<p>The Bialystoker Synagogue at 7–11 Bialystoker Place, formerly Willett Street, between Grand and Broome Streets in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue. The building was constructed in 1826 as the Willett Street Methodist Episcopal Church; the synagogue purchased the building in 1905.</p><br>
<p>The synagogue was designated a New York City Landmark in 1966. It is one of only four early-19th century fieldstone religious buildings surviving from the late Federal period in Lower Manhattan, and is the oldest building used as a synagogue in New York City.</p><br>
<h2>Congregation</h2><br>
<p>The Bialystoker Synagogue was first organized in 1865 on Manhattan&#39;s Lower East Side as the Chevra Anshei Chesed of Bialystok, founded by a group of Jews who came from town of Białystok, at that time located in the Russian Empire, but now in Poland. The congregation was begun in a building on Hester Street, it later moved to Orchard Street, and ultimately to its present location 7–11 Bialystoker Place on the Lower East Side.</p><br>
<p>In order to accommodate the influx of new immigrants from that area of Poland, in 1905 the congregation merged with congregation Adas Yeshurun, also from Bialystok, and formed the Beit Ha-Knesset Anshei Bialystok (The Bialystoker Synagogue). The newly formed congregation then purchased (and moved into) the Willett Street Methodist Episcopal Church at 7 Willet Street, which was later renamed Bialystoker Place. During the Great Depression a decision was made to beautify the main sanctuary, to provide a sense of hope and inspiration to the community.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The fieldstone Methodist Episcopal Church building was built in 1826 with a simple pedimented roof and round arched windows. The building is made of Manhattan schist from a quarry on nearby Pitt Street. The exterior is marked by three windows over three doors framed with round arches, a low flight of brownstone steps, a low pitched pediment roof with a lunette window and a wooden cornice.</p><br>
<p>The elaborate Torah Ark is believed to have been carved in Bialystok and shipped to New York.</p><br>
<p>As the synagogue is home to an Orthodox Jewish congregation, a balcony section was constructed to accommodate female congregants. In the corner of the women’s gallery a small hidden door in the wall that leads to a ladder going up to an attic, lit by two windows was constructed. When it was first opened, the building was a rest stop for the Underground Railroad movement; runaway slaves found sanctuary in this attic.</p><br>
<p>When the air conditioning was updated in the 1990s, an issue arose in the construction of rooftop units because of the building&#39;s historical landmark status. Because of these concerns, the cooling units were installed on the side of the building.</p><br>
<h2>Present activity</h2><br>
<p>In 1988, the congregation restored the interior to its original splendor, and the former Hebrew school building that is attached, but had become dilapidated, was renovated and reopened as The Daniel Potkorony Building. The magnificent stained glass windows were recently completely recreated and renewed.</p><br>
<p>The Woodstock Square Historic District is located in the county seat of McHenry County, Illinois, which is Woodstock. The district is located in downtown Woodstock and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1982. Within the district two of Woodstock&#39;s other Registered Places can be found, Woodstock Opera House and the Old McHenry County Courthouse.</p><br>
<h2>Square</h2><br>
<p>The square consists of historic buildings and is anchored by two key structures, the Old McHenry County Courthouse and the Woodstock Opera House. Most of the other buildings on the square are privately owned and kept up, housing numerous small businesses, including restaurants and shops. The streets of the square are one way and paved with brick, they square off a large public park which features two gazeebos and war memorials. During the winter the square and its buildings and trees are adorned with lights.</p><br>
<p>The Woodstock Square is host to a number of festivals and events throughout the year. Some the events include Harvestdays, Old Time Fiddlers Competition and Groundhog Days, celebrating the city of Woodstock&#39;s role in the 1993 film Groundhog Day. Groundhog Day was filmed on location in Woodstock, Illinois, the city portrayed Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania in the film.</p><br>
<h2>Structures</h2><br>
<h3>Old McHenry County Courthouse</h3><br>
<p>The Old McHenry County Courthouse is separately listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was long the home for McHenry County government offices, though it no longer serves in that capacity. Today, the courthouse is home to several businesses and is one of the key elements in the Woodstock Square Historic District. Built in 1857 the Old Courthouse is designed in a simple Italianate style. The building is topped with a distinctive white dome which features a lightning rod.</p><br>
<h3>Woodstock Opera House</h3><br>
<p>The Woodstock Opera House has been in continuous operation since its construction was completed in 1889. Along with the Old Courthouse, the Opera House is one of the key elements of the Woodstock Square Historic District. Originally constructed to be a library, council room, court, fire department, and provide a second floor auditorium, the Opera House quickly became the center for McHenry County&#39;s entertainment. Today the Opera House hosts a variety of events. They include: concerts, theatre, dance, visual art, educational programs, lectures and meetings. The Woodstock Opera House is one of the oldest continually operating theatres in the United States.</p><br>
<h2>Woodstock Square in popular culture</h2><br>
<p>Many key scenes, featuring Bill Murray, in Groundhog Day were filmed in and around the Woodstock Square Historic District. Murrays character is seen plummeting from the Woodstock Opera House after he figures out he will indefinitely be reliving the same day over and over again, causing him to become humorously suicidal. The restaurant where Murrays character is shown exhibiting God-like ability to predict the future is located on the Square as well and is still home to a small diner today.</p><br>
<p>Mount Tom is a mountain located in Grafton County, New Hampshire, about 1.5 mi southwest of the height of land of Crawford Notch. The mountain is named after Thomas Crawford, whose family ran three inns in Crawford Notch in the first half of the nineteenth century. Mount Tom is part of the Willey Range of the White Mountains. Tom is flanked to the south by Mount Field. Mt. Tom is drained on the east by Crawford Brook and on the west by the Zealand River. Both are tributaries of the Ammonoosuc River, which drains into the Connecticut and thence into Long Island Sound.</p><br>
<p>From 1829 until about 1850, Tom Crawford was the innkeeper at the Notch House, which was located at the top of the Notch. Around 1850, Tom Crawford started to build a larger hotel and ran into financial difficulty. Forced to sell out, he left the Notch at that time. The hotel he started became the Crawford House.</p><br>
<p>An alpine ski area associated with Tom Corcoran and the Crawford House was proposed for the northern slope of the mountain in the early 1970s.</p><br>
<p>The Joseph F. Glidden House is located in the United States in the DeKalb County, Illinois city of DeKalb. It was the home to the famed inventor of barbed wire Joseph Glidden. The barn, still located on the property near several commercial buildings, is said to be where Glidden perfected his improved version of barbed wire which would eventually transform him into a successful entrepreneur. The Glidden House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The home was designed by another barbed wire patent holder in DeKalb, Jacob Haish.</p><br>
<p>The property contains the house and two outbuildings; the barn and the remains of an old windmill foundation. Constructed in 1861, the Glidden House adheres mostly to a French Colonial style of architecture. The raised basement and full-length porch are two of the architectural elements found on the Glidden House that are consistently found in French Colonial homes. The barn, a building of high historical significance, was not included as part of the National Register listing for the property until 2002, nearly 30 years after the original nomination was approved.</p><br>
<h2>House</h2><br>
<p>The land that the Glidden House stands on is what remains of Joseph Gliddens once large DeKalb County farm. His holdings stretched along Lincoln Highway, both the north and south sides, from the Kishwaukee River in the east to present-day Annie Glidden Road on the west. The Glidden Farm went as far north as todays Lucinda Avenue. The farm&#39;s south border, near where Glidden would grant the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad right-of-way through DeKalb in the early 1990s was near present-day Taylor Street.</p><br>
<p>The two-story Joseph F. Glidden House is constructed from locally fired brick, which is relatively soft. The softness of the brick has caused it to weather in a non-uniform fashion. The brick is said to have been fired at a small brickyard which once existed on the Kishwaukee River in DeKalb, near the present-day Lincoln Highway bridge. The home stands on a stone foundation and was designed by local carpenter and eventual barbed wire competitor to Glidden, Jacob Haish. Construction was completed in 1861 and the home is a prominent example of Illinois French Colonial architecture.</p><br>
<h3>History</h3><br>
<p>The land where the Glidden House stands once held a log structure, which Glidden lived in when he first came to DeKalb at the beckoning of his cousin Russell Huntley. The house was built in 1861 for barbed wire entrepreneur Joseph Farwell Glidden. As his personal residence, the house, and its accompanying barn, were closely associated with his invention, really just an improvement, of barbed wire. Gliddens improvement upon a wire board fence developed by Henry Rose was of vast importance in the settlement of the United States west of the Mississippi. It was after Glidden saw Rose exhibit his wire at a fair in 1873 that he was struck with the idea of attaching barbs to wire strand fencing. Glidden is said to have experimented with some of his ideas in the basement kitchen of the Glidden House. He noticed that whenever he tried to attach barbs directly to strands of wire they slid along the length of the wire; Glidden realized he needed a way to crimp the barbs. He began tinkering around the homes kitchen. Glidden fit two hair pins to the shaft of a coffee mill, one centered and the other off-center. He found that by placing the wire between the pins and turning the crank a uniform barb resulted. How to crimp the barbs to the wire was solved, in the barn, by tying one end of the wire and another length of wire to a poplar tree on the grounds of the Glidden House and the other ends of the wires to a grindstone. The grindstone was used to twist the wires together and prevent the barbs from slipping.</p><br>
<p>Day-to-day life at the Glidden House was mostly carried out in the home&#39;s basement which contained a full kitchen, dining room, and living room. The upper floors were used for guests and for sleeping quarters.</p><br>
<p>As of 2006 extensive restoration work had been completed on the home. The front porch was repaired and restored and inside, the hardwood floors have been replaced and refinished. In addition, the front parlors have been repainted and restored.</p><br>
<h3>Architecture</h3><br>
<p>The home was mostly designed in a French Colonial style, though it contains some elements of Greek Revival architecture. French Colonial architecture was more popular in the American South than it ever was in the northern tier of states.</p><br>
<h4>Exterior</h4><br>
<p>The two-story brick structure is supported by a fieldstone foundation and still features its original front porch. The porch spans the length of the building&#39;s front (south) facade, at a height of about 6 feet (1.8 m). The porch is supported by four wooden pillars, which rest on stone bases. The stairs leading to the front porch are supported by two similar wooden posts, which, like the house, are set into fieldstone bases. The first step on the stairs was originally a limestone block embedded in the ground. The porch roof is supported by six wooden, bracketed pillars. The pillars are simple, with the brackets coming from the boxed capitals. At the rear of the porch wooden pilasters set at each end help to support the roof. Differentiating the home from the traditional French Colonial design is the porch roof, which is separate from the main roof.</p><br>
<p>The house stands mostly as it did in 1861 save a few alterations. The front porch was screened in at the time the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places, the screens have since been removed. At the rear of the house a small porch was enclosed. In 1909 or 1910 there were major subtractions and replacements. Removed were a cast-iron widow&#39;s walk along the roof ridge and a large gable dormer, decorated in the same manner as the cornice decorating the roof trim. The present dormer replaced the larger one and is more of a low-shed type.</p><br>
<p>The roof itself is a low gable and dominated by single stack, straddle ridge chimneys at its east and west ends. The boxed roof trim is a decorated cornice. The low-shed dormer is covered with green asphalt. The old widows walk, which a neighbor dubbed Gliddens "obscuratory", was balustraded and set just above the dormer.</p><br>
<h4>Interior</h4><br>
<p>The interior of the building is also similar to how it appeared when the house was constructed. However, a few changes have been made. In 1910 the two marble fireplaces were replaced by brick. The flooring has been replaced as needed. The home&#39;s basement, once the main living area, has since been converted several times for other uses.</p><br>
<p>On the first floor of the home the rooms remain much the same as they were when Glidden lived in the house.</p><br>
<p>On the houses east side are three rooms, whose original presence is open to debate. The three rooms are interconnected, another common French colonial element. The room adjacent the porch was used as the Gliddens dining room and is where the large brick fireplace, which replaced the marble one in 1909, is located. The 1909 fireplace is of the American Craftsman style. At the end of the hall, near the kitchen, there is a full bathroom.</p><br>
<p>The western part of the first floor is dominated by a large formal living room. The room has two entrances, one at the front of the hall, near the front door and the other at the back end of the hall. This was the room in which Elva Glidden married in the late 19th century. After 1941 the rear part of the living room, or "west" room, was walled off and a second kitchen added. When Jessie Glidden, the last Glidden to occupy the old homestead, moved in 1998, the west room was restored to its original size and the second kitchen removed.</p><br>
<p>The basement, and for part of the homes history, the main living area, is accessed via a staircase at the back of the first-floor hall. The steep stairs still show years of wear. One of the rooms off the main basement is the kitchen where Glidden is said to have experimented with the coffee grinder and his wifes hair pins, eventually leading to his brand of barbed wire.</p><br>
<p>The second-floor served as the main sleeping quarters. It consists of a few simple bedrooms, all historically without closets. The upstairs hall contains a door which once accessed a staircase to the widow&#39;s walk, what remains of the space has been used as a closet for over a century.</p><br>
<h2>Outbuildings</h2><br>
<p>The other outbuilding on the property along historic Lincoln Highway are the remnants of a once dominating windmill. Though only the foundation remains, it gives a glimpse of how impressive the structure must have once been.</p><br>
<h3>Barn</h3><br>
<p>The Glidden Barn, located to the rear and east of the home, was thought to have been added to the National Register of Historic Places when the original nomination for the house was approved in 1973. However, in the late 1990s, the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency revealed that the nomination included only the house.</p><br>
<p>The barn was built sometime around 1871, possibly even before, and is constructed of the same soft brick that makes up the exterior of the home. Tradition in the Glidden family holds that the barn, like the house itself, was designed and built by prominent local carpenter Jacob Haish. The famous barn, one of DeKalb County&#39;s oldest remaining, stands a full two-stories high, measuring around 50 feet (15 m) tall, with a width of 30 feet (9 m).</p><br>
<p>In February 2007 the Glidden Homestead and Historical Center kicked off a fundraising drive. The drive is aimed at raising US$2 million to expand the Joseph F. Glidden House site to include museum space and a media center. Some of the funds will be used to help restore the barn and expand historical center museum space into the building.</p><br>
<h4>Architecture</h4><br>
<p>The Glidden barn is of pole and beam construction. It is constructed of red brick and stands on a foundation of limestone. Glidden&#39;s barn took full advantage of the term vernacular; the brick was locally manufactured and the limestone locally quarried.</p><br>
