On the southern edge of Arizona, nestled among the steep hills, lies a town that is often misunderstood. It is Nogales, population about 22,000. Most people have the perception that Nogales is a violent town, a dangerous place to visit, but that is not true. The town gets a bad rap because it is on the border with Mexico, and for this reason people also believe that cities such as El Paso and Laredo, Texas are dangerous as well, but they are not. Nogales, along with other towns on the Mexican border, does have some unique issues due to the thriving drug trade, but it is by no means a dangerous place. The Mexican border has always been a dangerous place even before the days of the drug cartels because Mexico has always been a volatile land. Most American border towns have buildings near the border with bullet holes in them, due to bullets flying across the border at various times in the past, particularly the Mexican Revolution a century ago.
Nogales does have drug smuggling tunnels that have been found underneath the border fence, but I have been to Nogales many times and have spent the night there several times and have never had any problems. No one has ever harassed me or threatened me. In fact, I have met alot of friendly people in Nogales.
Nogales is not a desert town, though it is near the desert. It is about 1,500 feet higher than Tucson, an hour to the north. There are no saguaro cactuses growing in the Nogales area, just a few prickly pear and the occasional cholla. Nogales is located in a deciduous forest with several different types of trees, including the walnut tree, for which the town is named. The Nogales area is still an arid climate, but is is wetter and cooler than the nearby Sonoran Desert. The average low temperature in Nogales in the winter months is slightly below freezing, about 30 degrees, but temperatures have been known to drop into the teens and low twenties. On two occasions, I have spent the night in Nogales in January and, on both occasions, I had to scrape ice off of my windshield. Summers are hot, but not like the nearby desert that routinely sees temperatures surpass 110 degrees. Nogales is usually in the mid to upper 90s. The average yearly rainfall is 18 inches, which is still dry, but not as dry as a desert.
Nogales is a very hilly town as well, with some very steep streets, but, as hilly as Nogales is, its counterpart across the border, Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, is even hillier. The border fence in this area is very undulating because it goes up one slope and down another, crossing canyons and ravines. In most places, a person can look up to to see residential areas, businesses and shantytowns in Nogales, Mexico because the hills are higher and steeper south of the border.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Thursday, August 15, 2013
A Backwards Lake
In the southern part of Yellowstone National Park, adjacent to the southwest part of the "Figure Eight" road in the park, sits a tiny little lake called Isa Lake. It is really more of a pond than a lake. The water surface fluctuates very little and is usually covered with yellow pond lilies. Isa Lake sits directly on top of the Continental Divide at the summit of Craig Pass, which is 8,262 feet above sea level. What makes this otherwise insignificant little pond famous is this: Since it sits directly on top of the Continental Divide, the waters of the lake drain to both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This is not the only body of water that does this, but it is the only body of water, in the world, that drains to two different oceans backwards. You see, the small stream that flows west out of the lake winds up draining to the Atlantic Ocean, to the east, while the stream that flows out the east side of the lake drains west to the Pacific Ocean. That small stream that flows west out of Isa Lake connects to the Firehole River, which flows into the Madison River, which flows into the Missouri River, which flows into the Mississippi River, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico, which is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean. The tiny stream that flows east out of Isa Lake connects to DeLacy Creek, which flows into Shoshone Lake, which drains into the Lewis River and the Lewis River then passes through Lewis Lake on its way to the Snake River. The Snake River flows into the Columbia River and the Columbia River flows directly into the Pacific Ocean between Oregon and Washington.
Isa Lake was discovered in 1891, nineteen years after Yellowstone National Park was created, by Henry Chittenden when he was surveying a route for a road to connect the Old Faithful Geyser to the West Thumb area and its accompanying geyser basin.
Isa Lake was discovered in 1891, nineteen years after Yellowstone National Park was created, by Henry Chittenden when he was surveying a route for a road to connect the Old Faithful Geyser to the West Thumb area and its accompanying geyser basin.
