<p>The Skjálfandafljót River is situated in the north of Iceland. Skjálfandafljót is 178 km long, and is the fourth longest river of Iceland.</p><br>
<p>It has its source at the northwestern border of the icecap Vatnajökull on the Highlands of Iceland. From there it streams parallel to the Sprengisandur Highland road in a northern direction, flowing finally into Skjálfandi bay.</p><br>
<p>By following the river from its source at the Vatnajökull glacier all the way to the river mouth at Skjálfandi bay it&#39;s possible to see many waterfalls. Skjálfandafljót possesses some of the most beautiful waterfalls in the country, including Goðafoss which is considered one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Europe. Other well-known waterfalls in Skjálfandafljót include Hrafnabjargafoss, Aldeyjarfoss, Barnafoss and Ullarfoss. http://www.reykjavik.travel/index.php/item/161-waterfalls-of-skjalfandafljot 1</p><br>
<p>It was first descended by kayak by a team from the University of Sheffield (UK) in 1989.</p><br>
<p>At the north end of the Sprengisandur road, the river drops down 10m over Aldeyjarfoss. Goðafoss is in the lowlands, very near Route 1.</p><br>
<p>Mývatn is a shallow eutrophic lake situated in an area of active volcanism in the north of Iceland, not far from Krafla volcano. The lake and its surrounding wetlands have an exceptionally rich fauna of waterbirds, especially ducks. The lake was created by a large basaltic lava eruption 2300 years ago, and the surrounding landscape is dominated by volcanic landforms, including lava pillars and rootless vents . The effluent river Laxá is known for its rich fishing for brown trout and Atlantic salmon.</p><br>
<p>The name of the lake (Icelandic mý ("midge") and vatn ("lake"); the lake of midges) comes from the huge numbers of midges to be found there in the summer.</p><br>
<p>The name Mývatn is sometimes used not only for the lake but the whole surrounding inhabited area. The River Laxá, Lake Mývatn and the surrounding wetlands are protected as a nature reserve (the Mývatn-Laxá Nature Conservation Area, which occupies 440,000 hectare.</p><br>
<p>Since the year 2000, a marathon around the lake takes place in summer.</p><br>
<h2>Waterbirds</h2><br>
<p>The lake is fed by nutrient-rich springwater and has a high abundance of aquatic insects (Chironomidae) and Cladocera that form an attractive food supply for ducks. Thirteen species of ducks nest here. The duck species composition is unique in the mixture of Eurasian and North American elements and of boreal and arctic species. Most of the ducks are migratory, arriving in late April – early May from north-western Europe. The most abundant is the tufted duck, which immigrated to Iceland at the end of the 19th century. The greater scaup is the second most common duck species.</p><br>
<p>Other common species include the Barrows goldeneye, red-breasted merganser, wigeon, gadwall, mallard, common scoter, long-tailed duck and Eurasian teal. The outflowing Laxá river has a dense colony of harlequin ducks and there is a large colony of eiders at the river mouth some 50 km away from Lake Mývatn. The Barrows goldeneye is special in being the only nearctic duck in the area (and Iceland as a whole). Its population of about 2000 birds relies entirely on the habitat provided by the Mývatn-Laxá water system and its surrounding lava fields. Most of the Barrow&#39;s goldeneyes overwinter there, using ice-free areas kept open by emerging spring water (both warm and cold) and in the strong river current. This species is a hole-nester, in North America using tree-holes, but at Mývatn the birds use cavities in the lava for nesting. The other duck species nest abundantly in the numerous islands of the lake and the surrounding marshlands.</p><br>
<p>Other common waterbirds include the Slavonian grebe, red-necked phalarope, great northern diver, red-throated diver and whooper swan.</p><br>
<h3>Protection</h3><br>
<p>The lake is included in an important bird area.</p><br>
<p>The waterbird situation has been monitored annually since 1975 by the Mývatn Research Station. There is a long tradition of harvesting duck eggs for home use on the local farms. To ensure sustainability, the harvesting follows strict age-old rules of leaving at least four eggs in a nest for the duck to incubate.</p><br>
<h2>Volcanism</h2><br>