<p>The east bay of the barn contains an animal stall in its northeast corner and a fully enclosed office in its opposite corner. The second-floor hayloft is supported by the two massive transverse beams. The full-sized loft is accessible via an enclosed staircase against the south wall. The building&#39;s exterior roof is fully supported by the brick walls. The result is a loft which is an entirely open space save for some pole and beam construction supporting the laminated beams, which act as tie rods at the base of the roof. The barn roof is a common gable roof pitched at a 45 degree angle, it was originally covered with wooden shingles, those have been replaced over the years with asphalt.</p><br>
<p>The barn features extensive windows, somewhat unusual outside of dairy barns, with a total of 14 eight-paned, double-hung windows dispersed over three sides of the rectangular structure, north, south and east. On the west side, facing the house, are seven smaller single-pane windows. The double-hung windows are topped with segmented arches constructed from a double row of bricks; the north and south main entrances are also topped with segmented brick arches, each of three rows of bricks.</p><br>
<h3>Windmill building</h3><br>
<p>Only the foundation remains of the property&#39;s windmill. What is left, ten rows of stone above the ground, is completely invisible when the home is viewed by passers-by on Lincoln Highway. The windmill started to fall into disrepair around the 1930s or 40s. The original, specific use of the windmill is unknown.</p><br>
<p>The General Dean Suspension Bridge spans the Kaskaskia River at Carlyle in Clinton County, Illinois, United States. It is named after Major General William F. Dean, who served during the Korean War and was a native of Carlyle. The bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was added to the Register in 1973.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The bridge was originally constructed in 1859 at a cost of $40,000. The original bridge remained in operation for nearly seventy years. In 1950 the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) recognized the bridge for its architectural significance. HABS recommended preservation of the bridge. The Illinois General Assembly set aside $20,000 for bridge restoration in 1951, and in 1953 the bridge was named after Major General Dean.</p><br>
<p>Nisbet Homestead Farm, also known as the Old Stone House, is located near the LaSalle County town of Earlville, Illinois. The farm itself is actually in DeKalb County. The homestead is a stone structure, the only one in DeKalb County. The stone house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places  on May 31, 1984.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The homesteaded land was acquired by Matthew Nisbet, who had immigrated from Scotland to Upper Canada in 1818. In 1841 Nisbet came to DeKalb County, Paw Paw Township, and constructed a two story log cabin, a temporary home he lived in while he built the Old Stone House. The home is constructed of ten-by-four feet blocks of stone; which were hauled from Ottawa, Illinois via ox-cart. Nisbet&#39;s home took 15 years to build and has remained in the Nisbet family since its completion.</p><br>
<h2>Nisbet Farm</h2><br>
<p>The NRHP listing for the Nisbet Homestead Farm consists of 10 contributing "properties" on the 5 acre of land. These various properties are designated as buildings (numbering 5); "structures" (3); and "sites" (2).</p><br>
<h3>Buildings</h3><br>
<p>Five of the properties on the Nisbet Homestead Farm listing are classified as buildings. This includes the main house, completed in 1863 by Nisbet. Nisbet began construction in 1848 and lived in the log cabin during some of that time. The Greek Revival style home is made of a combination of limestone and weatherboard, and sits on a concrete foundation and has an asphalt roof. The sites other four "buildings" were all built before 1935. The earliest among these structures, erected pre-1900, is a wooden gable-roofed barn, of the "English" (or "Three Bay") style. The other circa-1900 structure at the Nisbet Farm is a wooden banked barn. After 1909, a tin-roofed storage shed was constructed; and in 1935 the final of the properties buildings was erected, a shingled double corn crib.</p><br>
<h3>Structures</h3><br>
<p>Three of the remaining five properties at the Nisbet Farm are categorized as structures on the NRHP listing. The silo and silo shed were built about 1935. The other two structures, a gravity feed water storage tank, and a windmill driven well, are part of the NRHP listing. The water tank was constructed with stone walls.</p><br>
<h3>Sites</h3><br>
<p>The areas at Nisbet Homestead Farm classified as "sites" include the only structure on the property (besides the Greek Revival home) to date back to 1863; and a 1909 constructed building called the "Basement Barn." The log cabin sits on a stone foundation and was constructed sometime before 1863 and after 1848.</p><br>
<p>Horseshoe Lake is the name of four lakes in New Zealand.</p><br>
<h2>Horseshoe Lake, Hawke's Bay</h2><br>
<p>This is a very small lake approximately 14 km east of Waipawa in the Hawke&#39;s Bay region of the North Island of New Zealand.</p><br>
<h2>Horseshoe Lake, Waikato</h2><br>
<p>This is a small lake in the western outskirts of Hamilton in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand.</p><br>
<h2>Horseshoe Lake, Canterbury</h2><br>
<p>This is a small lake approximately 27 km south west of Hanmer Springs in the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand.</p><br>
<h2>Horseshoe Lake, Christchurch</h2><br>
<p>This is a small urban lake in northeast Christchurch, close to the Avon River. The area within the curve of the lake is a nature reserve.</p><br>
<p>Sandwich City Hall, which is also known as the Sandwich City Hall & Opera House, is the government center for the city of Sandwich, Illinois in DeKalb County. The first floor of the building is occupied by city government while the second floor of the historic building houses an active opera house. Sandwich City Hall & Opera House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has been since 1979.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Construction and early years</h3><br>
<p>Sandwich City Hall was constructed in 1878. This building reflects the post-Civil War Second Empire style, meant to evoke the spirit of the early years after a war that broke apart the purer architectural styles and mingled together in a mixture of revival styles. The construction was funded by a bond issue of $10,000 approved by the mayor and city aldermen in Sandwich. Eventually, a $2,000 cost overrun required additional bond issues. The city turned over the design of the structure to local architects Enos and Israel Doan. The building was completed on schedule in January 1879. The finished product was 48 by 80 feet. The first floor had 12 foot ceilings while the second floor included a balcony and 22 foot ceilings.</p><br>
<p>The building became a complete community center when it was completed. The first floor housed the mayors office, the city clerks office, council room, visiting judges chambers, engine room and a marshalls office. The marshalls office had five jail cells. The upper floor of the building became the opera house. The opera house became an all-purpose theatre. It featured shows of all types, vaudevillian, Shakespearean, lectures, Womens Christian Temperance Union meetings, recitials, high school plays and graduations, church gatherings, firemen&#39;s ball and many other events. As other facilities became available to clientele the Opera House was left idle following World War II. City government offices continued to function within building despite the dormant theater above.</p><br>
<h3>New life</h3><br>
<p>A community group was responsible for Sandwich City Hall&#39;s placement on the National Register in 1979. A few years later in 1982 the group, the Association to Restore City Hall, was given tax-exempt status and received a grant of nearly $1.3 million from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs in 1983. The grant covered 75% of restoration and construction costs and the restoration was completed in 1986.</p><br>
<p>The restoration also included an addition on the rear of the building. The addition provided for a community room on the first floor and on the second floor allowed for additional facilities for the opera house, including make up rooms and storage. Other areas to be restored and renovated included the foyers, the main entrance, the original walnut staircase on the west side of the building and a custom made stairway for the east are of the second floor was constructed. The police department and jail area ceased to be used in 1977 but the restoration incorporated it into the revamped structure. Though the jail area is now a women&#39;s restroom it still bears the old iron bars of the original jail cells, albeit fastened open.</p><br>
<p>When the restoration was completed in 1986 the city of Sandwich held a rededication ceremony that was attended by several state level political officials including then Lieutenant Governor George H. Ryan. The rededication was attended by numerous local officials as well.</p><br>
<p>The once dormant Opera House portion of the city hall building is once again fully operational. With city government still operating on the first floor the opera house has a full season. Sandwich City Hall&#39;s second floor has become home to classical music performances, country-western ensembles, student recitals, bluegrass performances, dance, drama by the Indian Valley Theatre, pop performances, and numerous other events. The facility is available for rent based upon scheduling. In the first year following the 1986 restoration 18,725 people attended performances and programs of all types at the opera house.</p><br>
<p>Dalsnibba is a mountain in Stranda Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located at the end of the Geiranger valley, about 21 km south of the village of Geiranger and the Geirangerfjorden. The 2 km&sup2; lake Djupvatnet lies directly to the southeast of the mountain. The mountain is located very near the county border with both Oppland and Sogn og Fjordane counties, in the southeastern part of Møre og Romsdal county.</p><br>
<p>Dalsnibba offers a good view and is therefore a popular tourist destination. Dalsnibba is often covered by snow even in the summer. The Norwegian County Road 63 passes along the south side of the mountain, and from that road, there is a private toll road called Nibbevegen, owned and operated by Geiranger Skysslag, that goes up to the summit of Dalsnibba, it was completed in 1939 but due to the Second World War its official opening where delayed until july 19 1948, and the road was tarmacked in 2013. www.dalsnibba.no www.geirangerskywalk.no</p><br>
<p>The Geiranger – From Fjord to Summit running and cycling race begins in the village of Geiranger and ends on top of Dalsnibba.</p><br>
<p>Ashelford Hall is a building, erected in 1925, in the tiny community of Esmond which lies in western DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. The structure has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1995. Today, it is under private ownership and largely used for storage. In recent years it had served as an antiques store.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The stone block triangular building, near railroad tracks crossing through Esmond, was constructed in 1925. For the first several years of its history it served as a meeting place for the DeKalb County chapter of the South Grove Grange. The grange met there for a few years until they moved their meeting to the Creston town hall in Ogle County in 1933.</p><br>
<p>More recently the building served as an antique store ran by Pam Cunningham. The store closed when Pam Cunningham past away, she lived in Fairdale, Illinois. She died in April 2005, more than a year after her son, Kevin Clewer, was found stabbed to death.</p><br>
<h3>Early history</h3><br>
<h4>Men's club</h4><br>
<p>When the building was erected, in 1925, it served as the center of the Esmond social scene. It was multi-functional, serving entertainment, recreation and meeting place purposes. On February 17, 1928 the Esmond Mens Community Club was organized in a meeting at Ashelford Hall. The club was organized to facilitate other community organizations and promote fellowship among the men of Esmond. The mens club met at Ashelford Hall every third Friday of the month for 24 years, until a new school building was constructed in Esmond in 1951 and the club moved to facilities there.</p><br>
<p>The club itself was organized primarily by three influential Esmond businessmen. William Greenwood, a cashier at the Esmond State Bank, N.T. Gottschall, the pastor at Esmond Methodist Church and Raymond Duell, the station agent at the Esmond Chicago Great Western depot were the three men most responsible for th organization of the club. The club&#39;s first meeting attracted a crowd and 52 people joined as charter members. Emmett Rand was elected club president with Greenwood becoming vice president, Duell was elected secretary-treasurer and served in that post until 1967.</p><br>
<p>Eventually the club came to sponsor a popular Fourth of July celebration and picnic and served the community in other important ways. In the years since 1925 the generator at Ashelford Hall had come to supply power to the key structures in Esmond. The mens club undertook an effort in 1930s which succeeded in bringing electricity to Esmond, thus eliminating the need for the Ashelford Hall generator. The Esmond Mens Community Club disbanded on December 11, 1974, with four charter members still active in the club.</p><br>
<h4>Entertainment</h4><br>
<p>From the beginning Ashelford Hall served as a community center and entertainment venue. During the 1920s a community orchestra performed at the building for various community and Grange events. The orchestra broke apart in the 1930s but the hall still hosted entertainment events. Vaudeville shows, medicine shows, parties, showers, wedding receptions, all of these were among the events held at Ashelford Hall in its first two decades. The second story become known throughout the community as dance hall. Weekends would feature local bands and orchestras performing while citizens of Esmond and surrounding villages gathered at the hall.</p><br>
<h4>South Grove Grange</h4><br>
<p>South Grove Grange No. 1838 was organized in 1925 by several members of the Willowdale Grange in DeKalb County and F.A. Jones of Peoria, Illinois. The Grange meetings were held at Ashelford Hall. There the farmers who were members of the Grange would meet to discuss new farming techniques and the farming market as well as see new product demonstrations. In 1929 a juvenile Grange was organized. By the early 1930s the adult Grange had 72 members, DeKalb County&#39;s largest such group.</p><br>
<p>Barrington River, a perennial river of the Manning River catchment, is located in the Upper Hunter district of New South Wales, Australia.</p><br>
<h2>Course and features</h2><br>
<p>Barrington River rises below Carey&#39;s Peak, within Barrington Volcano, on the eastern slopes of the Mt Royal Range, within the Great Dividing Range, and flows generally east, joined by five tributaries including the Kerripit, Cobark, and Moppy rivers, before reaching its confluence with the Gloucester River, near Gloucester. The river descends 1,370 m over its 93 km course.</p><br>
<p>The river was named in honour of Lord Barrington.</p><br>
<p>The river is popular with kayakers and canoers due to its sections of white water and attractive scenery, and flows through the Barrington Tops National Park.</p><br>
<p>The Sycamore Historic District is a meandering area encompassing 99 acre of the land in and around the downtown of the DeKalb County, Illinois, county seat, Sycamore. The area includes historic buildings and a number of historical and Victorian homes. Some significant structures are among those located within the Historic District including the DeKalb County Courthouse and the Sycamore Public Library. The district has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since May 2, 1978.</p><br>
<p>There are over 200 properties within the irregular boundaries of the Sycamore Historic District. Of those, 187 are considered contributing properties to the historic district, and 22 are non-contributing. Of all of the district&#39;s homes and buildings 75% fit within the historic district concept. Some of the major structures include several prominent Queen Anne style mansions, the Sycamore library, the DeKalb County Courthouse, and dozens of mid- to late 19th-century houses.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The 1966 National Historic Preservation Act, which created the National Register of Historic Places, empowered individual states to create review boards to function with the state historical preservation officer. Illinois did not create its historic preservation program until the early 1970s, under the direction of the Illinois Department of Conservation. The Department of Conservation dispatched field surveyors to all Illinois counties to find anything that might qualify for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<p>The field surveyor who traveled to Sycamore in 1973 found a large number of late 19th and 20th century examples of architecture that he recommended the establishment of a historic district. The mayor of Sycamore then appointed a citizens&#39; committee to assist the state with the work involved in listing the district.</p><br>