Sunday, July 21, 2013
A Wonderland of Waterfalls, Geysers and Hot Springs
As the above title suggests, Yellowstone National Park is a veritable wonderland, a truly unique landscape. Even back in the pioneer days, when there was no such thing as a national park, fur trappers, mountain men, miners and other people who were passing through this area saw its potential. They thought it should be preserved for future generations to enjoy.
Probably the most photographed places in Yellowstone are Old Faithful Geyser, the Upper and Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River, Grand Prismatic Spring and Morning Glory Pool.
Morning Glory Pool is stunning in the color variation, with water colors fading from clear to yellow to orange to green to light blue to royal blue to deep blue. It almost looks like something a child with a vivid imagination would draw in his or her coloring book. The majority of the attractions in the park are on the north and west sides, but that's not to say the rest of the park does not have things to see. I think my favorite spot is Dragon's Mouth Spring., a hot spring that emanates from an opening in the side of a small bluff. When the water comes out of the opening, it really does sound like a dragon exhaling!
The inner workings of the park's most famous feature, Old Faithful Geyser, were altered about a decade ago by an earthquake, so it no longer erupts every 56 minutes, now it is every 91 minutes. The entrance road to the Old Faithful area was rebuilt a few years ago and there is now an overpass, with exit and entrance ramps, where it meets the main "Figure 8" road of the park. I realize that this area is extremely congested, but an overpass looks completely out of place in a national park. Personally, I would rather see traffic lights there than an overpass. Traffic lights are not as intrusive to the landscape as an overpass with its accompanying ramps are and the current setup means that a bigger area had to be paved.
Just to the north of Old Faithful Geyser, there is a footbridge over the Firehole River and then the trail leads to Geyser Hill, which literally abounds with geysers! In the areas were geysers proliferate, there are boardwalks leading around the geysers, hot springs, fumaroles,
or boiling mudpots.
The Firehole River is aptly named. Since it flows through, and past, numerous geyser basins, full of geothermal activity, it contains very warm water. The water temperatures in the river have been measured as high as 86 degrees and this is in a land that mostly has coldwater streams. The Firehole River is 21 miles long. It joins the Gibbon River several miles north of Old Faithful. This confluence creates the Madison River. The Madison River, in turn, merges with the
Jefferson River near the town of Three Forks, Montana to create the Missouri River, at least in name. The Missouri Rivers actually begins in the Centennial Mountains, on the Montana/Idaho
border at Brower's Spring. It is initially known as Hellroaring Creek, then Red Rock River, then Beaverhead River, then Jefferson River, before taking the name "Missouri" at Three Forks.
Probably the most photographed places in Yellowstone are Old Faithful Geyser, the Upper and Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River, Grand Prismatic Spring and Morning Glory Pool.
Morning Glory Pool is stunning in the color variation, with water colors fading from clear to yellow to orange to green to light blue to royal blue to deep blue. It almost looks like something a child with a vivid imagination would draw in his or her coloring book. The majority of the attractions in the park are on the north and west sides, but that's not to say the rest of the park does not have things to see. I think my favorite spot is Dragon's Mouth Spring., a hot spring that emanates from an opening in the side of a small bluff. When the water comes out of the opening, it really does sound like a dragon exhaling!
The inner workings of the park's most famous feature, Old Faithful Geyser, were altered about a decade ago by an earthquake, so it no longer erupts every 56 minutes, now it is every 91 minutes. The entrance road to the Old Faithful area was rebuilt a few years ago and there is now an overpass, with exit and entrance ramps, where it meets the main "Figure 8" road of the park. I realize that this area is extremely congested, but an overpass looks completely out of place in a national park. Personally, I would rather see traffic lights there than an overpass. Traffic lights are not as intrusive to the landscape as an overpass with its accompanying ramps are and the current setup means that a bigger area had to be paved.
Just to the north of Old Faithful Geyser, there is a footbridge over the Firehole River and then the trail leads to Geyser Hill, which literally abounds with geysers! In the areas were geysers proliferate, there are boardwalks leading around the geysers, hot springs, fumaroles,
or boiling mudpots.