<p>Lake Mývatn was created about 2300 years ago by a large fissure eruption pouring out basaltic lava. The lava flowed down Laxárdalur Valley to the lowland plain of Aðaldalur where it entered the Arctic Ocean about 50 km away from Mývatn. The crater row that was formed on top of the eruptive fissure is called Þrengslaborgir (or Lúdentarborgir) and has often been used as a textbook example of this type of volcanic activity. There was a large lake in the area at the time, a precursor of the present-day Mývatn. When the glowing lava encountered the lake some of the water-logged lake sediment was trapped underneath it. The ensuing steam explosions tore the lava into small pieces which were thrown up into the air, together with some of the lake.</p><br>
<p>By repeated explosions in a number of locations, groups of craters built up and now dominate the landscape on the shore of Lake Mývatn and also form some of the islands in the lake. This type of lava formation is known as pseudocraters or rootless vents. A group of such craters at Skútustaðir on the south shore of the lake is protected as a natural monument and is frequented by tourists. Other pseudocrater groups in this lava field are in the Laxárdalur Valley and Aðaldalur. The formation of pseudocraters halted the advance of the lava in some places creating temporary lava lakes. The lava eventually drained from the lakes, leaving behind a forest of rock pillars. The biggest of these formations is named Dimmuborgir. At another place, Höfði, the pillars stand in the lake water. The lava created by the Þrengslaborgir eruption is known as the Younger Laxá Lava.</p><br>
<p>The Mývatn district lies on the western border of the volcanic zone which cuts across north-eastern Iceland from north to south and is an extension of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. All geological formations are quite recent, dating from the Ice Age and postglacial times.</p><br>
<p>The bedrock of the moors west of Lake Mývatn is made up of interglacial lava flows. Most of the mountains in the vicinity of the lake were formed by eruptions under the ice sheet in the glacial periods of the Ice Age. Eruptions that melted their way up through the ice formed table mountains (Mounts Bláfjall, Sellandafjall, Búrfell, Gæsafjöll), those which didn&#39;t formed hyaloclastite ridges (Mounts Vindbelgjarfjall, Námafjall, Dalfjall, Hvannfell).</p><br>
<p>At the close of the Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago, the Mývatn basin was covered by a glacier which pushed up huge end moraines which can still be seen at the north end of the lake. After the glacier started melting, a glacial lake was dammed up in the Mývatn depression until the glacier retreated from the present course of Laxá river.</p><br>
<p>Postglacial volcanism in the Mývatn district may be divided into three cycles. The Lúdent cycle commenced shortly after the close of the Ice Age. The explosion crater (tephra ring) Lúdent dates from this cycle. Its eruption was followed by a number of small fissure eruptions. About 3800 years ago the shield volcano Ketildyngja was formed about 25 km south-east of Mývatn, and from it a huge lava flow, the Older Laxá-lava, spread over the southern part of the district, plunged down the Laxárdalur valley and flowed almost to the sea. This lava dammed up the first Mývatn, which was about as large as the present lake.</p><br>
<p>The second volcanic cycle, the Hverfjall cycle, began 2500 years ago with a gigantic but brief eruption, which formed the explosion crater (tephra ring ) Hverfjall (also named Hverfell). An eruption in Jardbadshólar followed, producing the lavafield between Reykjahlíð and Vogar. Approximately 200 years later a vast lava flow, the Younger Laxá-lava, was erupted (see above). The lava dammed up the present Lake Mývatn and also the lakes Sandvatn, Grænavatn and Arnarvatn.</p><br>
<p>The third volcanic cycle began with the Mývatnseldar eruptions in 1724–1729 which commenced with an explosion that formed the crater lake Víti. Later lava flowed from Leirhnjúkur down to the north end of Lake Mývatn, destroying two farms. The Mývatnseldar eruptions are quite similar in character to the recent volcanic activity near Krafla in 1975–1984. The source of both is a central volcano lying between Krafla and Gæsafjöll. Inside the volcano resides a magma chamber from which molten magma periodically bursts into a swarm of fissures that cut through the volcano from north to south.</p><br>
<p>The recent activity was characterized by periods of slow land rise, interspersed by shorter periods of rapid subsidence, underground magma bursts, rifting, earthquakes and eruptions (nine in all). This is an excellent example of the process of continental drift in Iceland. A central volcano and its associated fissure swarm is called a volcanic system. The Krafla volcanic system is one of several such systems which together form the volcanic zone of Iceland.</p><br>
