I love the southwest United States. Images created in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Utah desert environments capture my attention. So this week, I decided to highlight images created on the Colorado Plateau. Roughly, the Colorado Plateau is region centered on the 4 corners region of the U.S. and encompasses approximately 130,000 square miles. Wikipedia has a great overview of the Colorado Plateau including pointers to more information.
I have spent time exploring the Colorado Plateau by car (staying in motels) and on foot (sleeping under the stars). I have day hiked on the Colorado Plateau and I have backpacked on the Colorado Plateau. The backpacking trips include the Grand Canyon, Paria Canyon-Vermillion Cliffs wilderness and areas north of Lake Powell on both Sierra Club and private trips. Through these adventures I became acquainted with some of the organizations (like the National Resources Defense Council, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and Great Old Broads for Wilderness) who are trying to protect these areas for future generations. The Colorado Plateau is really unique and worthy of protection.
The Colorado Plateau includes heavily visited places like Zion and Grand Canyon National Parks and less visited places like Coyote Gulch in the Glen Canyon Recreation Area. The heavily visited locations are usually easy to reach while the less visited are not. Some places are less visited because of the difficulty getting there (2 days by foot) and others simply because of they are so far off the main highways (60 miles each way on washer board dirt). Somehow the reward of getting there adds to the beauty. My list of places to visit on the Colorado Plateau is long. It is so long that I decided to expand the number of highlighted images from the usual five. I hope that these images inspire you to visit the Colorado Plateau and to think about the issues threatening the future of this area.
Here are this weeks 10 favorite images found on FlickR:
"Sedona river view" by G. Russel Childress
"The Watchman from the River" by Shineylewis
"Capitol Reef: The Coolest National Park You've Never Heard Of" by Joshua Cripps
"Sandstone Window, Peek-A-Boo Gulch, Utah" by LivingWilderness.com
"Coyote Creek" by ZacharyG
"Finalist!!! One More Before I Go" by 2boys2day
"The Watchman from the River" by Shineylewis
"Capitol Reef: The Coolest National Park You've Never Heard Of" by Joshua Cripps
"Sandstone Window, Peek-A-Boo Gulch, Utah" by LivingWilderness.com
"Coyote Creek" by ZacharyG
"Finalist!!! One More Before I Go" by 2boys2day
I hope you enjoy this weeks selection from FlickR. Feel free to visit my website, like my Facebook fan page, follow me on Twitter or add me to a circle on Google+.
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