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"Been There" Virtual Travel Quiz? Round #89

AlanS

See Round #20 for info about and rules for the contest.

Round #86 won by Portolan
Submitted by AlanS. Peruvian Paso horses during a performance at Hacienda Mamacona in Lurin, Peru. Known for their extremely smooth ride which is a result of a unique four step gait. They inherited this gait from European predecessors, strict breeding and training, though some claim it resulted from walking on the hot sands of coastal Peru. During the performance the horses wore ribbons to signify their prior show successes.

Round #87 won by BobHamburger with assist from TravelGuy.
Submitted by Sandman. A ski jumper airborne over the Bergisel with the town of Innsbruck, Austria, site of the ’64 and ’76 Olympics, in the background. Photo taken on Alpine Adventure, a Tauck Bridges Tour.

Round #88 won by AlanS with assist from Portolan
Submitted by connorlaker. Photo of Connor, his bride, and Mount Kilimanjaro, taken from Observation Hill in Amboseli National Park, Kenya on Kenya & Tanzania: A Classic Safari.

Round #89 is officially open. Submit your photo in a reply [Leave a Comment] to this announcement.

Comments

Kathy M

Where is this and what is the formation called?

AlanS

The Rainbow Bridge National Monument in southern Utah, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Rainbow Bridge is only accessible by boat on Lake Powell or by land over a 14+ mile trail from the Navajo Nation.

Rainbow Bridge is but one of the endlessly fascinating landforms found on the Colorado Plateau and the story of its formation is an intriguing one. Natural bridges are rare, and differ from arches in that they form when a watercourse breaks through rock. Arches are far more common across the Colorado Plateau, although both are SHAPED by the same erosional processes.

The bridge itself is composed of Navajo Sandstone. This slightly younger formation (about 200 million years old) was created as wave after wave of sand dunes were deposited over an extremely dry period which lasted millions of years. These dunes were deposited to depths of up to 1000 feet (305 meters). Over the next 100 million years, both of these formations were buried by an additional 5000 feet (1,524 meters) of other strata. The pressures exerted by the weight of all these materials consolidated and hardened the rock of these and other formations.

Initially, water flowing off nearby Navajo Mountain meandered across the sandstone, following a path of least resistance. A drainage known today as Bridge Canyon was carved deep into the rock. At the site of Rainbow Bridge, the Bridge Canyon stream flowed in a tight curve around a thin fin of soft sandstone that jutted into the canyon.

This process continues to this day, imperceptibly altering the shape of the Bridge. The same erosional forces which created the bridge will, eventually, cause its demise.

Kathy M

This picture was taken on the plan ride from the Lake Powell area during the Canyonlands trip. For those looking for a trip closer to home, this one was wonderful. It stayed in all the major national parks in the area (Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion and Glen Canyon). You were able to be there for sunrise and sunset at each of the parks. The plane ride over Lake Powell was wonderful. We chose the Monument Valley option which showed us much of the landscape from old John Ford and John Wayne movies. The Lake Powell section ended with a raft trip down the Colorado from below the Glen canyon dam. We say birds, petroglyphs and even fly fishermen.

Here are some pictures:

Sunset from a dinner cruise on Lake Powell
Monument Valley - familiar from the movies
The Colorado River above Lake Powell from the air
Float trip on the Colorado below the dam

British

Yea, we took their tour it’s wonderful. Been to some of the places before but it’s always better quality with Tauck.l

AlanS

Great shots! I would say the flight was perfectly routed and you were lucky to be seated on the best side of the plane!!!

We similarly lucked out on our flight from Johannesburg to Livingstone at the start of the Botswana trip. We were at a much higher altitude but I was able to get photos of the Magadikgadi Pan salt flats and Victoria Falls:

Smiling Sam

Kathy M - what was the length of the raft trip on the Colorado? Forty years ago I rafted the entire length from Glen Canyon dam to Lake Mead. It was a fabulous trip, with some amazing rapids, mostly on the second half (once you’re past where the Bright Angel trail comes from the South Rim to the river.

I can’t find any of the 2020 itineraries that include a raft trip below Glen Canyon dam ( which is part of the Grand Canyon, unless you exited the river before getting to the park )? Has the itinerary been changed from when you did it?

Kathy M

It's America's Canyonlands. Day five includes a half day river float trip. It goes from the base of the dam to the place where the rapids begin. It's very calm and includes a stop where you can walk in and see some petroglyphs. You can see from the fishing picture just how calm the river is at this point.

We learned that the Planet fo the Apes movies were filmed in the area and the place where the apes were not permitted to go was filmed at the top of the cliffs above the river.

Smiling Sam

Here's a couple of pictures from farther down the river into the Grand Canyon from my 1979 raft trip.