<p>A few rhyolite mountains border the Krafla central volcano (Mounts Hlíðarfjall, Jörundur, Hrafntinnuhryggur).</p><br>
<p>Because of the volcanic origin, there are silica quarries in the lake.</p><br>
<h2>Plants</h2><br>
<p>Lake Mývatn is one of the few places in the world that grows Marimo, also known as Cladophora ball, Lake ball, or Moss Balls in English, a species of filamentous green algae (Chlorophyta).</p><br>
<p>Black Elk Peak  is the highest natural point in South Dakota. It lies in the Black Elk Wilderness area, in southern Pennington County, in the Black Hills National Forest. The peak lies 3.7 mi west-southwest of Mount Rushmore. At 7,242 ft, it has been described by the Board on Geographical Names as the highest summit in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. It is also known as Hiŋháŋ Káǧa .</p><br>
<p>The USA Board on Geographic Names, which has jurisdiction in federal lands, officially changed the mountain&#39;s name from "Harney Peak" to "Black Elk Peak" on August 11, 2016, honoring Black Elk, the noted Lakota Sioux medicine man for whom the Wilderness Area is named.</p><br>
<p>Professional but unofficial measurements in 2016 found the highest natural rock to be at 7,231.32 ft NAVD88 and the nearby secondary peak slightly lower at 7,229.41 ft.</p><br>
<h2>Hiŋháŋ Káǧa</h2><br>
<p>This peak was called Hiŋháŋ Káǧa ("Owl maker", after rock formations that look like owls and the association of owls with impending death by the Lakota Sioux). They dominated this region and occupied the territory at the time of European colonization. They considered it a sacred site within the Black Hills, which they call Pahá Sápa and Ȟé Sápa.</p><br>
<p>The mountain was named Harney Peak in 1855 by American Lieutenant Gouverneur K. Warren in honor of US General William S. Harney, his commander in a regional military expedition. In punitive retaliation for other Sioux raids, in September 1855 Harney&#39;s forces killed Brulé Sioux warriors, women and children in what Americans called the Battle of Blue Water Creek in Garden County, Nebraska.</p><br>
<p>Harney later commanded the United States military in the Black Hills area in the late 1870s.</p><br>
<p>The Lakota have tried to get the name of the peak changed for 50 years, as Harney had massacred their people.</p><br>
<p>In 2014 the Sioux renewed their effort to get the name changed, in an effort led by Basil Brave Heart of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. A Korean War veteran, he felt that Harney had not honored the military with his action.</p><br>
<p>Some Lakota requested state officials in 2015 to reinstate their original name Hinhan Kaga for the peak. The Lakota Council of the Pine Ridge Reservation and descendants of Black Elk, a noted medicine man, supported naming it for him, as the national wilderness area around the peak is named for the shaman.</p><br>
<p>He became known beyond the Lakota in part through the book Black Elk Speaks (1932), written by John G. Neihardt from long talks with the shaman. South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard opposed the name change, as did other state officials, and no action was taken in 2015.</p><br>
<p>The USA Board on Geographic Names officially changed the mountain&#39;s name from "Harney Peak" to "Black Elk Peak" on August 11, 2016, by a unanimous vote of 12–0, with one abstention. On August 18, 2016, Gov. Daugaard announced that the state would accept the new name.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Hinhan Kaga and the Black Hills were protected within the Great Sioux Reservation established by the United States government in the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868; it covered most of the territory west of the Missouri River in South Dakota (the area now called West River). American settlement was concentrated east of the river, where there was more water for farming.</p><br>
<p>The first Americans believed to have reached the summit were a party led by General George Armstrong Custer in 1874, during the Black Hills expedition. He was looking for gold. The federal government took back the Black Hills and another strip of land in a new treaty in 1877. More than a decade later, it broke up the Great Sioux Reservation in 1889 into five smaller reservations, the same year that North Dakota and South Dakota were admitted as states to the Union. The government made some 9 million acres of former Lakota land available for purchase for ranching and homesteading. Most American settlement in West River did not start until the early 20th century. The area attracted many European immigrants as well as migrants from the East.</p><br>
