Category: Elevation
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Highest and Lowest, Oh So Close
California contains both the highest and lowest elevations of the continental United States. Well, the “Lower 48” more precisely. Astoundingly, they are less than 88 miles (142 kilometers) apart with an elevation change approaching 15,000 feet. Mount Whitney is the California Highpoint at 14,494 feet (4,418 meters) above sea level. It crowns the mighty Sierra…
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The Grassy Knoll
This small hillside marks perhaps the most controversial landscaping feature in modern United States history. It has been linked inextricably with shadowy figures and sinister secrets. It is the infamous Grassy Knoll. President John F. Kennedy rode directly past this spot when gunfire ended his life on November 23, 1963. Depending on the evidence one…
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Antietam Topography
I crossed the Potomac River on my way back from Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and drove into Sharpsburg, Maryland a few miles later, the site of the Battle of Antietam. I didn’t have a great deal of time for my visit but I was still able to stop at a few favorite spots within this well-known…
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Lazy Blue Ridge Afternoon
Over the weekend we traveled down the eastern side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It forms part of an ancient backbone, the Appalachian chain abutting central Virginia. As the crow flies, it wasn’t too far from Shenandoah National Park’s Swift Run Gap and Skyline Drive. We were guest on private land so I won’t give…
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GPS and Genealogy – Arlington National Cemetery
People’s willingness to share is one of the wonderful aspects of genealogy. A reader contacted me recently to provide further information about a common tangential ancestor — one not directly related to either of us but who had married into the larger family of Howder descendants — and for whom I’d had only the sketchiest…
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Wisconsin Wrap-Up
I’ve returned from my trip to Wisconsin with tons of new material for the website. I already provided a preview of some of these on the Twelve Mile Circle (this blog). In addition, you can expect more detailed write-ups to start appearing on the permanent site over the next few days and weeks. Oddities that…
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7 Uninhabited Islands
I get emails from time-to-time. Some ask me to check out a blog and provide a link if I find the content interesting. That’s the case today, and the subject is 7 Beautiful But Completely Uninhabited Islands And Archipelagos. It comes from a commercial website for a travel company called ProTraveller. I don’t know anything…
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Lowest Road in Canada
Recently I focused on the highest contiguous highway in the United States. Today I’d like to focus on the opposite situation in another place in North America. What is the lowest road in Canada? I love a good trick question. Canada’s lowest elevation is sea level, so the obvious answer would be any road that…
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Trail Ridge Road
As covered in the prior post, Trail Ridge Road reaches stratospheric elevations. It climbs to become the highest continuous highway in the United States. There it cuts straight through the splendor of Rocky Mountain National Park. Visitors scaling the summit from Estes Park, Colorado encounter another noteworthy feature along this remarkable road. This happens after…
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Highest Contiguous Road in USA
Mountainous roads climb to great heights in the western United States. But which one climbs the highest? As with many topics on Twelve Mile Circle, the answer depends. Does the road have to cross a mountain on the way between two points or can it stop at a dead end at the top? Does the…