The Firehole River is aptly named. Since it flows through, and past, numerous geyser basins, full of geothermal activity, it contains very warm water. The water temperatures in the river have been measured as high as 86 degrees and this is in a land that mostly has coldwater streams. The Firehole River is 21 miles long. It joins the Gibbon River several miles north of Old Faithful. This confluence creates the Madison River. The Madison River, in turn, merges with the
Jefferson River near the town of Three Forks, Montana to create the Missouri River, at least in name. The Missouri Rivers actually begins in the Centennial Mountains, on the Montana/Idaho
border at Brower's Spring. It is initially known as Hellroaring Creek, then Red Rock River, then Beaverhead River, then Jefferson River, before taking the name "Missouri" at Three Forks.
Monday, July 15, 2013
My Other Travel Blog
I recently stopped a series I was doing on this blog about the uppermost part of the Texas Panhandle because I wanted to write about Yellowstone National Park, which I had never done. I will continue that series soon, but, in the meantime, I will continue my series about the upper Texas Panhandle on my other travel blog, called "In My Travels,"which is available at
www.radzvacations.blogspot.com. In that series, I am currently writing about the Oklahoma Panhandle, which is adjacent to the Texas Panhandle, so I will "move across the border" very soon in that blog. Just wanted to let my readers know about that and also to let them know about my other travel blog.
www.radzvacations.blogspot.com. In that series, I am currently writing about the Oklahoma Panhandle, which is adjacent to the Texas Panhandle, so I will "move across the border" very soon in that blog. Just wanted to let my readers know about that and also to let them know about my other travel blog.
Friday, June 21, 2013
Fort Yellowstone
When Yellowstone National Park was created, on March 1, 1872, it was the first national park in the world. National parks were a new concept and when mountain men and fur trappers first started telling stories about this incredible place of boiling mud pits, geysers and hot springs, no one believed them because it sounded too incredible to be true. The first known person to start talking about Yellowstone's geothermal features was John Colter in 1860. A few people, after hearing his stories about smoke spewing out of the ground began calling the place
"Colter's Hell," in jest.
The man that really led the effort to have Yellowstone set aside as the world's first national park was Ferdinand Hayden. He had several unsuccessful attempts before finally succeeding in 1872, when President Ulysses Grant signed the bill creating Yellowstone National P:ark after it was approved by Congress.
When Yellowstone National Park was created, the National Park Service did not exist yet, it would be another 19 years before the Park Service was created. Shortly after the park was created, Nathaniel Langford was appointed as Park Superintendent, but he had little money with which to operate and very limited legal authority to deal with poachers, miners, squatters, etc. Yellowstone was basically a park in name only because people were still claiming plots of land to homestead, still cutting timber, still prospecting for gold or other minerals, still grazing cattle within park boundaries and railroad magnates wanted to build railroad lines through the park. The latter situation is most likely what led to administration of the park being turned over to the United States Cavalry in 1886. The Cavalry built Fort Yellowstone in the northern part of the park, in Wyoming, but about 2 miles from the Montana border. The fort was built adjacent to Mammoth Hot Springs, which is a huge set of hot springs, which are fed by the Norris Geyser Basin through a subterranean fault. These hot springs flow over travertine terraces and into the Boiling River, which, in turn, flows into the Yellowstone River. The buildings of Fort Yellowstone were constructed out of locally quarried sandstone. Almost immediately after the U.S. Cavalry assumed control of the fledgling national park, the
commanding officers set up backcountry foot and horse patrols, wildlife management and protection and began to vigorously protect the national features of the park that had so inspired visitors to the area.
In 1891, the National Park Service(NPS), was created by the federal government and they still regard backcountry foot and horse patrols, wildlife protection and management and resource protection, duties that were established by the U.S. Cavalry in 1886, as their primary responsibilities. The Mammoth Hot Springs area, which encompasses Fort Yellowstone, is still the administrative headquarters for Yellowstone National Park.
"Colter's Hell," in jest.
The man that really led the effort to have Yellowstone set aside as the world's first national park was Ferdinand Hayden. He had several unsuccessful attempts before finally succeeding in 1872, when President Ulysses Grant signed the bill creating Yellowstone National P:ark after it was approved by Congress.