<p>Black Elk Peak is the site where Black Elk (Lakota Sioux) received his "Great Vision" when nine years old. He later became a medicine man known for his wisdom. Late in life, he returned to the peak accompanied by writer John Neihardt. Black Elk was sharing much of his life and philosophy with Neihardt through long talks translated by his son. Neihardt tried to express the medicine man&#39;s wisdom in his book Black Elk Speaks (1932).</p><br>
<p>Neihardt recorded Black Elk&#39;s words about his vision as follows:</p><br>
<p>"I was standing on the highest mountain of them all, and round about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world," he is quoted as saying. "And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being."</p><br>
<p>American settlers used Black Elk Peak as a fire lookout tower in 1911, with a wood crate placed at the summit for a seat. In 1920, a 12x12 wood structure was built, and it was expanded to 16x16 the following year. The federal Civilian Conservation Corps enlisted local men and completed construction of a stone fire tower in 1938, one of numerous projects in the state during the Great Depression. The Harney Peak fire tower was last staffed in 1967.</p><br>
<p>A United States post office was operated at Black Elk Peak from 1936 until 1942, and again from 1945 until 1946. The Harney Peak post office was reportedly one of the "most elevated post offices in the United States".</p><br>
<p>In May 2015 the South Dakota Board of Geographic Names recommended renaming Harney Peak as Hinhan Kaga, to remove the name of a commander known for massacring Sioux women and children at the Battle of Blue Water Creek and to honor the original Lakota name for the mountain. At the end of the following month, the board reversed the recommendation that the peak be renamed saying that "there was no public consensus on a new name." The Lakota were divided on a preferred name, and Republican Governor Dennis Daugaard and some other Americans opposed any name change.</p><br>
<p>The recommendation for renaming went to the federal US Board on Geographic Names. The federal board acknowledged that the name was of concern to the Lakota, and its spokesman said, "In this case, the board felt that the name was derogatory or offensive, being that it was on a holy site of the Native Americans."</p><br>
<h2>Hiking</h2><br>
<p>The summit can be reached from Sylvan Lake, Camp Remington, Highway 244, Palmer Creek Rd., Mount Rushmore, or Horse Thief Lake. From the trailhead at Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park, to the summit and back is about 7 mi. This is the shortest, least strenuous, and most popular route. No permit is required for use of the first portion of the trail. However, the United States Forest Service requires hikers to obtain a permit at a self-service kiosk located at the entrance to the Black Elk Wilderness area en route to the summit.</p><br>
<p>An old stone tower, once used as a fire lookout tower, is located at the summit. The ashes of Valentine McGillycuddy were interred near the base of the tower and a plaque reads, "Valentine McGillycuddy, Wasicu Wakan." Wasicu Wakan is Lakota for "Holy White Man."</p><br>
<p>Biak is a small island located in Cenderawasih Bay near the northern coast of Papua, an Indonesian province, and is just northwest of New Guinea. Biak is the largest island in its small archipelago, and has many atolls, reefs, and corals.</p><br>
<p>The largest population centre is at Kota Biak (Biak City) on the south coast. The rest of the island is thinly populated with small villages.</p><br>
<p>Biak is part of the Biak Islands (Kepulauan Biak).</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Biak was first sighted by Europeans by the Portuguese navigator Jorge de Menezes in 1526. In his voyage from Malacca to Maluku via northern Borneo, Jorge de Menezes landed at Biak Islands, at the entrance of the Gulf, where he was forced to winter; the island is thenceforth called in Portuguese maps Ilha de Dom Jorge or Ilha onde invernou Dom Jorge, to become, finally, Ilha de S. Jorge.</p><br>
<p>The Spanish navigator Álvaro de Saavedra sighted the island on 24 June 1528, when trying to return from Tidore to New Spain. Another sighting was later reported in 1545 by Spanish navigator Íñigo Ortiz de Retes on board of galleon San Juan when also attempting the return to New Spain</p><br>
<p>The archipelago was first mapped in the Portuguese charts of Gaspar Viegas (c. 1537), an anonymous map of 1540, and on the maps of João de Lisboa and of Bartolomeu Velho (c. 1560), and by other Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch maps.</p><br>