<p>The residential areas within the district achieved their maturity before 1900, though Sycamore has grown considerably from the 3,330 or so that lived there from about 1900 until the 1970s most of the historic district remains intact as it was organized in 1978.</p><br>
<h2>Boundaries</h2><br>
<p>The Historic District is bounded by Somonauk Street on the west and Main Street on the east, a stretch of two blocks. On the north end the district is bounded by Page Street and extends to the end of South Main street. Main and Somonauk are both north/south roads while Page is an east/west street. The district also extends along State Street (Illinois Route 64) to the west until the 300 block. Somonauk Street is included through its 900 block. In addition section of Locust, Maple and California Streets are within the Sycamore Historic District. Other east/west streets also have portions included in the district, these are: Elm, High, Ottawa, Waterman and Lincoln.</p><br>
<p>The boundaries were drawn up by Robert Wagner, a Chicagoan who worked as a National Register assistant with the Illinois Department of Conservation. Wagner drew up the boundaries on the basis of "visual integrity.". This led to an irregular pattern of inclusion for the Sycamore Historic District. Often one side of the street will be in the district while the other side will not. In other cases, such as with the library or the USA Post Office an arbitrary line was drawn with the sole purpose of including a specific structure.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>Of the 226 properties within the Sycamore Historic District 40 are identified as "strongly contributing" to the overall character of the district. Twenty-one of those are ranked as the most significant structures in the district. The majority of the rest of the buildings date from 1860-1900.</p><br>
<h2>Properties</h2><br>
<p>Sycamore Historic District includes a combination of residential, commercial, government and religious buildings. A number of Victorian homes along Main Street are enclosed in the historic district as well as a number of buildings in downtown Sycamore. South of the courthouse are other homes included in the district, each important structure is marked with a plaque near the sidewalk.</p><br>
<p>226 properties are located within the Sycamore Historic District&#39;s 99 acre. Of all the homes and other buildings within the district a full 75% fit within the historic district concept.</p><br>
<h3>Churches</h3><br>
<p>As of 2007 there are five church buildings in the Sycamore Historic District. When it was nominated to join the National Register there were seven church buildings within the district. One of those included is a residential structure that was utilized as a church when it was first constructed; the Arthur Stark House was once home to the Sycamore Universalist Church congregation. In the time since its listing, two churches have been destroyed or demolished. The Evangelical Church of St. John was destroyed by fire in 2004 and the United Methodist Church in Sycamore is no longer extant, replaced by a modern office building. The extant churches are the Old Congregational Church, First Baptist Church, St. Peters Church, the Universalist Church/Stark House and St. Marys Roman Catholic Church.</p><br>
<h3>Commercial buildings</h3><br>
<p>The commercial buildings in the Sycamore Historic District, located in Sycamore, Illinois, United States are mostly located in and around the city&#39;s downtown. The largest concentration of commercial contributing properties to the historic district are found along Illinois Route 64 as it passes through Sycamore. They include several buildings known as "blocks" which can consist of more than one adjacent and attached structure, as is the case with the Waterman Block, one of the Sycamore commercial buildings.</p><br>
<h3>DeKalb County Courthouse</h3><br>
<p>Possibly the gem of the Sycamore Historic District is the DeKalb County Courthouse. The Courthouse sits in the center of a square facing Illinois Route 64, directly across the north/south street, Main, from the Sycamore Public Library. It is a stunning example of Classical Revival architecture. The current structure was erected in 1905 being the third in a line of courthouses to serve DeKalb County.</p><br>
<h3>Frederick Townsend Garage</h3><br>
<p>This building on Main Street was originally a garage owned by Sycamore resident Frederick B. Townsend. Townsends Queen Anne style home overlooks the lot from a small incline. The distinctive stone structure was constructed in 1906 for use as a garage for the estate of Frederick B. Townsend, his former home is the Queen Anne mansion that overlooks the garage property. Today it is home to a restaurant. After the building left private ownership the property was exploited for commercial use and became a gas station. Despite the years and the changes in function the buildings historical character remains intact.</p><br>
<h3>George's Block</h3><br>
<p>Though quite altered from its original state in the mid 19th century Georges Block remains one of the more eye catching structures in the Historic District. The Georges Block was constructed in 1857 and was then known as the James Block, after the owner Daniel P. James. James, a prominent citizen, lived in the nearby Jerkin-roofed D. B. James House, another contributing property. By the 1860s the James name was gone but the building was still known as a block. Many buildings of the period were known as blocks, usually multi-story and multi-business, the buildings contained retail and professional space or, in the case of George&#39;s Block, lecture halls or auditoriums. In the first year the building existed such famous men as Horace Greeley, Charles Sumner and Bayard Taylor spoke there.</p><br>
<h3>Houses</h3><br>
<p>The houses in the Sycamore Historic District cross a variety of architectural styles and span from the 1830s to the early 20th century. There are 187 contributing properties within the historic district, 75% of the districts buildings. Many of the homes are associated with early Sycamore residents, usually prominent business leaders or politicians. Houses within the district are known by, either their street address or by a name associated with a prominent owner or builder. For most of the houses, the latter is true. Some of the more prominent homes include the Charles O. Boynton House, the Frederick B. Townsend House, David Syme House and the Carlos Lattin House.</p><br>
<h3>USA Post Office</h3><br>
<p>The USA Post Office Building in Sycamore is located along Illinois 64 (State Street), directly across the street from the Sycamore Public Library.</p><br>
<h3>Sycamore Public Library</h3><br>
<p>Sycamore Public Library, the only structure on the east side of Main Street, between State and Page Streets, that is included in the Sycamore Historic District. The library, still operational today, was constructed in 1905 with a combination of philanthropical gifts from different sources including Andrew Carnegie. The building was designed, in part, by architect Paul O. Moratz.</p><br>
<h2>Significance</h2><br>
<p>The district includes 226 properties over its 99 acre, of those, 187 are considered contributing members of the historic district. The buildings consist of a mix of residential, religious, commercial and governmental buildings. Many of the residential buildings are 2 or 2½ stories in height and feature generous setbacks from the street. These factors, along with the growth of mature shade trees, combine to give the streetscape a well-balanced and integrated look and feel. While the usage of the properties in Sycamore Historic District is similar to that in other small, Illinois county seats the district&#39;s properties are separated by their survival through the 20th century. The buildings themselves are most significant for their architecture which contributes to what the National Register of Historic Places nomination form in 1978 said conveyed "a gracious calm very close to the popular American image of an ideal small town."</p><br>
<p>Deals Gap  is a mountain pass along the North Carolina&ndash;Tennessee state line, bordering the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and near the Little Tennessee River. At.7 mi south of the gap is the unincorporated community that shares the same name, located at the intersection of US 129 and NC 28. The area is popular with motorcycle enthusiasts, who cross the gap into Tennessee to drive along "The Dragon&quot famous for its 318 curves in 11 mi.</p><br>
<h2>The Dragon</h2><br>
<p>Deals Gap is a popular and internationally famous destination for motorcycle and sports car enthusiasts, as it is located along a stretch of two-lane road known since 1981 as "The Dragon" or the "Tail of the Dragon". The 11-mile stretch of the Dragon in Tennessee is said to have 318 curves. Some of the Dragons sharpest curves have names like Copperhead Corner, Hog Pen Bend, Wheelie Hell, Shade Tree Corner, Mud Corner, Sunset Corner, Gravity Cavity, Beginners End, and Brake or Bust Bend. The road earned its name from its curves being said to resemble a dragon&#39;s tail. The stretch bears the street name "Tapoco Road" in North Carolina and "Calderwood Highway" in Tennessee and is signed entirely by US 129 (hidden SR 115).</p><br>
<p>Since part of the road is also the southwestern border of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, there is no development along the 11-mile stretch, resulting in no danger of vehicles pulling out in front of those in the right of way. It mostly travels through forested area and there are a few scenic overlooks and pull-off points along the route. The speed limit on the Dragon was 55 mph prior to 1992; it was reduced to 30 mph in 2005. The presence of law enforcement on the Tennessee portion has dramatically increased since 2007.</p><br>
<p>During the summer months, the Blount County Rescue Squad maintains a presence on The Dragon on the weekends to assist Rural/Metro with emergency calls stemming from the frequent motorcycle accidents that occur there, as Rural/Metro dispatches from nearby Maryville, Tennessee, and emergency response times may be in excess of an hour.</p><br>
<h3>In the media</h3><br>
<p>Thunder Road (1958)</p><br>
<p>Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)</p><br>
<p>The Fugitive (1993)</p><br>
<p>In Dreams (1999)</p><br>
<p>Champagne Pool is a prominent geothermal feature within the Waiotapu geothermal area in the North Island of New Zealand. The terrestrial hot spring is located about 30 km southeast of Rotorua and about 50 km northeast of Taupo. The name Champagne Pool is derived from the abundant efflux of carbon dioxide , similar to a glass of bubbling champagne. The hot spring was formed 900 years ago by a hydrothermal eruption, which makes it in geological terms a relatively young system. Its crater is around 65 m in diameter with a maximum depth of approximately 62 m and is filled with an estimated volume of 50,000 m&sup3; of geothermal fluid.</p><br>
<h2>Hydrochemistry</h2><br>
<p>The deep geothermal water below Champagne Pool is of the order of 260 &deg;C but water temperature within the pool is maintained at 73 &deg;C to 75 &deg;C by losing heat to the atmosphere. The pH of 5.5 is relatively constant due to buffering by the flux of CO2. Gases are mainly CO2, but to less extent nitrogen (N2), methane (CH4), hydrogen (H2), hydrogen sulphide (H2S) and traces of oxygen (O2). The siliceous geothermal fluid is oversaturated with metalloid compounds such as orpiment (As2S3) and stibnite (Sb2S3), which precipitate and form orange subaqueous deposits. The colourful deposits are in sharp contrast to the grey-white silica sinter surrounding Champagne Pool.</p><br>
<h2>Biology</h2><br>
<p>Although Champagne Pool is geochemically well characterised, few studies have addressed its role as a potential habitat for microbial life forms. H2 and either CO2 or O2 would be available as metabolic energy sources for autotrophic growth of methanogenic or hydrogen-oxidising microorganisms. Culture-independent methods provided evidence for filamentous, coccoid and rod-shaped cell morphologies in the hot spring. Two novel bacteria and a novel archaeon have been successfully isolated from Champagne Pool. Bacterial isolate CP.B2 named Venenivibrio stagnispumantis tolerates relatively high concentrations of arsenic and antimony compounds and represents a novel genus and species within the order Aquificales.</p><br>
<p>Gorakh ,  is a Hill Station of Sindh, Pakistan. It is situated at an elevation of 5,689 ft in the Kirthar Mountains, 94 km northwest of Dadu city.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>The Gorakh Hill station is situated 423 km from Karachi and nearly 8 hours driving distance. The Hill station attracts thousands of tourists from the city.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>The name Gorakh is derived from the Brahvi language in which, word "Gurgh" means Wolf and that Balochi language word "Gurkh" is later dialectic adaptation of Brahvi language word Gurgh, meaning wolf.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Different opinions have been given about the history and origin of the hill station. It is said that the great medieval saint, Sri Gorakhnath Ji, had extensively wandered in hills and the region. According to Nandu, an authority on Sanskrit, Gorakh is a Sanskrit word which means "shepherding of sheep, cow and goat, etc."</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Gorakh Hill Station is situated on one of the highest plateaus of Sindh, spread over 2,500 acre of land. It is very attractive to nature-lovers owing to its temperate weather and beautiful surroundings.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>Gorakh&#39;s elevation gives it a special climate, with sub-zero temperatures during winter and generally below 20 °C in summer, with about 120 mm of average annual rainfall. The Government of Sindh is in the process of constructing a new road from Dadu to Gorakh Hill. There is a new rest house for visitors on the hill. Tourists can arrange their own transport from Sehwan Sharif to the hill station.</p><br>
<p>The Elmwood Cemetery Gates mark the east and north entrances to the Elmwood Cemetery in Sycamore, Illinois. The cast iron gates were likely built in 1865, the year the cemetery opened and the one emblazoned on the gates, though records of their construction have been lost. While cast iron was commonly used for building facades at the time, the gates are a rare example of its use in landscape architecture. The gates have a Serlian design with a wide central road entry and narrower pedestrian gates on either side; square columns separate the gates. An arch bearing the cemetery&#39;s name rises above the center entrance, while lintels span the side entrances; both the arch and the lintels feature ornamental designs. The Illinois Historic Structures Survey described the gates as the best extant example of iron cemetery gate design in the state.</p><br>
<p>A number of prominent past citizens of both Sycamore and nearby DeKalb are buried in the cemetery.</p><br>
<p>The gates have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since November 28, 1978.</p><br>
<p>The George Stickney House or simply Stickney House or Stickney Mansion is located in rural McHenry County, Illinois, in the small village of Bull Valley. The Stickney House is currently the Bull Valley Police Headquarters since 1985. The structure has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979. The house is widely considered bizarre due to its design, which was based, in part, on George and Sylvia Stickney&#39;s belief in Spiritualism.</p><br>
<h2>George and Sylvia Stickney</h2><br>
<p>George and Sylvia Stickney built this English country house in 1865. They chose such an isolated place for the peace and quiet and for their spiritualistic activities. Both of them were said to be accomplished mediums and they wanted to host parties and seances for their friends. The seclusion offered by the Illinois countryside made the perfect setting. The Stickneys may have drifted toward spiritualism as a way to communicate with their dead children; they had ten children but only three survived to adulthood. It is known that the family conducted seances on the second floor of the building, in Sylvia&#39;s ballroom. In the years since the house left the hands of the Stickney family, owners have reported supernatural occurrences.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The house itself was very unusual in its design. It has two stories, although the second floor was reserved for a ballroom that ran the entire length of the building. The house is actually very big for being built in the 1800s. Upstairs has two rooms, one with a bathroom, and down the hall is Sylvias ballroom that has three more rooms connecting to it. During the Civil War, the house also served as quarters for Federal soldiers and was home to the first piano in McHenry County. This was not why the house gained its fame though! The Stickneys insisted on adding distinctive features into the design of the house. These features, they assured the architect, would assist them when holding seances and gatherings at the property. They believed that spirits have a tendency to get stuck in 90 degree corners. It has also been suggested that the Stickneys believed that corners attracted the attention of evil spirits as well, a common belief in Spiritualist circles of the time. Therefore, the homes interior was designed with no 90 degree angles between the walls. Rumor has it that there is one 90 degree angle in the house, and this is also where George Stickney died. Not true, Richard confirmed that the house was searched and documented and there was no 90 degree angles found at the time of Georges death. He also confirmed that Georges death was never documented, so no one knows how he died.</p><br>
