Read All About It: Visit a National Park

Traveling overseas is a bit difficult today, so why not make that road trip in the Untied States. Read about 3 famous National Parks that you can visit this summer.

Bryce Canyon National Park

The text is from “America’s Story from America’s Library” by the Library of Congress. The image is from the public domain.

What’s a hoodoo? Would you ever guess it has something to do with rocks?

Utah’s Bryce Canyon National Park owes much of its beauty and character to the process of erosion — the wearing away of a surface by forces like water or wind. Hoodoos are strangely shaped pillars that often resemble goblins or other supernatural characters. In fact, the Paiute Indians, who lived in this region, called them “Legend People.”

Although they may resemble people, these rocks were formed by nature. Water has physically and chemically broken down the ancient rock of the Paunsaugunt Plateau by dragging bits of gravel and debris across its surfaces and by entering small holes in the rock and dissolving it. Various layers of rock differ in strength, so erosion does not wear away at them all at the same rate. Therefore, odd and irregular shapes have been formed. In addition to hoodoos, other shapes include fins, spires, and pinnacles.

The text is from the “America’s Story from America’s Library” by the Library of Congress.

This article from the Library of Congress has no known copyright restrictions.

Crater Lake

Miller, C. R., copyright claimant. Crater Lake, Ore. Copyright 1909. Taking the Long View: Panoramic Photographs, 1851-1991, Library of Congress.

Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States.

Did you know there was a volcano in Oregon? And that when it erupted and collapsed it created a lake?

Around 7,000 years ago, the volcano Mount Mazama erupted and collapsed and, as a result, formed Crater Lake. Molten lava cooled and sealed up the bottom, forming a huge bowl-shaped crater. Over the years, rainfall and melting snow have filled it with over four trillion gallons of water, making it the deepest lake in the United States. The lake is also known for its deep blue color.

Accounts of the eruption of Mount Mazama are found in stories handed down by the Klamath Indians, who are descendants of the ancient Makalak people. According to Makalak legend, there was a battle between Skell, the spirit of the sky, and Llao, the spirit of the mountain. When Skell defeated Llao, the spirit of the mountain’s home, Mount Mazama, erupted and collapsed.

Crater Lake is now a national park and draws approximately 500,000 visitors a year.

The text is from the “America’s Story from America’s Library” by the Library of Congress.

This article from the Library of Congress has no known copyright restrictions.

Glacier National Park, Montana

Credit: Public Domain

Glacier Lake McDonald

In 1910, Congress established Glacier National Park in Montana. Conservationist George Bird Grinnell played a key role in the creation of this park in order to preserve the land’s natural beauty. Native Americans have always revered this region. The Blackfeet, Salish, and Kootenai tribes, who have lived in the area for hundreds of years, consider it a sacred place.

Glacier National Park is named for the glaciers that produced its landscape. A glacier is a moving mass of snow and ice. It forms when more snow falls each winter than melts in the summer. The snow accumulates and presses the layers below it into ice. The bottom layer of ice becomes flexible and therefore allows the glacier to move. As it moves, a glacier picks up rock and gravel. With this mixture of debris, it scours and sculptures the land it moves across. This is how, over thousands of years, Glacier National Park got all its valleys, sharp mountain peaks, and lakes. There are more than 50 glaciers in the park today, though they are smaller than the huge ones that existed 20,000 years ago.

In addition to its glaciers, mountains, and valleys, Glacier National Park covers approximately 1.4 million acres and includes 200 lakes and streams. The park is also home to many different types of wildlife, including black and grizzly bear, moose, golden and bald eagle, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, and whitetail and mule deer.

The text is from the “America’s Story from America’s Library” by the Library of Congress.

This article from the Library of Congress has no known copyright restrictions.