When Yellowstone National Park was created, the National Park Service did not exist yet, it would be another 19 years before the Park Service was created. Shortly after the park was created, Nathaniel Langford was appointed as Park Superintendent, but he had little money with which to operate and very limited legal authority to deal with poachers, miners, squatters, etc. Yellowstone was basically a park in name only because people were still claiming plots of land to homestead, still cutting timber, still prospecting for gold or other minerals, still grazing cattle within park boundaries and railroad magnates wanted to build railroad lines through the park. The latter situation is most likely what led to administration of the park being turned over to the United States Cavalry in 1886. The Cavalry built Fort Yellowstone in the northern part of the park, in Wyoming, but about 2 miles from the Montana border. The fort was built adjacent to Mammoth Hot Springs, which is a huge set of hot springs, which are fed by the Norris Geyser Basin through a subterranean fault. These hot springs flow over travertine terraces and into the Boiling River, which, in turn, flows into the Yellowstone River. The buildings of Fort Yellowstone were constructed out of locally quarried sandstone. Almost immediately after the U.S. Cavalry assumed control of the fledgling national park, the
commanding officers set up backcountry foot and horse patrols, wildlife management and protection and began to vigorously protect the national features of the park that had so inspired visitors to the area.
In 1891, the National Park Service(NPS), was created by the federal government and they still regard backcountry foot and horse patrols, wildlife protection and management and resource protection, duties that were established by the U.S. Cavalry in 1886, as their primary responsibilities. The Mammoth Hot Springs area, which encompasses Fort Yellowstone, is still the administrative headquarters for Yellowstone National Park.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
An Introduction To Wyoming
Well, I had said in the previous edition of this blog that I was going to change themes and not write about the upper portion of the Texas Panhandle anymore. Well, that is true, but my teaser was that I was going to start writing about Idaho again, even though I never mentioned
the state's name. I will get to Idaho eventually(I could write about that state forever), but, in the meantime, it has occurred to me that I have never written about Wyoming. I lived in that state for about one month, in 1988, working at Yellowstone National Park. After one month living in the park, I got a job just outside the northeast entrance of the park in Cooke City, Montana, where I spent the rest of that summer and part of fall, until I headed home to Texas in mid-October, just barely beating a snowstorm out of the area. I still have vivid and fond memories of the area and have visited several times since then. I guess the logical place to start in my writings about Wyoming is the most visited part of that state, Yellowstone National Park.
When I worked at Yellowstone, I worked at Lake Lodge, which is very near the north shore of Yellowstone Lake. In my writings about Yellowstone, I will fuse together things I saw when I lived in the area in 1988 with things I have seen on subsequent trips to the nation's oldest national park.
Yellowstone National Park covers 2, 219,791 acres, or 3,468 square miles. This area makes it slightly larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined. 96% of the park is in Wyoming, in the northwest corner of that state, 3% is in Montana and 1% is in Idaho. Until approximately 15 years ago, Yellowstone had a unique distinction. It was not part of any county. It was, in a sense, its own county, or county equivalent, except that it had no county seat. I guess you could say the county seat was the Mammoth Hot Springs area in the northern part of the park, because that is where the administrative offices are and where the federal court is that deals with issues that occur within the park's boundaries.
A legal issue issue was raised in 2005 that involved a man shooting an elk outside the park, in Montana, and dragging the elk inside the park. He wound up pleading guilty, but the park's special status was revoked shortly thereafter. All the county boundaries that had once run through the park were restored. Now, the park, once again, covers portions of Park and
Teton Counties, in Wyoming; Park and Gallatin Counties, in Montana and Fremont County, in Idaho. When I started to see the county boundaries going through the park appearing on maps, I assumed it was a mistake, but it wasn't. Prior to the dissolution of the park's special status, each state was treating its portion of the park as a "county equivalent,"
sort of a Yellowstone National Park County. The Census also treated each state's portion of the county as a "county equivalent," but that is no longer the case. If Yellowstone was a
"county equivalent," it was the only county-type unit in the United States that crossed state borders, covering parts of three states.