<h2>Paranormal Activity</h2><br>
<p>Today the mansion is occupied by the Village of Bull Valley and its police department.</p><br>
<p>In 2005 Bull Valley Police Chief Norbert Sauers described his experiences with possible paranormal events in the Stickney Mansion. Sauers said that village employees have heard numerous sounds that seem to defy explanation. He described hearing footsteps in the second floor ballroom, a room that today is used only as storage for village records but was used for seances when the Stickneys owned the mansion. The footstep sounds have extended out onto the stairwell at times. Other occurrences include hearing human sounding noises or voices. They sometimes even hear the toilets flushing when they are alone in the house.</p><br>
<p>The Chief said he has also personally experienced objects moving around on his desk, lights turning off and, door knobs turning and a door opening, seemingly by themselves, and voices from thin air, having once heard a shout in his ear when no one was around him. Another police officer in Bull Valley claims to have come face to face with an apparition of Stickney&#39;s father-in-law.</p><br>
<h2>Photo gallery</h2><br>
<p>Fall Creek Stone Arch Bridge is located near the Adams County town of Payson, Illinois. It spans Fall Creek about 1.2 miles northeast of Payson Road, upstream from the town. The bridge has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since November 7, 1996.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>It is largely unknown when the bridge was built but estimates put it somewhere in the early 19th century. The bridge&#39;s engineers and designers are lost to history as well yet their bridge remains.</p><br>
<p>The Fall Creek Stone Arch Bridge spans Fall Creek in a near perfect arc, a distance of 43 feet at a height of 35 feet from the creek. The bridge is constructed from limestone, gathered nearby. The records of its construction were lost in an 1880s fire.</p><br>
<p>The John Wood Mansion was built between 1835 and 1838 by John Wood, who in 1860 became the 12th governor of Illinois on the death of Governor William Bissell. The Wood family moved into the Greek Revival home situated at 12th and State Streets in Quincy, Illinois from an unusual two-story log cabin in 1837. Quincy is the county seat of Adams County. Wood founded both the county  and city .</p><br>
<p>Woods 14-room mansion was built by John Cleaveland and endured a move from its original site to its current location, about a block east, so Wood could build an even larger mansion. The Greek Revival building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 17, 1970, and in 2007 was named by the Association of Independent Architects one of Illinois 150 most important architectural structures. The John Wood Mansion features four large Doric columns, which Wood himself turned at a lathe he built for that purpose, four large chimneys and many ornate details inside and out. A great many original Wood family and period furnishings are displayed throughout the mansion. Today it is owned and operated by the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County.</p><br>
<p>The house is open for public tours from April through October. The Society also offers educational tours of the house to all local 3rd and 4th grade students each year, as well as special candlelight tours open to the public in December.</p><br>
<p>Una Vida is an archaeological site located in Chaco Canyon, San Juan County, New Mexico, United States. According to tree rings surrounding the site, its construction began around 800 AD, at the same time as Pueblo Bonito, and it is one of the three earliest Chacoan Ancestral Puebloan great houses. Comprising at least two stories and 160 rooms, it shares an arc or D-shaped design with its contemporaries, Peñasco Blanco and Pueblo Bonito, but has a unique "dog leg" addition made necessary by topography. It is located in one of the canyon&#39;s major side drainages, near Gallo Wash, and was massively expanded after 930 AD.</p><br>
<p>The site is surrounded by rock art and petroglyphs that depict human figures, solar signs, and geometric forms. It was first recorded in the mid-19th century by US military that were surveying the area of modern New Mexico. The site was acquired after the war with Mexico and was only partly excavated in the 1950s and 1960s.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>Una Vida means "One Life" in the Spanish language.</p><br>
<h2>Chaco Road</h2><br>
<p>Chaco Road is a network of roads (for travel and trade) which radiated from great house sites, such as Pueblo Bonito, Chetro Ketl and Una Vida, leading to small house sites on the periphery of Chaco Canyon. Una Vida today is in a near-natural state of preservation, with minor excavations. A one-mile roundtrip trail is now in place so that tourists can come and explore the site as they please.</p><br>
<h2>Citations</h2><br>
<p>Vonitsa  is a town in the northwestern part of Aetolia-Acarnania in Greece, seat of the municipality of Aktio-Vonitsa. Population 4,916 . The beach town is situated on the south coast of the Ambracian Gulf, and is dominated by a Venetian fortress on a hill. Vonitsa is 13 km southeast of Preveza, 18 km northeast of Lefkada  and 90 km northwest of Agrinio. The Greek National Road 42  passes through Vonitsa.</p><br>
<h2>Settlements</h2><br>
<p>Vonitsa proper</p><br>
<p>Aktio, the ancient Actium</p><br>
<p>Nea Kamarina</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Vonitsa is built near the site of ancient Anactorium, an important city of Acarnania, founded by the Corinthians in 630 BC. Like the other cities of Acarnania, it went into decline when the Romans founded Nicopolis on the other side of the Ambracian Gulf after the Battle of Actium, and forced its inhabitants to move to that city. Vonitsa was founded during Byzantine rule. Vonitsa was controlled by the Republic of Venice between 1684 and 1797. After the Greek War of Independence, the town became a part of Greece in 1832.</p><br>
<h2>Population</h2><br>
<h2>International relations</h2><br>
<p>Vonitsa is twinned with:</p><br>
<p>Połaniec, Poland since 2001.</p><br>
<p>The Magdalena Mountains are a regionally high, mountain range in Socorro County, in west-central New Mexico in the southwestern United States. The highest point in the range is South Baldy, at 10,783 ft , which is also the tallest peak in Socorro County. The range runs roughly north-south and is about 18 miles  long. The range lies just south of the village of Magdalena, and about 18 miles  west of Socorro. The Magdalena Mountains are an east-tilted fault-block range, superimposed on Cenozoic calderas. The complex geologic history of the range has resulted in spectacular scenery, with unusual and eye-catching rock formations. They form part of the western edge of the Rio Grande Rift Valley, fronting the La Jencia Basin. The mountains remain isolated and natural due to the absence of any significant human development within or near the range.</p><br>
<p>The range takes its name from a volcanic peak on the west side, named Magdalena Peak, after Mary Magdalene. A talus formation and shrub growth on the east slope of Magdalena Peak is said to resemble a woman&#39;s face. According to Julyan’s Place Names of New Mexico, one legend about the mountain purports that “a group of Mexicans were besieged by Apaches on the mountain, when the face of Mary Magdalene miraculously appeared, frightening the Indians away.”</p><br>
<h2>Management</h2><br>
<p>Most of the Magdalena Mountains are within the Magdalena Ranger District of the Cibola National Forest, and parts are also administered by the Bureau of Land Management. While there are no designated Wilderness areas in the range, the Ryan Hill Inventoried Roadless Area (IRA) is sizeable (up to approximately 35,000 acre). In 1980, Public Law 96-550 established Langmuir Research Site in the Magdalena Mountains. Congress found the mountains uniquely suited for atmospheric and astronomical research which has been conducted at Langmuir Laboratory near South Baldy since the mid-1960s. The Act designated a 31,000 acre portion of the mountain as essentially roadless, but not wilderness. There is overlap between the Ryan Hill IRA and the congressionally designated Langmuir Research Site management area. Directly adjacent to the southern boundary of the Ryan Hill IRA lies the Devil’s Reach Wilderness Study Area (WSA). The Devils Reach WSA and its neighboring Devil’s Backbone WSA are both managed by the BLM. The Ryan Hill IRA, Devils Reach WSA, and Devil&#39;s Backbone WSA combine to form a 44,050-acre contiguous roadless area on the southern end of the range.</p><br>
<h2>Recreation</h2><br>
<p>A well-established network of trails exists in the Magdalena Mountains, providing adundant hiking, backpacking, hunting, horseback-riding, and stargazing opportunities. The Forest Service notes that there are over 60 miles of trails in the Magdalenas. Over half of the trails are in the Ryan Hill Inventoried Roadless Area.</p><br>
<p>The Water Canyon Campground is a developed campsite located at 6,800 ft elevation in the Magdalenas.</p><br>
<p>Significant summits include:</p><br>
<h2>Scientific research</h2><br>
<p>At the southern end of the main range crest, just south of South Baldy, lies the Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech). The Langmuir’s location in the Magdalena Mountains was chosen “because thunderstorms are initiated by the mountains and the storms are often isolated, stationary, and relatively small” and occur with high frequency. Visiting scientists at Langmuir also study bats, hummingbirds, butterflies and plant life in the area. The same area hosts the Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometer, also operated by New Mexico Tech, along with other institutions.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The history of the Magdalena Mountains is intimately linked with the rich history of the surrounding area. Basham noted in his report documenting the archeological history of the Cibola’s Magdalena Ranger District that “he heritage resources on the district are diverse and representative of nearly every prominent human evolutionary event known to anthropology. Evidence for human use of district lands date back 14,000 years to the Paleoindian period providing glimpses into the peopling of the New World and megafaunal extinction.“</p><br>
<p>Much of the now Magdalena Ranger District was a province of the Apache. Bands of Apache effectively controlled the Magdalena-Datil region from the seventeenth century until they were defeated in the Apache Wars in the late nineteenth century.</p><br>
<p>A mining rush followed the Apache wars – gold, silver, and copper were found in the mountains. While miners combed the mountains for mineral riches during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, stockmen drove tens of thousands of sheep and cattle to stockyards at the village of Magdalena, then linked by rail with Socorro. In fact, the last regularly used cattle trail in the United States stretched 125 miles westward from Magdalena. The route was formerly known as the Magdalena Livestock Driveway, but more popularly known to cowboys and cattlemen as the Beefsteak Trail. The trail began use in 1865 and its peak was in 1919. The trail was used continually until trailing gave way to trucking and the trail officially closed in 1971.</p><br>
<h2>Ecology</h2><br>
<p>The Magdalena Mountains contain a wide variety of vegetation types, including scrubland, pinyon-juniper woodland, ponderosa pine forest, spruce-fir forest, grassland, and riparian areas. At lower elevations, grasses include black and sideoats grama, poverty threeawn, fluffgrass, burrograss, and galleta grass. Higher up, grass species include blue and hairy grama, little blue stem, and Arizona fescue. Shrubs that are mixed in the grasslands include sotol, cholla, yucca, Apache plume, mountain mahogany, shrub live-oak, gambel oak, and alligator juniper.</p><br>
<p>The range of habitat areas available is reflected by the variety of wildlife in the area. The mountains are home to mountain lions, black bears, pronghorns, mule deer, coyotes, red and grey foxes, bald and golden eagles, prairie falcons, kestrel, and Mearn’s quail. Additionally, several thousand acres of Mexican spotted owl critical habitat lie within the range. The Magdalenas provide important habitat and an east-west movement corridor for mountain lions, and the area is considered important for species movement across the landscape. The Nature Conservancy identified the Magdalena Mountains as part of a key conservation area due to their ecosystem diversity and species richness.</p><br>
<p>The Lenzspitze is a 4,294 m mountain in the Pennine Alps in Switzerland. It is the southernmost peak on the Nadelgrat, a high-level ridge running roughly north–south, north of Dom in the Mischabel range, above the resort of Saas Fee to the east, and the Mattertal to the west.</p><br>
<p>It was first climbed in August 1870 by Clinton Thomas Dent with guide Alexander Burgener and a porter, Franz Burgener, by the north-east face to the Nadeljoch and then the north-west ridge to the summit. This route is rarely used today.</p><br>
<p>The east-north-east ridge starts at the Mischabel Hut. This ridge was first climbed on 3 August 1882 by William Woodman Goodman with guides Ambros Supersaxo and Theodor Andenmatten.</p><br>
<p>Its north-east face is a classic ice climb, comprising a 500 m wall of ice or neve at an angle of up to 56 degrees, first climbed by Dietrich von Bethmann-Hollweg with Oskar and Othmar Supersaxo on 7 July 1911. This face was descended on skis by Heini Holzer on 22 July 1972.</p><br>
<p>Lake Osakis is a lake in Todd and Douglas counties in west-central Minnesota. The town of Osakis is situated on the southwest shore of the lake.</p><br>
<h2>Name</h2><br>
<p>The lake received its English name by translation from the Ojibwe Ozaagi-zaagaigan, meaning "the Sauks Lake. The lake is supposed to have received its name due to a historical association with a small group of Sauks who, having been banished from their tribe for murder, made camp on the shores of Lake Osakis. According to Ojibwa oral tradition, these five Sauks were massacred by local Dakota Indians in the late 18th century.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Osakis is a large prairie lake, with a surface area of 6,270 acre and a maximum depth of 73 ft. Gamefish present in the lake include black crappie, bluegill, largemouth bass, northern pike, pumpkinseed, smallmouth bass, walleye, and yellow perch. Osakis is an exceptional walleye lake; it has long been known as the "Mother Lake" because the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources uses a fishtrap on Bull Creek to obtain milt and eggs from walleyes for use in breeding and stocking programs. In addition to the above-mentioned gamefish, Lake Osakis has large populations of black bullhead, dogfish, brown bullhead, and tullibee, also known as "cisco." Some common carp are also present in the lake, however carp are an exotic species and their presence in the lake is not desirable. Osakis is the primary source of the Sauk River, having a naturally occurring but now human-controlled outflow on the east side of the lake.</p><br>
<p>Lake Tarpon is a freshwater lake located about 10 mi west of Tampa in Palm Harbor and Tarpon Springs, Florida. Lake Tarpon is the largest lake in Pinellas County with a surface area of 2,500 acre.</p><br>
<p>Its watershed encompasses 52 square miles including the two largest tributaries, South Creek and Brooker Creek. Lake Tarpon can be visited at Anderson Park, Chesnut Park, or several other public access points.</p><br>
<p>The lake is a regional recreational destination and is renowned for its largemouth bass fishing.</p><br>
<p>Although Lake Tarpon is designated as a fishing and swimming lake, it fails to meet the EPA&#39;s standards, and is therefore listed as an impaired lake because it is over polluted. Lake Tarpon is not in attainment because the waters exceed its Total Maximum Daily Load (or TMDL) for Nutrients and as a result of excessive nutrients, low Dissolved Oxygen. Part of the pollution that enters Lake Tarpon is caused by fertilizers that have caused algae and unwanted weeds to grow. Some have suggested using liquid fertilizer to stop this. The logic being that liquid fertilizers are taken up by the plants while granular fertilizers are more likely to run off in rain water. Another problem Lake Tarpon faces is having low dissolved oxygen. As the nutrient load in the water increases, so do bacteria and other micro-organisms that consume the excess nutrients. These micro-organisms are largely aerobic (require oxygen to live). The micro-organisms consume the oxygen in the water, thus lowering the Dissolved Oxygen. The resultant decreased Dissolved Oxygen lowers biodiversity in the ecosystem. Increased nutrients in the water also increase the turbidity (murkiness) that recent samples show), and as a result can cause hypoxia (low oxygen) or a dead zone where life is unsustainable, as exemplified in the Gulf of Mexico.</p><br>
