Great Spectacles: Sites of splendour, her majesty Nature
As far as definitions go, they are impeccable. In this magnificently readable assembly of facts, you will find new adventures, new destinations, new goosebumps. Outside of the cities, in entirely natural environments we continue to find varied splendour that reminds us that we, the modern, educated, sophisticated humans, are also products of nature and seeds of splendour.
The first stop is the Devil’s Tower National Monument, that erupts like a monstrous tree stump above the Belle Fourche River in the plain’s country northwest of Sundance, Wyoming, USA.
This flat-topped freak mountain is 265m (869f) high, and its summit is 85m (279f) across. Geologists estimate that its history began about 50 million years ago when a mass of molten rock thrust up through sedimentary rocks laid down on the bed of ancient inland sea millions of years ago.
The molten rock cracked as it cooled, forming a mass of innumerable columns. Over succeeding millennia, the softer sedimentary rocks were eroded away by the weather and the Belle Fourche River, forming today’s spectacular mountain.
Site of natural splendour: Devil’s Tower National Monument in Wyoming
by Wanderlust Magazine
Lake Titicaca on the Peru/Bolivia border is not only a great natural site of splendour but also a place of a remarkable story. The first steamship to cross Lake Titicaca – the highest navigable lake in the world, 3810m (12,500ft) up in the Andes – was carried up to the lake in pieces. She was the Yavari, 165 tons, built in Scotland in 1862 and transported in pieces around Cape Horn to Chile.
After being transported by rail into Peru, the parts were loaded onto mules for the arduous climb to Puno, by the lakeside. Titicaca is also the largest lake in South America, 190 km (118 miles) long, covering an area of 9065 sq.km (3500 sq.miles) and with a maximum depth of 275m (903ft). Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo is larger than Titicaca, but it is not strictly a lake, just an almost land-locked bay of the Caribbean Sea.
When it passes towards the east, the sun begins to have less effect upon it, and a thin line on the edge of its bright side emits its splendour towards the earth.
“Prohodna” Cave, popular as the “Eyes of God” Karlukovo, Bulgaria. ” Eyes of God” cave is 262 meters (860 ft) long, which makes it the longest cave passage in Bulgaria. Formed during the Quaternary, the cave has two entrances which lie opposite one another, known respectively as the Small Entrance and the Big Entrance. The former is 35 meters (115 ft) high and the latter reaches 42.5 or 45 meters (139 or 148 ft) in height. The formation is popularly known as the Eyes of God, the two equal-sized holes in the ceiling of its middle chamber. The holes, formed through erosion, let in light into the cave. Eyes of God karst cave is the best-known attraction in the Karlukovo Gorge (part of the Geological Park Iskar-Panega), located in the Iskar river. “Where the river and the sky are merging there, the Lord watches”, is the legend.
Phenomenal spectacle and wanderlust site to visit and explore.
by Wanderlust Magazine
The Ice Cave. We came across this site while browsing on social media. We are stunned by the pure marvellous power of Nature sealed on the image. This digital print is from Chugach National Forest, Seward, United States, and we believe was taken by Paxson Woelber, since we found the image under his account on Unsplash. Bellow the image was the following text by Mr Woelber:
“Skating in a small ice cave below Byron Glacier, in the Chugach National Forest of Alaska. Cale Green and I filmed a segment of our backcountry skating film “Wild Ice” here in the winter of 2017. Not long after we left, more snow fell in the adjacent mountains and avalanches buried these caves deep under the snow.”
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