Campground View II: Badlands National Park, September 2003 We arrived late in the afternoon at Badlands National Park. After setting up our campsite I spent some time photographing the landscape from near our campsite. The main feature of Badlands National Park, known as “The Wall”, is a series of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles, and spires which bisects the park. The prairie to the north is also higher in elevation than that which lies to the south and east.
Inside Fort Clinch: Fort Clinch State Park, April 2008
No. 35: Fort Clinch State Park, April 2008 Fort Clinch State Park occupies the northern end of Amelia Island, and the fort, which lies at the entrance to the St. Marys River and the Cumberland Sound, has been occupied by various military troops since 1736. Construction of a fort, later named Fort Clinch for General Duncan Lamont Clinch, an important figure in Florida’s Seminole War, was begun in 1847. A pentagonal brick fort with both inner and outer walls, Fort Clinch was a safe haven for blockade runners during the Civil War. Briefly occupied by Confederate forces, its recapture by Federal troops in early 1862 gave the Union control of the adjacent Georgia and Florida coasts. The fort was used in 1898 during the Spanish-American War. In 1935, the state of Florida purchased 256 acres which included the abandoned fort. It was the beginning of a program to acquire adjacent lands and begin development of one of the first state parks in Florida. The civilian Conservation Corps was responsible for the initial building and development of the park. It was formally opened to the public in 1938.
Future Hall of Famer: Central Florida, April 2008
Heads of Bison: Grand Teton National Park, September 2003
Snake River Late in the Afternoon: Grand Teton National Park, September 2003
Lone Elk: Yellowstone National Park, September 2003 We spotted this elk on our drive to the Upper Geyser Basin.
Mud Volcano: Yellowstone National Park, September 2003 Mud Volcano was our first stop in Yellowstone as we were headed to our campsite.
Kayaks: Amelia Island, April 2008 Rachelle and I went kayaking during our vacation. It was a first for both of us.
Fort at the Edge of the World: Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, April 2008 Today was the last day for our little excursion. We decided to stop in St. Augustine for a bit on our way down the coast. St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city, and the oldest port in the continental United States. When construction began on the Castillo de San Marcos in 1672, this masonry fort was literally on the edge of the known world to the Europeans who settled here.