Spring might have started just a month ago, but we’re already dreaming of summer hikes and endless views like this one from Highline Trail at Glacier National Park. If this doesn’t inspire you to plan a trip to this Montana landmark, we don’t know what will. Photo by National Park Service.
Bathed in starlight from the Milky Way, the unique rock formations of Badlands National Park in South Dakota glow in the darkness. The ancient landscape and fascinating fossil beds make this place seem timeless. This stunning photo was the winner in the night sky category of the Share the Experience photo contest, which gives amateur photographers the chance to showcase their skills by capturing the beauty of the nation’s public lands. Submit your pics and maybe next year, you’ll be a winner! Photo by Erik Fremstad (http://ift.tt/18oFfjl).
Happy Arbor Day! We’re celebrating with this pic of majestic trees offering a window to a gorgeous view of Yosemite Falls at Yosemite National Park in California. Cascading more than 2,400 feet above Yosemite Valley, it’s the tallest waterfall in North America. Photo courtesy of Tiffany Nguyen.
Here’s a spectacular sunrise over Reflection Canyon – a surreal landscape of the twisting and winding Colorado River through colorful sandstone cliffs. This amazing photo, captured by Yang Lu, is the grand prize winner of the Share the Experience photo contest, an honor that means his photo will appear on the 2017 America the Beautiful public lands pass.
For Yang, photography isn’t just about recreation, it’s also to inspire people to explore these special areas. Yang took this photo during a two-day backpacking trip to Reflection Canyon, which is located in a remote area at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Utah. “We did not see anybody for two days. There is no trail; we depended on my research,” Yang says of the experience. Yang visited during the winter when the temperature and water levels were low – thanks to meticulous planning, Yang’s efforts paid off. The curves and those formations – I have never seen anywhere.”
Photo by Yang Lu (http://ift.tt/18oFfjl).
Add a river adventure to your bucketlist! The Beaver Creek Wild and Scenic River has its headwaters in the White Mountains, approximately 50 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska. The river flows west past the jagged limestone ridges of the White Mountains before flowing to the north and east, where it enters the Yukon Flats and joins the Yukon River.
The river’s clear water, modest Class I rapids, and unparalleled scenery make for a relaxing trip. Floating Beaver Creek can take from seven days to three weeks to complete, For shorter trips, arrangements can be made with an air taxi for a gravel bar pick-up near Victoria Creek. Others continue for several more weeks onto the Yukon River and take out at the bridge on the Dalton Highway. This 360-mile trip has been called the longest road-to-road float in North America.
Photos by Bob Wick, BLM
If you want to be the first person to see the sunrise in the continental U.S., you’ll need to take an early hike up Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. As the sun peeks above the horizon and lights the Maine coastline, you’ll be treated to this gorgeous scene. Consider it a daily dose of nature’s love. Photo by National Park Service.
The colorful landscape at Vermillion Cliffs National Monument in Arizona looks like an imaginary creation from a Dr. Suess book. In real life, the brilliant red, orange and white bands of Lollipop Rock – the iconic geologic formation of the White Pocket area – display enticing curves stretching to cloudless skies. White Pocket is a great area to check out as an alternative to The Wave. Photo courtesy of Scotty Perkins.
When sunrises are this beautiful, it’s easy to get up early. Photo of Yosemite National Park in California courtesy of Tiffany Nguyen.
Photographer Jeff Berkes planned this shot a year in advance. Taken on September 27, 2015, it shows Old Faithful geyser at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming glowing in the orange light of a lunar eclipse. At 8:13 pm, the moon entered maximum eclipse and at 8:15 pm, the famous geyser erupted. As Jeff said, “The stars literally aligned this night for me.” This amazing 10 second single exposure courtesy of Jeff Berkes.
Earth Day 2016: Celebrating America’s Newest Conservation System!
On Earth Day 2014, the Bureau of Land Management introduced three vintage-style posters depicting some of the spectacular landscapes of our National Conservation Lands. Two years and a beautiful collection of posters later, the BLM is proud to share the next four poster locations in this ongoing series:
Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in Nevada;
Bruneau Wild and Scenic River in Idaho;
Steese National Conservation Area in Alaska; and
Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area in Oregon.
The BLM’s National Conservation Lands – also called the National Landscape Conservation System – conserves, protects, and restores nationally-significant landscapes and places that have outstanding cultural, ecological, and scientific values for the benefit of current and future generations. These lands include over 875 areas (more than 30 million acres) of national monuments, national conservation areas, wilderness areas, and other federally-designated special places.
See all vintage posters in the series to date with beautiful photos of the areas on the My Public Lands Flickr site: http://bit.ly/1zMc1cN.
A limited number of vintage posters are available at BLM state offices in both postcard and poster formats. Requests for paper posters can also be sent to gfuhs@blm.gov. Please include the word POSTER in the subject line and provide your name, mailing address, and the number and type of poster. Requests are limited to five posters per recipient.
Sig Nordal 