The dissolution of the park's special status shortly after the legal issue came up about convening a jury from residents of the Montana portion of the park and holding the actual trial in Wyoming, at Mammoth Hot Springs, is very interesting to me and I don't know if it is coincidental or a direct result of the legal issue. Even though the county boundaries through the park have been restored, there is still a looming legal issue because Yellowstone is still its own federal district and this federal district still crosses state borders. If a crime were to be committed in the Idaho portion of the park, the Constitution of the United States requires that a jury be empaneled from Idaho residents that live within the district and that the trial be held in Idaho and, as I said earlier, no one lives in the Idaho portion of the park. It is basically the perfect crime waiting to be committed because, if a jury cannot be empaneled from the Idaho portion of the park, the charges would have to be dismissed, even if the crime is murder. So far, any crimes committed in the Idaho section of the park, or the Montana section, have been minor, such as poaching. The solution to this jurisdictional nightmare is to make the Idaho portion of the park part of the Idaho Federal Judicial District and the Montana portion part of the Montana District. Yellowstone Judicial District was created when the park was created, in 1872, and Wyoming, Montana and Idaho were not even states yet, but territories. This situation has never been rectified. Even though the county boundaries through the park have been restored, the federal court district boundaries remain the same. The Wyoming portion is technically part of the Wyoming District, but it is the Yellowstone Division.
the state's name. I will get to Idaho eventually(I could write about that state forever), but, in the meantime, it has occurred to me that I have never written about Wyoming. I lived in that state for about one month, in 1988, working at Yellowstone National Park. After one month living in the park, I got a job just outside the northeast entrance of the park in Cooke City, Montana, where I spent the rest of that summer and part of fall, until I headed home to Texas in mid-October, just barely beating a snowstorm out of the area. I still have vivid and fond memories of the area and have visited several times since then. I guess the logical place to start in my writings about Wyoming is the most visited part of that state, Yellowstone National Park.
When I worked at Yellowstone, I worked at Lake Lodge, which is very near the north shore of Yellowstone Lake. In my writings about Yellowstone, I will fuse together things I saw when I lived in the area in 1988 with things I have seen on subsequent trips to the nation's oldest national park.
Yellowstone National Park covers 2, 219,791 acres, or 3,468 square miles. This area makes it slightly larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined. 96% of the park is in Wyoming, in the northwest corner of that state, 3% is in Montana and 1% is in Idaho. Until approximately 15 years ago, Yellowstone had a unique distinction. It was not part of any county. It was, in a sense, its own county, or county equivalent, except that it had no county seat. I guess you could say the county seat was the Mammoth Hot Springs area in the northern part of the park, because that is where the administrative offices are and where the federal court is that deals with issues that occur within the park's boundaries.
A legal issue issue was raised in 2005 that involved a man shooting an elk outside the park, in Montana, and dragging the elk inside the park. He wound up pleading guilty, but the park's special status was revoked shortly thereafter. All the county boundaries that had once run through the park were restored. Now, the park, once again, covers portions of Park and
Teton Counties, in Wyoming; Park and Gallatin Counties, in Montana and Fremont County, in Idaho. When I started to see the county boundaries going through the park appearing on maps, I assumed it was a mistake, but it wasn't. Prior to the dissolution of the park's special status, each state was treating its portion of the park as a "county equivalent,"
sort of a Yellowstone National Park County. The Census also treated each state's portion of the county as a "county equivalent," but that is no longer the case. If Yellowstone was a
"county equivalent," it was the only county-type unit in the United States that crossed state borders, covering parts of three states.
