The Light in Sight...

Nearing the end of my last Fall semester at Whittier, counting the days until the best holiday gift of all: a road trip with mom from Northern California to Flagstaff.

Narrowing down ideas for pit stops... I think we're either going to check out the lava beds, joshua trees, and petroglyphs at Mojave National Preserve if Yosemite is too chilly/snowy/closed. (Mitchell Caverns below)VallesCaldera.com has a great collection of must-see parks, and their Mojave photo (below) has me sold on the idea of trekking down some lava tubes, checking out some cheesy tefoni, and walking amongst the hoodoos.

They say:

"Singing sand dunes, volcanic cinder cones, Joshua Tree forests, and carpets of wildflowers are all found at this 1,534,819-acre preserve that protects a massive swath of the Mojave Desert of Southern California. A visit to its canyons, mountains and mesas will reveal long-abandoned mines, homesteads, rock-walled military outposts, and a historic railroad depot.

The preserve was created by an act of Congress — the California Desert Protection Act of 1994 — which also elevated Southern California’s Joshua Tree and Death Valley National Monuments to national park status. Prior to this act, the area was administered as the East Mojave National Scenic Area, under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management.

537,250 people visited the Preserve in 2006."

<-- Petroglyph Point by ex-magician on flickr

Meanwhile, I'm constructing my list of future visits since my finals are winding down and my senior project seems close to possible to complete by April...

Tyler's National Park/Geological Sites Bucket List (in no particular order)

• Grand Tetons & Yellowstone, WY
• Canyon de Chelley, AZ
• Shiprock, NM
• Carlsbad Caverns, NM
• Hopi Buttes, AZ
• Chaco Culture National Historic Park, NM
  
• Valles Caldera, NM
• Bryce Canyon, UT
  
• Priest Lake, ID
  
• Yosemite, CA
  
• Desert Valley, CA
• Channel Islands, CA
  
• Monument Valley, AZ
• Muir Woods, CA
• Redwood National/State Parks, CA
• Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail, CA
• Volcanoes National Park, HI
• Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, AK
• Craters of the Moon National Landmark & Preserve, ID
• Glacier Bay National Park, AK
• Jean Lafitte Historical Park & Preserve, LA
• Grand Canyon North Rim & Vulcan's Throne, AZ
  
• Point Reyes National Seashore, CA
• Sequoia & Kings Canyon, CA
• Joshua Tree, CA
• Lassen Vocanic National Park, CA
• Devils Postpile, CA
• Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, AK
• Cathedral Valley, UT
• Zion National Park, UT
  
• Devil's Playground, UT
• Fremont Indian State Park/Castle Rock, UT
• Kaniakapupu, HI
• Badlands National Park, SD
• Fort Rock, OR
• Mt. Vesuvius National Park, Italy
  

Already Visited

• Sunset National Crater, AZ
• Petrified National Forest, AZ
• Grand Canyon (South Rim), AZ
• Cabrillo National Monument, CA
• Big Rock Candy Mountain, UT
• Red Rock Canyon, NV
• Tonto Natural Bridge, AZ
• Wutpatki, AZ
• Painted Desert, AZ
• Carson National Park, NM (the search for epic fairy crosses)
• White River National Forest, CO
• Petroglyph National Monument, CA
• Pu'u o Mahuka Heiau State Historic & Religious Site, HI
• James Campell National Wildlife Refuge, Haleiwa, HI

To be continued...