritage site, proclaiming its principal waterway, the Nahanni, 'one of the most spectacular wild rivers in North America.' The river, named after the Naha--'People of the West,' is an ancient one, believed to predate most of the mountains it cuts through (p. 258)."
"To roam on one's own requires considerable experience--there are no lodges, facilities, or telephones inside the reserve--and even seasoned canoeists, kayakers, and hikers may find it more practical to join an outfitter's guided tour (p. 258)."
"One of the park's most impressive natural features is Virginia Falls, a thundering 410-foot-high wall of water... cascading around a central rock spire (p. 258)."
"The size of Connecticut, Glacier Bay is North America's largest water-area park. It is a wilderness of extreme contrasts, including lofty peaks, ponderous tidewater glaciers, bogs, and alpine tundra, fjords, beaches recessed in sheltered coves, freshwater lakes, and dense coastal rain forests (p. 260)."
"A glacier's journey can be a long one. Fairweather Glacier begins on the slopes of 15,320-foot Mount Fairweather. Others--remnants of the little ice age that began about 4,000 years ago, such as those at John Hopkins Inlet--descend steeply over short distances, dropping from mountains that rise to 6,520 feet from sea level in as few as four miles (p. 260)."
"Three times larger than any other national forest in the United States, southeastern Alaska's Tongass is the ultimate example of a northern-latitude rain forest (p. 262)."
"The burgeoning popularity of sea kayaking and canoeing in the Pacific Northwest is due in large part to the Inside Passage's enticing usually placid labyrinth of waterways (p. 262)."
"Within the cluster of the Alexander Archipelago is Prince of Wales, the third largest island in the United States (p. 263)."
"The edge's of America's largest national park [Wrangell-St. Elias]... is an easy day's drive from Anchorage (p. 264)."
"Denali encompasses a complete subarctic ecosystem (p. 272)."
"The people's resourceful stewardship of refuge land demonstrates that it is possible for humans to live in balance with even the most delicate of natural environments (p. 279)."
December 17, 2015
A great reference with, as one would expect from NatGeo, a lot of beautiful photos. It divides the U.S. and some adjacent areas of Canada into regions, organized within regions by national parks, forests, seashores, preserves, monuments, and wildlife refuges.
I'll be taking this book along on future trips to any of these places; along with the photos, it covers the climates and histories of the places described and the habitats and migration patterns of the wildlife that live there or pass through.
A handsome, oversized book with great quality and production values.
I'll be taking this book along on future trips to any of these places; along with the photos, it covers the climates and histories of the places described and the habitats and migration patterns of the wildlife that live there or pass through.
A handsome, oversized book with great quality and production values.
April 3, 2023
I was hoping for an actual atlas of America - you know, one that would delve into the geology and geography of the whole continent. This is just a rudimentary overview of some National Parks. Misleading.
May 17, 2020
A stunning volume that gives a good try at trying to do the impossible to represent that natural wonder of North America. Definitely put some places on the map for me.
November 26, 2012
Stunning pictures, lackluster interpretation. But I would look at those pictures over, and over, and over.
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February 28, 2008940.5(917.5)
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