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The American West
For several hundred million years the area we call the American West was either underwater, as the western continental shelf of the supercontinent Pangea, or populated by dinosaurs. Lucky for us (sorry dinosaurs!) geologic processes have elevated and molded this area of continental crust into a wonderland of mesas, canyons, deserts and stark volcanic landscapes--spectacular subjects for a landscape photographer. I came to know the magnificence of the American west when I spent two summers as a whitewater guide on the Colorado River. Each trip took 14 days to navigate 280 miles of river--fourteen days of splendid isolation! At river level, in the middle of the Grand Canyon, you are completely cut off from the rest of the world as you float through geologic time--each layer of rock representing millions of years of earth's history.
In this gallery I have included photographs that represent the area west of the Rocky Mountains and east of California. This is the geographic area centered on the so-called "Four Corners"--junction of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona--also known as the Colorado Plateau. Utah has arguably the greatest number of natural wonders on the plateau with 8 National Parks and 18 National Monuments. New Mexico offers stark desert landscapes (White Sands National Park) and wildlife oases (Bosque de Apache National Wildlife Refuge); and, of course, Arizona plays host to the incomparable Grand Canyon. Not to be outdone, to the north, Wyoming presents the grandeur of Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons National Parks.
An interesting note about Yellowstone: Yellowstone National Park encompasses the largest active volcano on earth. When you stand at Old Faithful Geyser you are in the middle of a volcanic caldera measuring 43 miles by 28 miles in area. The Yellowstone "super volcano" has erupted 3 times in the last 2.1 million years. The last eruption was 640,000 years ago, which makes it overdue for its next explosive act. When Yellowstone does erupt it will have planet-wide consequences, perhaps plunging the earth into a years-long "nuclear winter". Who says geology is boring?! Get your photos now while the get'n is good.