<p>The Ober Gabelhorn  is a mountain in the Pennine Alps in Switzerland, located between Zermatt and Zinal.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The Ober Gabelhorn lies in the Swiss canton of Valais at the southern end of the Zinal valley (part of the Val d&#39;Anniviers). It rises, together with the Dent Blanche (west) and the Zinalrothorn (north), above the Zinal Glacier. On the south side lies the Zmutt Glacier in the valley of Zmutt, which extends west of Zermatt.</p><br>
<p>The Ober Gabelhorn has a pyramidal shape, similar to the nearby Matterhorn but on a smaller scale. Only the smooth north face is completely glaciated, the other faces being mostly rocky. The south-west ridge is called the Arbengrat while the north-north-west ridge is the Arête du Coeur. The south-east ridge looking over the Ober Gabeljoch (3,597 m) is the Gabelhorngrat. The Wellenkuppe is a lower prominence on the north-east ridge; it is usually climbed as part of the normal route.</p><br>
<p>Huts serving the peak are the Rothorn Hut (3,198 m), the Grand Mountet Hut (2,886 m) and the Arben Bivouac (3,224 m).</p><br>
<h2>Climbing history</h2><br>
<p>The first ascent was by A. W. Moore, Horace Walker and Jakob Anderegg on 6 July 1865, via the east face.</p><br>
<p>The second ascent of the peak, and the first by the north-north-west ridge, was made one day later by Lord Francis Douglas, Peter Taugwalder and Joseph Vianin on 7 July 1865. At the time of their ascent they were not aware of Moore and partys success on the previous day. Douglas and Taugwalder made several attempts before they reached the summit. P. Inäbnit accompanied them on the first attempt from the south-east ridge. They didnt have enough time to go higher than the base of the mountain. On the second attempt they reached the Wellenkuppe (3,900 m) on the north-east ridge (the normal route today) but they considered that the ridge above was too difficult to continue. They finally reached the summit on their third attempt (Inäbnit having been replaced by Viennin). They were disconcerted to see some footprints on the east face (made by Moore, Walker and Anderegg on the previous day), but were relieved that no traces were visible on the summit. Not aware of the dangers that might have made the previous expedition turn back, they sat down on the summit to have lunch. Suddenly an avalanche started and everything on the summit began to fall away from them. Douglas and Taugwalder were swept away, but they were roped to Viennin who was a little distance below the summit. Viennin was able to belay Taugwalder and Douglas with the rope, which didn&#39;t break. Francis Douglas returned to Zermatt, and was killed a week later on 14 July on the first ascent of the Matterhorn.</p><br>
<p>The Arbengrat was first climbed in 1874 by H. S. Hoare and E. Hulton with guides J. von Bergen, P. Rubi and J. Moser. The route on the Gabelhorngrat was opened three years later by J. Walker Hartley, W. E. Davidson, P. Rubi and J. Juan.</p><br>
<p>The north face, similar to but rather steeper than the north-east face of the Lenzspitze, was first climbed on 30 July 1930 by H. Kiener and R. Schwarzgruber. They started from Zermatt at midnight and made a direct 2,000-metre ascent to the Triftjoch. They reached the base of the north face after having traversed the crevasses of the Ober Gabelhorn Glacier and successfully climbed it. This route was repeated only once until 1951.</p><br>
<p>Christian Klucker and L. Norman-Neruda made the first ascent of the east-north-east ridge on 1 August 1890. Nowadays most of the climbers use this route, starting at the Rothorn Hut (above Zermatt) and passing over the summit of the Wellenkuppe. The major obstacle, the Klucker tower, is equipped with ropes since 1918.</p><br>
<p>The McDowell Mountain Range  is located about twenty miles north-east of downtown Phoenix, Arizona, and may be seen from most places throughout the city. The range is composed of miocene deposits left nearly five million years ago. The McDowells share borders with the cities of Fountain Hills, Scottsdale, and Maricopa County. The city of Scottsdale has made its share of the McDowells a preserve, and has set up a wide trail network in partnership with the. The McDowell Sonoran Conservancy was established in 1991. The highest peak in the McDowells is East End, at 4,069 ft. This mountain range also serves as a sacred marker to the Yavapai people. The boundaries of the range are generally defined by Saddleback Mountain in the South and Granite Mountain as the Northern boundary. The McDowells also comprise popular landmarks such as Pinnacle Peak and Tom&#39;s Thumb. Although technically a stand-alone, Mt. McDowell , not to be confused with McDowell Peak, is sometimes listed on maps as a part of the McDowell Mountains.</p><br>
<h2>Summits</h2><br>
<p>East End (Arizona)</p><br>
<p>Thompson Peak (Arizona)</p><br>
<p>McDowell Peak</p><br>
<p>Sunrise Peak</p><br>
<p>Rock Knob</p><br>
<p>South Baldy is the highest point of the Magdalena Mountains in central New Mexico, in the United States. It is in the Magdalena Ranger District of the Cibola National Forest, about 9 mi  south of Magdalena and 18 mi  west-southwest of Socorro. It lies just north of the Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, and near the future site of the Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometer.</p><br>
<p>South Baldy can be accessed easily from the dirt road leading to Langmuir. Alternately, it can be accessed by trail from below. From a campground in Water Canyon (accessed from the northeast side of the range), a trail follows Forest Road 406 and then Trail 10 up Copper Canyon to the main crest of the range, where it joins Trail 8, the North Baldy Trail, which follows the crest. A short hike south on this trail and a little off-trail ascent leads to the summit of South Baldy.</p><br>
<p>The peak is the site of an annual mountain bike ascent race up the Langmuir Road as part of the.</p><br>
<p>While not of exceptional height for New Mexico mountains, South Baldy is surrounded by low terrain, and hence is a highly visible landmark and the sixth most topographically prominent peak in the state.</p><br>
<p>The American Fork, in Utah, flows out of American Fork Canyon in the Wasatch Mountains about 35 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. The headwaters are located on Mount Timpanogos and the river continues down through American Fork Canyon. On the way it passes through the Uinta National Forest and Timpanogos Cave National Monument. Exiting the canyon, the river runs through northern Utah County and empties into Utah Lake on the north shore.</p><br>
<p>The city of American Fork is named after this river.</p><br>
<p>The description "American" in the river&#39;s name is to distinguish it from the Spanish Fork River that also originates in the Wasatch Range; alternatively, it could have been named after the American Fur Company.</p><br>
<p>A combination of the river and uplift of the Wasatch Mountains has carved the scenery of American Fork Canyon.</p><br>
<p>Fly fishermen commonly target smaller rainbow trout (measuring 6-12 in.) – and to a lesser extent brown trout – in the river during summer and fall, when strong runoff and snowfall does not limit access.</p><br>
<p>Karagöl is a tourist attraction of Giresun Province located in eastern Black Sea region of Turkey.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>Karagöl is a compound word in Turkish. "Kara" means "black" and "göl" means "lake", hence "Karagöl" means "black lake" in Turkish. It appears dark blue because the lake on the Karagöl Mountains is very deep. For this reason it has been called as "Karagöl" due to the appearance of its surface color.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Karagöl is the common name for a mountain chain, its summit, a lake on it, a high plateau around it and a summer settlement in the high plateau located in the southeast of Dereli district of Giresun province. The Karagöl as a high plateau is just located nearby the provincial border of Giresun, Ordu and Sivas provinces.kara göl dogal kırater ve rakımı oldukça yüksek biryerdedir 3115 gibi yüksekrakımdadır hemen altında ise şirin bir aksuköyü bulun maktadır okarı köy hallıyan aşagı köy gıruklu derler orada yaşayan lara yani giresunun köylerinde yaşayanlara gıruklu şehir veya kasabalarda yaşayanlara ise cenikli derler.</p><br>
<h2>Karagöl Mountains</h2><br>
<p>Karagöl Mountains (Karagöl Dağları) is a chain of Giresun Mountains (Giresun Dağları) in the southeastern border of Dereli district of Giresun. It is the second highest peak of Giresun. The Karagöl summit of this mountain chain is 3,107 meters high.</p><br>
<h2>Lakes on Karagöl Mountains</h2><br>
<p>There are a several glacier lakes (nearly ten) on the hills and hillsides of Karagöl Dağları. Karagöl lake giving its name to the mountain is a crater lake on Karagöl Dağları. On the lower side of the Karagöl summit there is another lake called Aygır Gölü (Aygır Lake). It is a beautiful glaciers lake. On the eastern hillsides of Karagöl Dağları Bağırsak Gölü (Bağırsak Lake) is fed by the water of Karagöl lake nearby Eğrikaya Obası, a summer settlement. Camlı göl (Camli lake) is another lake on the northeastern side of Kırklar Tepesi (Kırklar Summit) that is located on the east end of Karagöl Dağları. Kırklar summit is 3040 meters high. In the west side of this summit there is Sağrak Göl (Sağrak Lake). There are many summer settlements such as Kanıağıl, Avşar, Giresun, Yukarı Belen and Aşağı Belen in the Sağrak valley starting below Sağrak Göl.</p><br>
<p>Whitewater Baldy is the highest point of the Mogollon Mountains and the 3rd highest mountain in Southern New Mexico, after Sierra Blanca Peak and Lincoln County&#39;s Lookout Mountain. It is located in Catron County in the Gila Wilderness, part of the Gila National Forest. It lies about 15 mi east of the town of Glenwood .</p><br>
<p>Like all of the surrounding mountains, Whitewater Baldy is part of the Mogollon-Datil volcanic field, and consists of volcanic materials formed between forty and twenty-five million years ago. It is drained on the west side by Whitewater Creek, and on the east by Iron Creek.</p><br>
<p>Despite its name, Whitewater Baldy is forested up to its summit. It can be accessed by trail from the west along the Crest Trail (Forest Trail 182). It can also be accessed from the east side of the Gila Wilderness.</p><br>
<p>The area was severely impacted by the Whitewater-Baldy Complex Fire in 2012.</p><br>
<p>Mount Ōmine, is a sacred mountain in Nara, Japan, famous for its three tests of courage.</p><br>
<p>Officially known as Mount Sanjō, it is more popularly known as Mount Ōmine due to its prominence in the Ōmine mountain range. It is located in Yoshino-Kumano National Park in the Kansai region, Honshū, Japan.</p><br>
<p>The temple Ōminesanji, located at the top of the mountain, is the headquarters of the Shugendō sect of Japanese Buddhism and the entire mountain is part of a pilgrimage and training ground for the yamabushi.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The monastery at Mount Ōmine was founded in the 8th century by En no Gyōja, as a home for his new religion of Shugendō. Shugendo literally means "the path of training and testing," and is based on the self-actualization of spiritual power in experiential form through challenging and rigorous ritualistic tests of courage and devotion known as shugyo.</p><br>
<p>During the Meiji period, in 1872 the imperial government forbade all "superstitious practices" including belief in folkloric creatures such as Yōkai and Yūrei, as well as gender bans on sacred mountains such as Mount Fuji and all of the rituals of Mount Ōmine. During this time the mountain was closed, and any Shugendo practices were carried on in secret. However, in 1945 the Japanese Culture Act repealed these edicts, and the mountain was opened again. Shugendō practicers were quick to reclaim the mountain and restore the traditions.</p><br>
<p>In 1964, Mountaineer/author Kyūya Fukada selected Mount Ōmine as number 91 of his 100 famous mountains in Japan. Fukuda&#39;s three criteria for the selection of 100 celebrated mountains was their physical grandeur, historical and spiritual significance to Japan, and its individuality, meaning it must have a unique shape, phenomenon or event associated with it. In 1980 an area of 36,000 ha in the region of Mount Ōmine and Mount Ōdaigahara was designated a UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve.</p><br>
<p>In 2004, it was designated as an UNESCO World Heritage Site, as part of the "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range". This selection was seen as ending the controversy surrounding the mountain&#39;s ban on women climbers, as it was given official approval by UNESCO.</p><br>
<h2>Ban on women</h2><br>
<p>Traditionally, women in Japan were not allowed to climb mountains sacred to the Shinto religions. While the origins of the traditions can only be guessed at, originally these areas were banned to unclean people, such as those who had recently had a death in the family or menstruating women, which was believed to be linked to Shinto concepts of impurity, specifically the "blood impurity" brought on by menstruation and childbirth.</p><br>
<p>Other sacred mountains had different traditions, such as segregating the sexes by season, allowing women to climb at some times and men to climb at others. It is believed that the reason for this ban was to remove thoughts of temptation from the Yamabushi monks who are supposed to practice the strict self-denial of a hermit in isolated mountain. Eventually the bans came to be called Nyonin Kekkai (女人結界) and toward women only.</p><br>
<p>Mount Ōmine is the headquarters of the Shugendō religion, an ascetic practice with a long tradition. Because of a decrease of ascetic practitioners in modern Japan, most Shugendō-related mountains are no longer used for mountain retreats and are now tourist attractions. Consequently, these sites removed their gender-restrictions and only Mount Ōmine remains.</p><br>
<p>Only Mount Sanjō has the ban on women. The Mount Inamura (稲村ヶ岳) section of Mount Ōmine is reserved for women and is often called Nyonin Ōmine (女人大峯), "Womens Ōmine". The holiest temple for the Shugendō religion is found at the Yamagaoka hill section, and a sign at the entrance to the mountain proclaims "No Women Admitted," in English and Japanese. (Mount Athos in Greece, an Orthodox Christian site, has a similar ban on women.) Mount Ōmines prohibition is voluntary. There have been breaches every year by feminist activists but no trespassing charge has ever been filed. Every time the boundary is breached, the temple and the local community issue a request for people to respect their religion and tradition.</p><br>
<p>The ban has been challenged many times but without success. Supporters note that sexual segregation does not equal sexual discrimination. Supporters also state that the ban has an unbroken, 1,300-year tradition. Mount Ōmine&#39;s designation as a World Heritage site by UNESCO was seen by critics of the ban to have given the gender ban a stamp of approval.Williams University “A mountain pilgrimage for men only:</p><br>
<p>tradition bars female climbers"</p><br>
<h2>Tests of courage</h2><br>
<p>There are three shugyo on Mount Ōmine, each said to strengthen the spiritual power of the challenger. Climbers not wishing to take the tests can easily walk around them.</p><br>
<p>Kane Kage Iwa: The Hanging Stone, also known as the Crab Rock due to the position one must take when ascending, is a roughly 30-foot cliff, most of which is easily climbable. However, at the top there is an overhanging rock. To climb the rock, one must swing out over the overhang, using an embedded length of chain to ascend.</p><br>
<p>Nishi no Nozoki: The Insight from the West is a sheer cliff, roughly 200 feet high, about the same height as the Golden Gate Bridge. Novices are held head-first over the cliff, where they are compelled to admit their faults and promise to follow the social and religious laws.</p><br>
<p>Byodo Iwa: The Rock of Equality is only available by special request. It is a rock tower, overlooking a deep cliff. Several projections from the wall allow individuals to cross over to the other side.</p><br>
<p>Mount Daisen, is a volcanic mountain in Tottori Prefecture, Japan. It has an elevation of 1,729 metres. This mountain is the highest in the Chūgoku region, and the most important volcano on the Daisen volcanic belt: a part of Southwest Honshu volcanic arc, where the Philippine Sea Plate is subducting under the Amurian Plate.</p><br>
<h2>Outline</h2><br>
<p>Mount Daisen is a complex volcano, made by repeated volcanic activity over thousands of years. Eruptions in this area started 1.8 million years ago and resulted in Old Daisen some 500,000 years ago. The Mount Daisen of today, New Daisen, resulted from a second group of eruptions which started 50,000 years ago and ended 10,000 years ago in the caldera of Old Daisen. 50,000 years ago, this mountain had a plinian eruption from which volcanic ash can be found as far away as the Tohoku Region of Japan. Daisen is one of the 100 famous mountains in Japan, and also one of the Chūgoku 100 mountains.</p><br>
<h2>History and religion</h2><br>
<p>Mount Daisen, which stands directly on the Sea of Japan, was regarded as one of the most important mountains for Japanese Shugendō. According to the Izumo Kokudo Fudoki, completed in 733, it was called Ōkami-take, literally, Mountain of the great god.</p><br>
<p>Mount Daisen has been called Hōki Fuji and Izumo Fuji, depending on which side of the mountain the viewer is standing on. These names are based on the old Hōki and Izumo provinces.</p><br>