The dissolution of the park's special status shortly after the legal issue came up about convening a jury from residents of the Montana portion of the park and holding the actual trial in Wyoming, at Mammoth Hot Springs, is very interesting to me and I don't know if it is coincidental or a direct result of the legal issue. Even though the county boundaries through the park have been restored, there is still a looming legal issue because Yellowstone is still its own federal district and this federal district still crosses state borders. If a crime were to be committed in the Idaho portion of the park, the Constitution of the United States requires that a jury be empaneled from Idaho residents that live within the district and that the trial be held in Idaho and, as I said earlier, no one lives in the Idaho portion of the park. It is basically the perfect crime waiting to be committed because, if a jury cannot be empaneled from the Idaho portion of the park, the charges would have to be dismissed, even if the crime is murder. So far, any crimes committed in the Idaho section of the park, or the Montana section, have been minor, such as poaching. The solution to this jurisdictional nightmare is to make the Idaho portion of the park part of the Idaho Federal Judicial District and the Montana portion part of the Montana District. Yellowstone Judicial District was created when the park was created, in 1872, and Wyoming, Montana and Idaho were not even states yet, but territories. This situation has never been rectified. Even though the county boundaries through the park have been restored, the federal court district boundaries remain the same. The Wyoming portion is technically part of the Wyoming District, but it is the Yellowstone Division.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
The "Feel Good" Story of the Year
In March of 2012, the boys basketball team from Texline High School, in the far northwest corner of the Texas Panhandle, made a very impressive run to the state semi-finals, which were played in Austin at the Frank Erwin Center at the University of Texas. They lost the semi-final game, in overtime, to Roxton, a team from northeast Texas, in Lamar County. Roxton is a team that was completely destroying every team they met in the playoffs. Roxton was an extremely talented team that played like a well-oiled machine. Yet, the Texline Tornadoes, from an obscure town in the northwest corner of the Panhandle, took Roxton to overtime and almost won the game.
Texline High School has only 36 students and only 14 of them are boys. 11 of the 14 boys were on the basketball team and this unlikely team came close to winning the state championship.
At the "Final Four" in Austin, a lot of people were asking "Where's Texline?" The Texline Tornadoes became the "media darlings" of the state Final Four when it was learned how far they had to travel to get to Austin and the fact that 11 of the 14 boys in the school were on the basketball team. Texline had to travel 627 miles to get to Austin! That is the farthest anyone has ever traveled to get to the state Final Four in Texas high school basketball history.
Towns in the upper Panhandle waved the Texline bus through their town as the bus made its long trip to Austin. Many farmers and ranchers in the area, in both Texas and New Mexico, held fund raising activities to raise money to send the Texline Tornadoes and many of their fans to Austin.
This is what high school sports is all about, the only thing missing is the fact that Texline did not bring home a state championship. Stories like this are what I like to see. This is truly a "feel good " story and one that needs to be told.
Begging my readers' indulgence, in the next edition of this blog, I am going to write about a different part of the country and abandon my project about the upper part of the Texas Panhandle. My mind wanders a little too much for my own good and I think it is probably best for me to keep "jumping around' and write about what is most interesting to me at that time. I want to write more about this state that I often daydream about, but have only been there a few times. I hope to visit this particular state some more in the future, but for now, I want to write about this state some more because it is at the forefront of my thoughts now.
Texline High School has only 36 students and only 14 of them are boys. 11 of the 14 boys were on the basketball team and this unlikely team came close to winning the state championship.
At the "Final Four" in Austin, a lot of people were asking "Where's Texline?" The Texline Tornadoes became the "media darlings" of the state Final Four when it was learned how far they had to travel to get to Austin and the fact that 11 of the 14 boys in the school were on the basketball team. Texline had to travel 627 miles to get to Austin! That is the farthest anyone has ever traveled to get to the state Final Four in Texas high school basketball history.
Towns in the upper Panhandle waved the Texline bus through their town as the bus made its long trip to Austin. Many farmers and ranchers in the area, in both Texas and New Mexico, held fund raising activities to raise money to send the Texline Tornadoes and many of their fans to Austin.
This is what high school sports is all about, the only thing missing is the fact that Texline did not bring home a state championship. Stories like this are what I like to see. This is truly a "feel good " story and one that needs to be told.
Begging my readers' indulgence, in the next edition of this blog, I am going to write about a different part of the country and abandon my project about the upper part of the Texas Panhandle. My mind wanders a little too much for my own good and I think it is probably best for me to keep "jumping around' and write about what is most interesting to me at that time. I want to write more about this state that I often daydream about, but have only been there a few times. I hope to visit this particular state some more in the future, but for now, I want to write about this state some more because it is at the forefront of my thoughts now.
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