<p>In World War II, a strategic airfield of the Imperial Japanese Army was located there, serving as a base for operations in the Pacific theatre. American forces eventually captured the island during the Battle of Biak. The captured airfield was renamed Mokmer Airfield and later transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force.</p><br>
<p>It was transferred from Dutch rule, along with half of New Guinea, in the 1960s.</p><br>
<h3>Biak Massacre</h3><br>
<p>On 1 July 1998, the anniversary of the unsuccessful 1971 Papuan declaration of independence, Biak was the scene of what is commonly known as the Biak Massacre or Bloody Biak. Native Papuan people and members of the Organisasi Papua Merdeka (Free Papua Movement), raised their traditional flag, The Morning Star, at Kota Biak water tower and camped there for the next six days.</p><br>
<p>At 05:30 on 6 July 1998 the demonstration was fired upon by the Tentara Nasional Indonesia (TNI or Indonesian Military). Many were shot while attempting to flee. Survivors were rounded up and forced to the docks where they were kept for the several days while further demonstrators were caught.</p><br>
<p>About 200 of the original demonstrators were forcibly loaded onto two Indonesian naval vessels and taken to two different locations to be thrown into the ocean. In the following days, bodies washed up on Biak&#39;s shores, or were snarled in fishing nets. The TNI explained that the bodies turning up belonged to victims of the Aitape tsunami which occurred approximately 1,000 km away in Papua New Guinea.</p><br>
<h2>Demographics</h2><br>
<p>The people of Biak are predominantly Melanesians and the main religion is Christianity. The official language is Indonesian and the main local language is Biak. Other languages such as Dutch and English are also used, but limited. Administratively there are 12 kecamatan, covering only the island itself, having 112,873 people in the 2010 census.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>Biak features a tropical rainforest climate with nearly identical temperatures throughout the course of the year. The average annual temperature in the city is 26 &deg;C, which is also generally the average temperature of each day in Biak. The city sees a good amount of precipitation in every month throughout the course of the year, averaging roughly 2,816 mm of precipitation per year. Its driest months November, average a little under 200 mm of rain per month.</p><br>
<h2>Transport</h2><br>
<p>Biak is serviced by Frans Kaisiepo Airport, which has flights from all over Indonesia.</p><br>
<p>Space satellite launch services had been planned, for the new Biak Spaceport. The equatorial location offers particularly efficient launches to equatorial and near-equatorial orbits; facing eastward toward the Pacific Ocean reduces the downrange risks of launch.</p><br>
<h2>Tradition</h2><br>
<p>The Biak Numfor culture revolves around their ancient animist religion, although today they are Christian as well.</p><br>
<p>Their beliefs revolve around a ritual ceremony called Wor, where they will be plagued by all kinds of bad luck and sickness. The Wor is in all aspect of their life and some of their traditional ceremonies are still being held now. They include the first hair cut ceremony (Wor Kapapnik), the growing up ceremony (Wor Famarmar) and the Wedding ceremony (Wor Yakyaker Farbakbuk). All of these ceremonies are accompanied by singing, dancing and offering to ancestral spirits.</p><br>
<h3>Yosim Pancar Dance</h3><br>
<p>The Biak Numfor have a friendship dance called "Yosim Pancar". It&#39;s small to mid-size dance group formations which could last all-night long. Several "Yosim Pancar" moves that are popular till this day are: Pancar Gas, Gale-Gale, Jef, Pacul Tiga, Seka, and Poco-poco adaptation.</p><br>
<p>The rhythm and song of Yosim Pancar dance are now being modernized with special effect sounds and pop dance beat. Originally the rhythm is to summon ancestal spirits and let them join the group. The traditional musical instrument of this dance is a selfmade stringbass from coconut tree and roots which is similar to the guitar or ukulele.</p><br>
<h2>Flora and fauna</h2><br>
<p>The rain forest-covered Biak Islands have been designated the Biak-Numfoor rain forests, especially as they have the largest number of endemic bird species of any single area in the New Guinea region. There are also numerous reptile and amphibian species found here. Among the many snake species catalogued by Tom Mendelson during his herpetological survey of Biak in the 1990s, the green tree python (Morelia viridis) and the amethystine python (Morelia amethystina) were quite common.</p><br>