<p>Halfway up the mountain stands a Buddhist temple, Daisen-ji. This has existed as a centre of worship since the Heian Period. It was founded by the Tendai sect in 718.</p><br>
<p>Climbing the mountain used to be severely prohibited without a selected monk of Daisen-ji, and common people could not access the mountain until the Edo Period.</p><br>
<p>The mountain has also been important to the mountain ascetics of the Shugendō sect. Just above the temple is the Ōgamiyama Jinja, literally, shrine of the mountain of the great god.</p><br>
<h2>Route</h2><br>
<p>After the 2000 Tottori earthquake, some of Mount Daisens peaks are on the verge of collapse. It is prohibited to ascend the mountains highest peak, the Kengamine (1,729 m). Climbers are able to access the Misen Peak (1,709.4 m). The most popular route is from Daisen-ji to the Misen Peak. It takes three hours to reach the summit.</p><br>
<p>The Lomond Hills , also known outwith the locality as the Paps of Fife</p><br>
<p>lie in western central Fife and Perth and Kinross, Scotland. At 522m West Lomond is the highest point in the county of Fife.</p><br>
<h2>Natural geography</h2><br>
<p>The Lomond Hills contain two prominent peaks, West Lomond and East Lomond (or Falkland Hill) (448 m), which lie at either end of an escarpment roughly 6.5 km in length. The escarpment, made from beds of sandstone, limestone and quartz-dolerite, rises gradually from the south to a plateau of around 350 m in height between the peaks of East and West Lomond. To the north and west, this plateau terminates in steep and, in places, cliffy scarp slopes. From its western end, the escarpment continues southwards beyond the deep valley of the Glen Burn (Glen Vale) to Bishop Hill (461 m). The steep-sided peaks of East and West Lomond themselves are volcanic in origin. Along the edges of the sandstone bed at the foot of the scarp slopes are several strangely eroded outcrops, the most famous of which are the Bunnet Stane and John Knox&#39;s Pulpit, so named because it is believed to be a spot where covenanters held conventicles in the 17th century. There are also strange outcrops in the columnar jointing at the edge of the dolerite sill on Bishop Hill, most notably Carlin Maggie.</p><br>
<p>The River Eden, one of the two primary rivers in Fife, has its source on the slopes of West Lomond. On the northern slopes of the Lomond hills, two burns run down from the plateau in impressive gorges. These are the Maspie Burn and the Arraty Burn. Maspie Den has a path running along its length to an undercut waterfall at the top, which can be accessed just beyond Falkland House (approaching from the Falkland direction). Glen Vale with the Glen Burn, to the south of West Lomond, is equally impressive.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Lomond Hills have a rich and varied history. From the Iron Age are the remains of several hill forts, which can be found around the summits of both East and West Lomond as well as at Maiden Castle, a grassy knoll that lies between the two.</p><br>
<p>In more recent history, the Lomond Hills were mined for limestone, ore and lead, although there are no longer any working quarries there today. On the southwest slopes of East Lomond are the well preserved remains of a limekiln and quarry (in which the fossilised remains of prehistoric sea creatures can be found).</p><br>
<p>Both East and West Lomond can easily be climbed from Craigmead Car Park, which lies between the two at a height of around 300m. Alternative routes exist from the Bunnet Stane, the village of Falkland and the car park at the masts, high on East Lomond. The views from both summits, due to their prominence, are magnificent, stretching from the Highlands to the Borders, with the sea in the east.</p><br>
<p>Beneath the northern slopes of the escarpment lies Falkland Estate, an area of forest (now commercial plantation), where the kings of Scotland would have hunted whilst staying at nearby Falkland Palace. The present custodian of the palace is Ninian Crichton-Stuart, brother of the Marquess of Bute.</p><br>
<h2>The Lomond Hills today</h2><br>
<p>Due to the steep gradients and poor soil, the primary land uses on the Lomond Hills are sheep grazing and commercial forestry (predominantly on the steep north slopes) and water catchment. There are six reservoirs in the Lomond Hills that were originally constructed to supply water to the rapidly growing mining towns of west Fife.</p><br>
<p>The Lomond Hills lie within the boundaries of Fife Regional Park, renamed the Lomond Hills Regional Park in 2003, and have their own ranger service who work principally with the landowners, estate managers and farmers on issues such as public access to help minimise the impact of recreational activities on their day-to-day business. The park covers approximately 65 square kilometres and is divided as follows: 1,120 hectares of land is in public ownership: 500 hectares belong to Fife Council and 620 are owned by Scottish Water. The balance of 5,355 hectares is privately owned.</p><br>
<p>As a result of their accessibility and proximity to several major population centres, the hills are very popular with walkers. This has resulted in a considerable amount of footpath erosion, particularly on the steeper sections, that the ranger service and volunteer workers are taking measures to counteract.</p><br>
<p>As well as walking, there are a number of more unusual recreational activities that take place in the Lomonds. East Lomond, due to the easy access from the high car park, is often used by paragliders on windy days. The Falkland Hill Race is held annually and begins at the fountain in the centre of Falkland village. The competitors must run (or in many cases walk) to the summit of East Lomond before returning to the fountain. The wooded northern slopes of East Lomond also boast a series of downhill mountainbike tracks.</p><br>
<p>Gliders from the Scottish Gliding Centre at Portmoak between Bishop Hill and Loch Leven may be seen riding the thermals above the hills.</p><br>
<p>Victoria Peak within the Maya Mountains is the second highest mountain in Belize. The highest peak in the country, Doyle&#39;s Delight at a height of 1,124 m, is located 57 km southwest of Victoria Peak.</p><br>
<p>It was pronounced a natural monument in 1998, comprising about 4,847 acres bordered by the Sittee River Forest Reserve, Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, and Chiquibul National Park.</p><br>
<h2>Ecology and Climate</h2><br>
<p>Victoria Peak is situated in a broad-leaved montane elfin forest. The tropical evergreen jungle has been damaged by hurricanes such as Hurricane Hattie in 1961, and fires caused by occasional lightning. These environmental factors have caused the ecosystem to become stunted. Along with averages of 100 inches of rainfall per year, Victoria peak is often windswept and cloud covered and the soil is poor as the various surrounding vegetation takes up all of the nutrients.</p><br>
<h2>Flora</h2><br>
<p>Many of the plants that thrive in this diverse forest are used for medicinal practices, food, or even as guides and trail markers ensuring the Maya hunters do not become lost in the forest.</p><br>
<p>The vegetation begins at the base of the mountain with moist, tropical forest, transforming into elfin shrubland, characterized by sphagnum moss and a tree canopy of about 2–3m (6-10 ft) high. Just ahead of the summit is rich, humid forest that is dense with secondary growth among mature tree stands, yet with a relatively clear forest floor. The base of the mountain is compiled of sedge marsh that eventually turns to orange groves as the elevation increases slightly. The many species of trees inhabiting the peak include mahogany, cedar, banak, waika, swivelstick, quamwood, yemeri, negrito, santa maria, rosewood and many more.</p><br>
<p>Frequent species of plants that are characteristic to Victoria Peak and the Cockscomb range are Clusia sp. and Myrica cerifera, two plants species which form thick stands that average about 1-2 m (3-6 ft) tall. Shrubs such as these are very often accompanied by “beard lichen” growing amongst the branches. Bromeliads and orchids are also numerous, such as the orange flowering orchid, Epidendrum ibaguense or the scarlet orchid, also known as dragon&#39;s tongue.Epidendrum ibaguense, or the fiery-coloured orchid, is a rare species of orchid that only grows at higher elevations.</p><br>
<p>One of the other more common plant species seen is the hot lips bush, it is most frequently spotted along the trail edges and is characterized by its ‘pouting’ red flower.</p><br>
<h2>Fauna</h2><br>
<p>As many as 300 species of birds can be spotted in the Cockscomb Basin itself. There are many native species that reside in the Belizean forests on Victoria Peak, as well as seasonal migrants that average about 18% of the bird population. Of those, there are critically endangered species present such as the ornate hawk-eagle, keel-billed motmot, and the scarlet macaw.</p><br>
<p>Other common birds of Victoria Peak and the Cockscomb Basin include: great curassow, crested guan, clay-coloured robins, social flycatchers, collared-seed eaters, crimson-collared tanagers and masked tanagers, bat falcons, Montezuma’s oropendola, as well as white-collared manakins, paraque, the slaty-breasted tinamou, chestnut headed oropendolas, parrots, toucans, and Agami heron to name a few.</p><br>
<p>Cockscomb Wildlife Sanctuary in the Victoria Peak region hosts the world’s densest jaguar population. Panthera onca (jaguar) is the third largest member of the cat family in the world and is considered endangered in the majority of its habitat ranges. Other common mammals of the Victoria Peak region that are thriving in the protected area and Cockscomb Sanctuary are: jaguarundi, ocelot, puma, margay, peccary, paca, as well as brocket deer, nine-banded armadillo, tayra, otter, coatimundi, gibnut, and agouti.</p><br>
<p>Some of the animals listed on the IUCN Red List of seriously endangered mammals that inhabit Victoria Peak and area are the ocelot, margay, jaguarundi, puma as well as Baird&#39;s tapir, all of which have populations beginning to increase in size.</p><br>
<p>There are many reptiles, amphibians and insects that frequent the broad-leaved montane elfin forest. Recently, Smilisca cyonostica (formerly S phaeota), a species of frog, along with Gastrophryne elegans, a toad that had not previously been seen in Belize, has also been observed on the peak. A week-long diversity survey recorded 44 species of butterfly in the area.</p><br>
<p>The forest carpet is often covered in leaf-cutter ants that create long travelling routes, while tarantulas often remain hidden under leaves at trail edges. Botflies are also present, due to the presence of cattle ranchers further north that settle throughout Belize, and infect mosquitoes with their eggs to then be transferred to a bovine host and to hatch into larvae right underneath the epidermal layer.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Victoria was thought to be the highest mountain in Belize at 1,120 m, until very recently when Doyle’s Delight was measured at 1,124 m. The first exploration of Victoria Peak occurred in British expeditions of 1888 and 1889, but the explorers actually scaled a nearby peak that they mistakenly labeled Victoria Peak. Several expeditions followed in 1927-1928. The name “Victoria Peak” was given in honor of Queen Victoria for the highest peak in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary Range. On May 2, 1998, Victoria Peak was declared a natural monument, adding it to the list of protected areas in Belize.</p><br>
<p>Rowan Garel, a 12-year-old visually impaired boy, climbed to the top of Victoria Peak along with his father in 2011. His efforts, with assistance from Delta Air Lines and his father, raised money for a summer camp put on by the Belize Council for the Visually Impaired.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>There is a Victoria Peak Trail in Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary that is open during the dry season in Belize from February–June. The hike takes approximately 3–4 days and is 24 km one way. Groups are limited to a maximum of 8 and licensed tour guides that are found in the local communities are required to accompany hikers on the trail. There are two campsites, one at 12 km and a second at 19 km, where hikers often stay overnight. The majority of the hiking is class 3 (scrambling and a rope may be required), however, there are certain areas with class 4 hiking where a rope is required.</p><br>
<p>The Charles H. Hibbard House, in the McHenry County city of Marengo, Illinois, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979. The home, also known as the Cupola House, stood unoccupied on Grant Highway as of January 2007. In recent years the home had been classified by the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois  as one of the states threatened landmarks. In 2003 the property was listed on LPCIs "top ten most endangered" list. Some time after its 2003 the home underwent some renovation and no longer appears dilapidated on its exterior, as it did in a 2003 photo featured by the LPCI. In 2003 the house was listed as a landmark by the city of Marengo.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The home is a distinctive example of Italianate architecture. The homes namesake as Cupola House comes from the octagonal cupola on its roof which provides ventilation and it is thought served as a lookout tower during the Civil War. the first floor has two back bedrooms believed to have been servants quarters at one time. Upstairs, on the second floor, there are six bedrooms, a long hallway, a back staircase and bathroom.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Hibbard House has a fairly illustrious history, as houses go. Construction began in 1846 at the behest of Charles Hibbard, in 1847 the home was complete and the Hibbards moved in. The home was constructed as an exact replica of Hibbards childhood home and contains 14 rooms. Construction cost somewhere around $16,000. The property that the home is on was purchased as a 7 acre plot from Christopher Sponable. Hibbard came to Marengo by way of Charleston, South Carolina. He was one of Marengo&#39;s first storekeepers and was a known horticulturalist who was renowned for his produce. During the Civil War it is thought that the home was used as a safe stop for runaway slaves. The cupola played a key role in that if it was safe to stop, for food and lodging, a light would be hung in the cupola window. The home also contained a secret, underground room in the yard, it had a hidden entrance near the front porch.</p><br>
<p>Hibbard died in Lawson, Missouri in 1872 and by 1874 the home was owned by Joseph Dietz who ran a machine shop in Marengo around 1877. Interestingly, Dietz married Caroline Sponable, the first white child to be born in Seneca Township. Dietz owned the home until 1894 when records show that A.H. (C.H or H.L.) Hale bought the home and held it until 1950. A local teacher, Jane Stanford, purchased the home in 1950 and owned it until 1955. Stanford was well known as an educator and community leader. Mr. and Mrs. Francis (Mary) Muzzy owned the home from 1956 to 1980. Jane Stanfords niece, Mary Stanford Muzzy (daughter of Charles Stanford, Janes brother) and her husband purchased the home from her aunt&#39;s estate. Mary S. Muzzy Neal has owned the home since 1980. Mary Susan Neal lives in California and created a life there since before 1972 when she was admitted the state bar of California as an attorney.</p><br>
<p>Cane Creek Mountains is a small mountain range that lies south of Burlington, North Carolina. The range covers an area including Alamance County, Guilford County, Randolph County, and Chatham County in North Carolina.</p><br>
<h2>Formation</h2><br>
<p>The mountains are typical of the rolling terrain of the piedmont region of North Carolina, and are somewhat similar in formation to the nearby Caraway Mountains and Uwharrie Mountains. The Cane Creek Mountains may have formed as a part of the larger coastal range that was once the Uwharries, which are thought to have formed as a part of the Alleghenian or Appalachian orogeny 300–350 million years ago during the formation and rifting of Pangaea. This earlier range is thought to have had peaks more than 20,000 ft high, which would rival the Himalayas, the Andes, and the Alaska Range. However, erosion has worn this old mountain range down. The highest peaks of this old range are now found in the Appalachian Mountains on the eastern coast of North America and in the Anti-Atlas Mountains of Morocco in Africa.</p><br>
<p>The heavily eroded hills of piedmont, including the Cane Creek Mountains, are remnants of the sizable mountain chain.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The Cane Creek Mountains lie in the Carolina Slate Belt, a belt that consists of heated and deformed volcanic and sedimentary rocks. The belt is best known for old abandoned gold mines. North Carolina led the nation in gold production for 50 years, between the discovery of a 17-pound (7.7 kg) gold nugget at the Reed Gold Mine in Cabarrus County, NC near Charlotte in 1799 and the discovery of gold during the California Gold Rush of 1849. Limited gold mining continues to take place, but several mining companies continue to operate, both on the slate belt and in and near the Cane Creek Mountains. Most mineral production in the area is crushed stone for road aggregate and pyrophyllite for refactories, ceramics, filler, paint and insecticide carriers.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The northern edge of the mountains begins on the southern bank of Great Alamance Creek, approximately 4 mi south of Interstate 40 in Graham and runs in a southwesterly direction towards Liberty in Randolph County. The range covers much of the southwest quadrant of Alamance County. While much of the range is a series of rolling hills that are common throughout the North Carolina Piedmont Region, there are several peaks in the Cane Creek Mountains located north of Snow Camp. The highest point in the range and in Alamance County is Cane Creek Mountain, which is approximately 987 ft.</p><br>
