Category: Terrain
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Hawaii, Part 11 (Oahu: Perimeter)
Our time in Hawaii drew short. It was a wonderful two week with visits to Maui, the Big Island, and Oahu, and now only a couple of days remained. So we focused a little further-flung from Honolulu, around the outer edges of Oahu. I hadn’t spent much time out there on my previous trips and…
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Hawaii, Part 8 (Big Island: South Point)
We had one more corner of the “Big Island” of Hawaii left to explore before moving on to Oahu. It was a late addition to the schedule. The younger kid who is pursuing an undergraduate degree in geology wanted to see an unusual formation. However, this request didn’t materialize until we were actually in Hawaii.…
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Hawaii, Part 7 (Big Island: Windward)
I’ve mentioned previously the difference between windward and leeward, and how it’s particularly pronounced on the “Big Island” of Hawaii. We used the windward side as our home base so we had our share of tropical moisture and verdant vegetation. It rained every day where we stayed south of Hilo. However, we never had what…
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Hawaii, Part 6 (Big Island: Mauna Kea)
Mauna Kea on Hawaii’s Big Island is a massive shield volcano that rises majestically 13,803 feet (4,200 metres) above sea level. By some calculations it’s also the tallest mountain in the world if measured from its base deep below the ocean. Mauna Kea formed over the Hawaiian Hotspot over the last million years, still an…
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Hawaii, Part 5 (Big Island: Lava)
The “Big Island” remains the most volcanically active of the chain, perched directly above the Hawaiian hotspot. Magma continues to bulge from the depths of the earth, ever increasing the size of this young island. Unfortunately we didn’t observe a lava flow in person because the volcanoes took a little break during our visit. However,…
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Hawaii, Part 1 (No Cigar)
This was supposed to be the year I finally finished Hawaii, with my fourth trip to the islands. There are only five counties in the state and I needed three more: Maui County, Hawaii County, and Kalawao County. I should be able to capture that small remaining set for my County Counting list. This should…
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Skyline Drive – North District
Skyline Drive hugs the crest of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains for 105 miles (169 kilometres), down the length of Shenandoah National Park. I’ve traveled every section of it, in whole or in part several times, as recently as 2022. So it felt like I rejoined an old friend as we undertook a day-trip from our…
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Interior Alaska, Part 7 (Richardson Highway & More)
Next we explored the one remaining direction outward from Fairbanks that we hadn’t seen before, heading towards the southeast on the Richardson Highway. This day-trip took us about a hundred miles down to Delta Junction, where we turned around and came back. I’ll describe points of interest along the route sequentially starting from Fairbanks. In…
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Interior Alaska, Part 6 (Dalton Highway)
We made it to Coldfoot by airplane and now we started the long drive back to Fairbanks. It seemed daunting. Most of it would follow the Dalton Highway starting at Mile 175 (route), with the remainder on the Elliott Highway. The James W. Dalton Highway is a rugged working road, built in 1974 specifically to…
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Interior Alaska, Part 5 (Coldfoot)
I’ve always wanted to travel north of the Arctic Circle. I came pretty close to it in Iceland but even there I fell a few degrees short. So this was a major objective of the latest journey. My wife got her half-marathon in Fairbanks, I got my arctic visit, and we both shared our bucket…