<p>Perhaps the most famous peak in the range is the 267 m (902 ft) Bass Mountain, the former home of an annual bluegrass music festival. Contrary to some local belief, Bass Mountain is not the highest peak in the range, although the range is occasionally referred to as the "Bass Mountains".</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The mountains and Alamance County were home to the local Native American tribes, including the Sissipahaw. The area saw major activity during the American Colonial and Revolutionary period, with several battles taking place in and near the range, including Pyle&#39;s Massacre and the Battle of Alamance. There are several cave sites throughout the mountains where local historians theorize that small military parties may have been able to fortify their position.</p><br>
<h2>Current Use</h2><br>
<p>The mountains are home to families, farms, and television, radio, and cellular communications towers. There is also a fire tower located on top of Cane Creek Mountain that is no longer safe for use.</p><br>
<h2>Nearby Mountains</h2><br>
<p>The piedmont region of North Carolina is home to several small mountain ranges and monadnocks, including:</p><br>
<p>Stony Creek Mountain - a monadnock in Northern Alamance County that rises to 288 m (938 ft)</p><br>
<p>Caraway Mountains - a small range in Randolph County, to the southwest</p><br>
<p>Uwharrie Mountains - a range of mountains in four counties southwest of the Cane Creeks</p><br>
<p>Occoneechee Mountain - a monadnock near the Eno River in Orange County to the east</p><br>
<p>The Quaintance Block was the first storefront in historic downtown Golden, Colorado to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1911, it is a one-of-a-kind architectural landmark combining Victorian and presaging modern styles, featuring unique experimental glazed bricks. It is also fondly remembered among locals as the Spudnut Shop.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Quaintance Block was originally built in 1911 directly on the southeast corner of 13th Street and Washington Avenue, just to the east of its present location. Charles F. Quaintance, a son of pioneers, built this as his new building to house, in its three storefronts, his photo shop (13th Street storefront), Quaintance Realty & Investment Company (corner storefront), and the law office of his brother Arthur (Washington Avenue storefront). A highly astute businessman and promoter, Quaintance strategically located his building across from both of Goldens tramway depots on the opposite corners, luring passengers by advertising his Castle Rock Resort overlooking town. Here, eager patrons would get their photos taken with burros which would take them up the mountain, and while they were away, Quaintance developed their photos to be ready when the tourists returned. After the resort faded following the advent of the Denver Mountain Parks, Quaintance concentrated on other pursuits. In 1923, Quaintance moved the building 65 feet west to make way for downtowns first stand-alone service station (a Conoco) on the corner, arranging for his building to face upon a courtyard and shifting his rooftop billboard east. Upon his death in 1940 his father Brough, took over the business until he died in 1946, upon which the investment company ceased operation. The building was sold to Ernie Waters, who converted it into the Golden Furniture Store, later owned by Cliff Evans. After Evans consolidated it with another furniture store he purchased on Washington Avenue, Leonard and Pat Dunn opened the Spudnut Shop here in 1953. Quickly becoming beloved among Goldenites, it was a shop of the national chain which sold, from Alaska to Mexico, delicious donuts made from potato flour ("spud"nuts). Customers often bought them at the shop, while Dunn also sent out delivery boys carrying baskets of Spudnuts, whom he called his "little businessmen". Later owned by Eleanor Laseman, the shop closed when its space was annexed by neighboring Jeffco Blueprints office supply store in 1984. After this closed, the building was faithfully restored to its original appearance in 1990 under direction of Conrad and Ingrid Gardner. Owned by the couple, it houses the Gardner law office and other tenants. The Quaintance Block was designated a Golden and Colorado landmark in 1993, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. It is one of the rare moved buildings to have achieved such high designation, in recognition of its architecture.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The unique design of the Quaintance Block has long defied simple explanation and has fascinated the preservation community for years. It is made of experimental glazed bricks from the United States Glazed Brick & Pottery works, which operated during the 1910s on far West 8th Street in Golden. It is one of only three known remaining buildings using these bricks (including the Maas Residence at 423 10th Street in Golden and Union Station in downtown Denver), which were renowned in their time for their beauty and would not crack or craze. In overall design, the storefront is premodernist but features a pressed metal cornice looking back on earlier times, even ancient times with its Greek styling. However, its predominantly white walls and geometry look forward to art nouveau and modernist design, while its brickwork quoins complete the unusual design. The Quaintance Block was designed and constructed by architect James H. Gow, locally raised and educated at Jarvis Hall college.</p><br>
<p>Carey&#39;s Creek, known in Māori as Whaitiripaku and Waihema, is a small river in Otago, New Zealand, which flows from the Silverpeaks into Blueskin Bay at Evansdale.</p><br>
<p>The Creek drains the forest plantations and native bush of Silverpeaks Forest and the Careys Creek Conservation Area. It is crossed by State Highway 1 at Evansdale, close to the foot of The Kilmog.</p><br>
<h2>Land tenure and management</h2><br>
<p>The Careys Creek catchment was within the former "Silverpeaks State Forest" created from poor-quality grazing land in the 1960s and 1970s. The native bush was separated from the pine plantation during the Rogernomics privatisation of the New Zealand Forest Service to become the Careys Creek Conservation Area managed by DOC. The pine plantations passed through other owners and are now run by the Dunedin City Council-owned City Forests Ltd and known as Silverpeaks Forest</p><br>
<p>During its tenure as a State Forest the valley floor was grazed, and accessible by farm vehicle for the first few kilometres. Now this area is reverting to native bush through a succession of rank pasture grasses, brooms, willows and manuka.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Seacliff Lunatic Asylum, during Truby King&#39;s period of management, built a water supply pipeline from a dam at the head of the valley, near Semple Road. Rusting bits of pipe are still visible in places.</p><br>
<h2>Recreation</h2><br>
<p>The entrance to the Careys Creek valley system is at a small public picnic area, Evansdale Glen, off State Highway 1 about 200 m north of the township of Evansdale. Careys Creek Track follows the old farm track to its end at the foot of Rongomai Ridge and becomes progressively rougher as a narrow foot track to the creek&#39;s source, ending at a car park on Semple Road. This section probably dates back to the Asylum pipeline construction. Rongomai Ridge Track has a steep climb, continuing as a forestry road to Mountain Road. Honeycomb Ridge Track branches off further up the valley and heads up steep climbs to emerge at a parking area on Mountain Road. At this point, by heading north along Mountain Road, a sign marking the start Rongomai Track can be found.</p><br>
<p>The Hira Mountains are a mountain range to the west of Lake Biwa on the border of Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. The range runs 15 km north to south. It is narrowest in the southern part of the range, running 3 km east to west, and broadest at the northern part of the range, running 10 km km east to west. The eastern side of the Hira Mountains looks steeply over Lake Biwa, while the western side of the range forms a gentler valley in Kyoto.</p><br>
<p>The three main peaks of the Hira Mountains are Mount Bunagatake, the highest with an elevation of 1,214.4 m; Hōraisan, at 1,174 m, and Mount Uchimi at 1,103 m.</p><br>
<p>The spring snow of the Hira Mountains is one of the Eight Views of Ōmi.</p><br>
<h2>Hira-oroshi</h2><br>
<p>A strong local wind Hira-oroshi often blows from Hira Mountains to Lake Biwa especially in the late days of the March. The wind sometimes sinks boats on the lake and stops trains of the Kosei Line, a JR line passing along the foot of the mountains. In every 26 March, Tendai priests hold a memorial service for casualties of shipwreck accidents.</p><br>
<h2>Recreation</h2><br>
<p>The Hira Mountains are a popular destination for skiing, hiking, and mountain climbing.</p><br>
<p>Dona Paula is a former village, and tourist destination, in the suburbs of Panaji, Goa, India. It is today home to the National Institute of Oceanography, and just alongside it lie the Goa University and the International Centre Goa. It is also home to a number of hotels, small and large, and the luxury Cidade de Goa is situated in the area.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The place is named after Paula Amaral Antonio de Souto Maior, a historical figure in Portuguese India. She was the daughter of the Portuguese Viceroy of Jaffnapatnam, in Sri Lanka. She and her family arrived in Goa in 1644 and she married a Fidalgo from Spain in 1656. Her husband was Dom Antonio Souto Maior. They were an extremely affluent family, and the entire property from the present day Cabo Raj Nivas all the way to Caranzalem belonged to the Souto Maior&#39;s. She died on December 21, 1682.</p><br>
<p>Dona Paula was a woman of charity and is known to have helped the villagers and worked a lot for their betterment, so after her death, the villagers decided to rename the village as Dona Paula. Initially the village was called Oddavell.</p><br>
<p>The Dona Paula Beach is also a major tourist attraction. According to a local myth, Dona Paula entombed in the Cabo Chapel, the residence of the Governor of Goa and is supposed to be seen emerging from the moonlit waves wearing only a pearl necklace. Several tourists as well as locals guided by this myth visit the beach for a glimpse of Dona Paula. The Cabo Raj Bhavan is situated at a scenic spot of Dona Paula. It is also home of a historic British war-graves cemetery. After the end of Portuguese rule in Goa in 1961, Dona Paula became a fashionable residential area and address.</p><br>
<h2>Vicinity</h2><br>
<p>Dona Paula is the home to some of the top Industrialists and policy makers of the state. It is also the most expensive residential location in Goa. The Raj Bhavan of Goa is located near the La Marvel Colony in Dona Paula</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>Dona Paula located on the beautiful and famous sea stretch that spans from Panjim, Miramar and Dona Paula is a very famous area frequented by tourists. During the tourist season, Dona Paula transforms into a crowded stretch which is otherwise a calm beautiful place during monsoons. A large part of the famous Hindi movie Ek Duuje Ke Liye was shot here, popularising the place further. An action sequence from Rohit Shetty&#39;s movie Singham was shot here.</p><br>
<p>The idyllic rocky tourist attraction lies at the spot where the Mandovi and the Zuari rivers meet and confluences with the Arabian Sea at a distance of 1 km from this point.</p><br>
<p>One of the most curious attractions in Dona Paula is a whitewashed statue perched on the rocks near the popular ferry jetty. Sculpted in 1969 by Baroness Yrse Von Leistner, there are different versions to its purpose of origin. According to Goa Tourism Boards website, it is named "Image of India" and depicts the figures of Mother India and Young India, one looking to the East and the other to the West. The Wheel of Ashoka is in the middle half, buried in stone, to represent the ancient culture, that nurtured this blend of ideas and emotions. While in the book Walking in Goa&#39; published by Heta Pandit, it is said that the Baroness had actually sculpted statues of philosopher Robert Knox and his wife because she admired him.</p><br>
<p>Weißer Stein is the name of a 548-metre  high hill in the Odenwald, north of Heidelberg and east of Dossenheim.</p><br>
<p>On Weißer Stein is a 20 m tall lookout tower. It was built in 1906 by the members of the Odenwald club. In good weather other high mountains of the Odenwald can be seen, such as Melibokus, Katzenbuckel, Tromm and Neunkircher Höhe. Near the tower is the Höhengaststätte Weißer Stein tavern with a beer garden.</p><br>
<p>Nearby is the 108 m (354 ft) tall broadcast tower of the Deutsche Telekom AG (German telephone company) and an additional antenna mast. The broadcast tower is a Type 11.</p><br>
<p>Coordinates:</p><br>
<p>Lookout tower: 8°4323" East, 49°2711" North</p><br>
<p>Broadcast tower: 8°4326" East, 49°2715" North</p><br>
<p>Antenna mast: 8°4317" East, 49°2710" North</p><br>
<p>Piz Palü is a mountain in the Bernina Range of the Alps, located between Switzerland and Italy. It is a large glaciated massif composed of three main summits, on a ridge running from west to east. The main  summit is 3,900 metres high and is located within the Swiss canton of Graubünden, although the border with the Italian region of Lombardy runs about 100 metres west of it at almost the same height . The western summit  is named Piz Spinas and is the only one not covered by ice. The eastern summit  is named Piz Palü Orientale. The name Palü derives from the Latin palus, meaning a swamp, and the mountain is said to be named after the Alpe Palü, a high alpine pasture some 4 km to its east.</p><br>
<h2>Climbing history</h2><br>
<p>As early as 12 August 1835, the 3,882 m east peak was climbed by Oswald Heer, and Peter and M. Flury, with guides Johann Madutz and Gian Marchet Colani (the chamois king of the Bernina), who were under the impression that this was the highest summit of the mountain. This is still the normal route from Switzerland, be it followed by an easy traverse to the central peak. A second ascent of the east summit was made on 24 July 1864 by Edward N. Buxton, W.F. Digby, William Edward Hall, J. Johnston, and Montagu Woodmass with the Pontresina guides Peter Jenny, Alexander Flury, and J. B. Walther. This group was unaware of the ascent almost 30 years earlier and also believed to have reached the highest summit (they had no vision on the summit). Approaching from the Italian (south) side, four weeks later (17 August 1864) D. W. Freshfield, J. D. Walker and R. M. Beachcroft with the guide François Devouassoud climbed the pass between the central and east summits, but chose to climb the latter peak again.</p><br>
<p>It is uncertain when the central and highest peak (sometimes distinguished by the name Muot da Palü) was first reached. Robin Collomb believes that this was in 1866 by Kenelm Edward Digby with the before mentioned guide Peter Jenny and a porter. It was certainly ascended on 28 June 1868 by A. W. Moore, Horace Walker and Jakob Anderegg. Just four weeks later a traverse of all three peaks was made by Herren Albert Wachler, Wallner, and George, with the guides Hans and Christian Grass on 22 July 1868.</p><br>
<p>The mountain has gained some prominence from the film The White Hell of Pitz Palu (1929), co-directed by mountain-film pioneer Arnold Fanck and Georg Wilhelm Pabst, and starring a young Leni Riefenstahl.</p><br>
<h2>Panorama</h2><br>
<p>Ampthill is a plantation located in Cartersville, Virginia, United States, roughly 45 minutes west of Richmond, and just over an hour south of Charlottesville. The property is listed on both the National Register of Historic Places as well as the List of Virginia Historic Properties.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Site history</h3><br>
<p>In 1714 Charles Fleming took on a land patent of 670 acres (2.7 km²) with an intent to cultivate it. The land, however, "lapsed," and was later granted to Thomas Randolph in 1722. This area was later included in a tract made up of 2870 acres (11.6 km²), which later came to be known as "Clifton." But it was this initial purchase of the 670 acres (2.7 km²) that would form "The Fork," known for its position on the James and Willis Rivers. It would later become Ampthill. In 1724, Randolph sold to Robert "King" Carter, then the wealthiest landowner in Virginia.</p><br>
<p>In his will dated 22 August 1726, King Carter willed the 2870 acre (11.6 km²) tract to his then unborn grandson, with the stipulation that the child carry the Carter name. Some time later, Anne Carter and Major Benjamin Harrison of Berkley Plantation, christened a son, Carter Henry, who later become the owner of the property known as "Clifton," in Cumberland County, Virginia.</p><br>
<p>Carter Henry Harrison moved to Clifton upon graduation from law school. There he raised his family and wrote the Cumberland Resolutions, which were presented to the community from the steps of the Effingham Tavern. These resolutions were later incorporated into the Virginia Resolutions, which were the basis for the Declaration of Independence, written by Harrison&#39;s nephew, Thomas Jefferson.</p><br>
<h3>Ampthill</h3><br>
<p>Carter Henry Harrison died in 1793. In his will, Carter Henry willed Clifton to his son, Randolph, and The Fork to his son Robert. Robert sold The Fork to Shadrack Vaughan in 1804. Randolph later repurchased the property in 1815. The Fork was a clapboard structure of no more than three bedrooms. In 1815, the decision was made to add an addition to the existing manor. Randolph called upon his cousin, Thomas Jefferson, to design the brick addition that exists today. These plans exist today on file with the University of Virginia. The addition began its first phases of construction in 1835 and was completed in 1837. The two "houses" were separate for a number of years until a one story passageway was built to connect the two. After the construction of the brick addition was completed the structure was renamed Ampthill.</p><br>
<p>It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.</p><br>
<p>Hard times and poor planning saw Ampthill pass from family member to family member over the years, finally falling out of the family&#39;s hands in 1923. Ampthill was then purchased by J. Rodgers and I. M. Baker, but as they were unable to meet the financial obligations of their mortgage, the land was then purchased by Frank Baber in 1933. This sale was never officially recorded, so Inez M. Baker, William Abernathy Baker and Irving Marshall Baker purchased the home from the Federal Land Bank in Baltimore and Frank and Mary Tyler Baber in 1936. The house was then sold to Dorothy Des Leal Neville and John Neville, who defaulted. Ampthill and the existing land was then auctioned and purchased by Thomas G. Hardy and Andrew E. Godsey in 1952. In November of that year, the Rea family purchased the home from the Hardys and the Godseys. The Rea family lived at Ampthill for a number of years and sold the home in 1986 to the Saunders family, who were descended from the Harrison line that originally lived at Ampthill.</p><br>
<p>The Saunders later moved from the property and in 1998, the property was purchased by George Costen of Charlottesville. Beginning in 1999 and for a number of years that followed, Ampthill went under a major historic restoration, which included a near reconstruction of one of the outbuildings, which served as a garage for the Rea family for a number of years.</p><br>
<p>Ampthill was a bed and breakfast and enjoys the prestige of being the only privately owned Jeffersonian property in Virginia. Her windows are the original glass. Ampthill exists today on 60 acre of the original 2870 acres (11.6 km²), is the home to 40 head of cattle and includes the manor house, four outbuildings and the barn, which dates to 1920, by far the youngest standing structure on the property.</p><br>
<p>Mount Whiteface is a mountain located in Grafton County, New Hampshire. The mountain is part of the Sandwich Range of the White Mountains. Whiteface is flanked to the northwest by Mount Tripyramid, and to the northeast by Mount Passaconaway. Whiteface is on the eastern border of the Sandwich Range Wilderness. To the east, between Whiteface, Passaconaway, and Mt. Wonalancet, lies The Bowl natural area, an unlogged cirque.</p><br>
<p>Mt. Whiteface lies within the watershed of the Saco River, which reaches the Gulf of Maine at Saco, Maine. The south side of Whiteface is drained by the Whiteface River, thence into the Cold River, Bearcamp River, Ossipee River, and the Saco River. The east side is drained by the Wonalancet River, thence into Swift River, and Bearcamp River. The north side is drained by Downes Brook, thence into another Swift River, and the Saco River.</p><br>
<p>The summit of Mt. Whiteface is in a wooded area along the Rollins Trail, approximately.3 mi north of the top of the massive granite cliff for which the mountain is named. Many hikers reach the open area at the top of the cliff and do not realize the true summit is farther to the north.</p><br>
<p>The Kallada River is one of two major rivers that flow through the Kollam District of Kerala, India. This River is formed by three Rivers, viz., Kulathupuzha, Chendurni and Kalthuruthy which join near Parappar in Thenmala by the side of the Trivandrum-Shencottah road. It travels for 121 km, flowing through Punalur, Pathanapuram, Kunnathur and Kallada before ending at Ashtamudi Lake. The Palaruvi Falls also feeds Kallada river. The Chalikkari Aar also joins Kallada a little downstream. These two rivers flows westward and falls into the Ashtamudi Lake.</p><br>
<h2>River Course</h2><br>
<p>For a good part of its initial course, the river flows in parallel with the Kollam - Shenkottai commercial highway. At Punalur, a Suspension Bridge was constructed across this by the Travancore Maharaja in British Style. This is still preserved as an archeological marvel.The end point of this river is the Ashtamudi Kayal. The river bed is usually rocky and it is difficult to swim and play in such as river. There are huge rocks, deep pits and other obstructions in the river. In modern times, the Thenmala dam is built on this river. This is an irrigation dam mainly aimed at providing water to the downstream regions throughout the year.</p><br>
<p>Kallada Boat Race (The Kallada Jalotsavam) is one of the most famous boat races held in South Kerala, India. The boat race is an annual event which happens 28 days after Onam (28 aam Onam). Almost all the famous snake boats (Chundanvallam) take part in this event. This boat race is held on the Muthiraparambu-Karuvathrakadavu course of the Kallada River. This year it will be conducted on 23 September. Sasthamkottah lake is the largest fresh water lake in kerala and provides drinking water for most of the places in Kollam district.Except for an earthen embankment of 1.5 km length which separates the lake from the paddy fields on its southern side, bordering the alluvial plains of the Kallada River, all other sides of the lake are surrounded by hills which are steep and form narrow valleys.Sooranad,Chakkuvally,Kunnathur,Mynagappally,Poruvazhy,West Kallada,Karunagappally,East Kallada are the Important places in and around Sasthamcotta.</p><br>
<p>Kallada river has a place in history along with other major rivers. It is believed that Paleolithic people lived around this river in the Thenmala region. This was around 10,000 years ago. Later, the "Ay" kingdom also flourished in or around this region.kallada is a river whose serenity lies in its stillness,the pythonic pace with which it embraces the muddy riversides.Emanate from here are the rustic simplicity and emotionality of village populaces, west kallada and east kallada. Untouched by the onslaught of administrative modernization, there are many areas in both villages. Uppoodu (of east kallada), ullurup (of west kallada) are a few to name. The virtues of the word called "kinship",define itself here better than anywhere else.these words are attempted for nothing,but to eulogise the umblical relation between the river kallada and the unique life of rustic magnanimity,which it had given birth to</p><br>
<h2>Industries along the river</h2><br>
<p>There were many industries flourishing on the banks of Kallada river during the British Period. Punalur Paper Mills was one of such major companies which operated near the banks of this river.The effluents discharged from Punalur paper mills into Kallada river is found to alter the physicochemical factors and production of plankton. Hence this Mill was closed in 1987.Even sand mining is also a great concern along the banks of this river which makes the banks more vulnerable to erosion and floods</p><br>
<h2>Kallada Irrigation Project</h2><br>
<p>Kallada irrigation and Tree crop Development project is the largest irrigation project in Kerala. The command area of this project is distributed over Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha district and coveres Punalur, Pathanapuram, Kottarakkara, Kollam, Kunnathur, Karunagappally, Adoor, Mavelikkara and Karthikappally Taluks. The project was planned to irrigate net cultivable command area of 61630 Ha. During the course of execution few canals including Kayamkulam Branch canal were dropped and now this project is benefited for a net cultivable command area of 53514 Ha in 92 villages. Head works is completed during 1986. Left and right bank main canals are fully completed. Right bank main canal partially commissioned during 1986 and left bank main canal during 1992.</p><br>
<p>Suswa is a shield volcano in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya. It is located between Narok and Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.</p><br>
<p>Suswa has a unique double crater with a moat-like inner crater surrounding a tilted block of rock. The mountain is also known for its lava tube caves on the northeast side of the outer crater.</p><br>
<p>It is possible to drive up the lesser-end of the mountain into the outer crater with a four-wheel-drive vehicle; however, there are numerous barricades across the trail where local Masaai try to collect a fee for allowing you through. Arrangements can be made to pay a set fee and get a guide to take you past the barricades. The inner crater is home to a variety of snakes species. Other wildlife of interest found on or near Mt. Suswa includes zebras, giraffes, mongooses, turtles, hyenas and leopards.</p><br>
<p>It is also possible to climb the mountain, which owns a 2,356-meter summit. There are no specified paths, but Suswa is best accessed from the mountain from the north and northeast. The Suswa Primary school, located at the base of the mountain, is another practical starting point. Also, there are many Masaai homesteads surrounding the base of the mountain; it is recommended to introduce yourself to the head of the family if your route crosses such. With the exception of Rauchs Trail, there are no designated pathways to the summit. However, the Masaai do graze cattle on the mountains grasslands, making for the occasional route. The peak can be reached on foot by following Rauchs Trail, which begins approximately one-and-a-half kilometers from the summit, from the northeast. Rauchs Trail is marked with a wooden sign, overlooking the crater.</p><br>
<p>Menengai Crater is a massive shield volcano with one of the biggest calderas in the world, in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya. It is the largest volcano caldera in Kenya and the second largest volcano caldera in Africa. Farmland occupies its flanks.</p><br>
<p>The crater is on the floor of the Rift Valley. The volcano formed about 200,000 years ago and the prominent 12 x 8 km caldera formed about 8000 years ago. The caldera floor is covered with numerous post caldera lava flows.</p><br>
<p>The Menengai volcano is considered one of the best-preserved Krakatau-style calderas in the world.</p><br>
<p>Menengai has very little sediment in the caldera which is a thick mass of lava boulders and inaccessible ridges.</p><br>
<p>Volcanic activity continues and is used for geothermal power generation.</p><br>
<p>Menengai is 10 km north of Nakuru, the fourth-biggest city in Kenya.</p><br>
<p>Monkey River is a coastal watercourse in southern Belize that rises in the Maya Mountains and discharges to the Caribbean Sea near Monkey River Town. One of Belize&#39;s major rivers, Monkey River has northern headwaters which originate in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, where the Swasey Branch drains the East Basin of that wildlife sanctuary. Further south, the Bladen Branch watercourse drains the eastern slopes of the Maya Mountains including the ancient Mayan settlement areas of Lubaantun and Nim Li Punit. These two watercourses join to form the Monkey River approximately 16 kilometres upstream from the mouth of the Monkey River. The Monkey River is readily navigated throughout the year using small boats, but navigation above the major confluence  becomes more difficult due to lack of depth when the dry season starts about February. Habitats in this watershed provide cover for such diverse species as the ocelot, jaguar, Guatemalan black howler, bare-throated tiger heron, Morelet&#39;s crocodile, fer-de-lance and manatee.</p><br>
<h2>Hydrology</h2><br>
<p>The Monkey River is one of six large watersheds in the 1 million acre (4,000 km) Maya Mountain Marine Area Transect, which connects the Maya Mountains to the coastal waters of the Gulf of Honduras. According to The Nature Conservancy: "The Monkey River in southern Belize supports one of the most pristine coral reefs in Central America, which is part of the second largest barrier-reef system in the world." Thus the water quality of the Monkey River supports not only freshwater species in the river&#39;s upper reaches and estuarine species in the lower reaches, but also the sensitive offshore Belize Barrier Reef.</p><br>
<p>The Monkey River drains much of southern Belize through the Bladen (southern) Branch, which includes tributaries from a part of southern Guatemala and the southern slopes of the Maya Mountains in Belize, containing the ancient Mayan sites of Nim Li Punit and Lubaantun. The (northern) Swasey Branch of the Monkey River rises in the East Basin of the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, a wilderness area set aside for jaguar preservation. During the rainy season, the Monkey River manifests considerable turbidity.</p><br>
<h2>Ecology</h2><br>
<p>The Monkey River has several important ecosystems including: (a) montane broadleaf primary forest; (b) upland coastal plain broadleaf secondary forest; (c) upper river freshwater riverine habitat; (d) lower reach estuarine and mangrove habitats; and (e) Caribbean Sea coral reef and turtle-grass marine habitat. This shallow marine environment is home to the endangered manatee. Each of these five discrete ecosystems contains important habitat for either terrestrial or aquatic species of southern Belize.</p><br>
<p>The highest upland watershed area contains expansive forests, which are primary in the highest elevations and secondary in the lower foothills of the Maya Mountains. These montane areas provided an impenetrable protective backdrop for the ancient Mayan settlements here, preventing invasion from any tribes resident in Honduras or Guatemala. These forests have important lumber species such as mahogany and cedar trees and a broad panoply of other broadleaf tree species as well as numerous lianas. Fauna include the jaguar, margay, tapir and venomous pit viper Fer-de-lance, Bothrops asper.</p><br>
<p>Along the middle and lower reaches, the forest is secondary, betraying the heritage of banana farms and slash-and-burn practises used historically in this area. Today much of this area is protected as the Payne&#39;s Creek National Park. Here, relatively dense jungle canopy has returned, resulting in a closed canopy of approximately 15 to 20 metres in height. Yellow bay cedar and other significant sized broadleaf species abound, along with numerous tropical vines and thorny undergrowth flora. A machete is essential for exploration even where there is an established trail. Black howler monkey troops are plentiful, each troop maintaining a home range of 40,000 to 70,000 square metres in this forest.</p><br>
<h2>Ecotourism</h2><br>
<p>Boat trips up the Monkey River are a significant part of ecotourism for southern Belize. Most trips originate from Placencia or Roberts Grove, both marinas on the southern part of the Placencia Peninsula, located approximately 35 kilometres northeast of the mouth of the Monkey River. These small motorised boats typically stop at Monkey River Town for lunch and an exposure to the roadless native populace at that village. Most often the boat trips land at a location about ten kilometers upriver from the mouth to allow visitors a walk through the secondary growth forest.</p><br>
<p>Namarunu is a shield volcano located in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya.</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>Namarunu is located in the Suguta Valley, a section of the Kenyan Rift Valley just south of Lake Turkana. It extends from the western side of the rift past the center.</p><br>
<p>The mountain forms a broad shield. The large basal part is about 200 m deep, made up of outward-dipping trachytic lavas, breccias and tuffs.</p><br>
<p>A few thousand years ago the Suguta was filled by a major lake, but now it is extremely dry and hot, with only the small Lake Logipi at the northern end.</p><br>
<p>Some of the recent cones on the floor of the rift valley and on the eastern side of the rift below the Tirr Tirr Plateau contain hot springs.</p><br>
<h2>Evolution</h2><br>
<p>Namarunu was mainly formed during the upper Pliocene, but has some material from the Holocene.</p><br>
<p>It is a trachytic shield volcano topped by more recent parasitic cones and lava flows.</p><br>
<p>The basal trachyte dates to roughly 6.8 million years ago, while the uppermost basalts date to around 500,000 years ago.</p><br>
<p>Large amounts of basalt were deposited in the Rift valley on the north, east and south of the volcano through effusion and explosions during the early Holocene. A breached scoria cone that forms the summit of the mountain also erupted fluid olivine basalts, with some eruptions later than the period around 3,000 years ago when Lake Suguta dried out. Eruptions may have occurred around the same time as historical eruptions of the Barrier Volcano to the north.</p><br>