<p>There are numerous types of flora in the tropical rain forest of the island, including a variety of trees and other commercially important species plus the lush vegetation of mangrove swamps.</p><br>
<p>Mount Baw Baw is a mountain of the Great Dividing Range, located in Victoria, Australia. Mount Baw Baw Alpine Resort is an unincorporated area of Victoria surrounded by the Shire of Baw Baw.</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>Mount Baw Baw is about 120 km east of Melbourne and 50 km north of the Latrobe Valley. The mountain itself is one of several peaks on the Baw Baw Plateau, a long plateau tending north-east. Other peaks on the plateau include Mount Mueller, Mount Whitelaw, Mount St Phillack, Mount Tyers, Mount Kernot and Mount St Gwinear. The plateau itself is isolated from most of Victoria&#39;s high country by the Thomson and Aberfeldy rivers and tributaries of the La Trobe River, including the Tanjil and Tyers rivers to the south.</p><br>
<h2>Geology and biology</h2><br>
<p>The Baw Baw massif consists of a late Devonian granodiorite pluton. There is relatively little relief on the plateau itself, the highest point reaching 1,567 m. The lower slopes of the plateau are covered in montane eucalypt forest and tall forest, and creek valleys have cool temperate rainforest of myrtle beech, Nothofagus cunninghamii. Above 1,200 m snow gum, Eucalyptus pauciflora, woodland occurs. There is no alttudinal treeline limit; subalpine grasslands and shrublands occur in flat valley bottoms on the plateau as a result of cold-air drainage. Much of this subalpine zone is included in the 133 km&sup2; Baw Baw National Park. The Baw Baw Village ski resort is technically outside the national park.</p><br>
<p>The climate of the plateau itself is subalpine, with an average annual precipitation of 1,900 mm. Snow covers the plateau from June to September.</p><br>
<p>It is thought that Baron Ferdinand von Mueller made the first recorded European ascent of Baw Baw in 1860, naming Christmas Creek on one of his major collecting expeditions. It was on this trip that he collected the Baw Baw Berry, Wittsteinia vacciniacea. There are two routes up the mountain; one via Noojee and Icy Creek which is very winding, and the unsealed South Face Road via Erica.</p><br>
<p>Mount Baw Baw is a stronghold for Eucalyptus regnans, the tallest flowering plant on Earth. The largest reported measurement for an E. regnans was the Robinson Tree, measured at 143 metres by licensed surveyor G.W. Robinson, which was cut from the slopes of Mt. Baw Baw. If accurate, this measurement would make it the tallest tree ever measured by an accredited source.</p><br>
<p>Mount Baw Baw is home to the critically endangered Baw Baw frog.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>The mountain summit receives more annual precipitation than most places in mainland Australia and frequent snow in winter. Frequent heavy cloud cover means temperatures rarely drop well below freezing and the mountain is often shrouded in low cloud or mist. Summers are cool and temperatures rarely rise above 25 &deg;C. During the 2009 Victorian heatwave most of the state saw highs of above 45 &deg;C, while the temperature on Mount Baw Baw&#39;s summit reached a comparatively cool maximum of just 31.3 &deg;C.</p><br>
<h2>Ski resort</h2><br>
<p>There is a ski resort to the west of the summit. There are about 30 hectares of mainly beginner-intermediate ski runs. Seven lifts service a variety of runs, with the highest going almost to the top of Mount Baw Baw with a 91-metre rise. The resort village is at the bottom of the lifts, offering ski in-ski out access. In addition to the downhill runs there are a number of cross country trails offering access to other parts of the Baw Baw plateau. Like most lower-lying Australian ski resorts, snow cover varies greatly from year to year, but is regularly available for the local ski season from about July to the end of September.</p><br>
<p>The alpine resort village has modern facilities and caters for both day-trippers and long-term visitors, with accommodation, ski hire, food outlets, medical and information centres all within walking distance of the car parks.</p><br>
<h2>Walking</h2><br>
<p>During the summer months, Mt Baw Baw is popular for hiking and bushwalking given its location in the Baw Baw National Park. The alpine grasses are blanketed with wildflowers and walks at a higher elevation pass through snow gum forest.</p><br>
<p>Popular walks include the Great Walhalla Alpine Trail, which starts at the gold mining town of Walhalla and finishes at the Mt Baw Baw Alpine Resort. The hike is the first 40 kilometres of the Australian Alps Walking Track. The Mt Baw Baw Summit Walk arrives at the highest peak of the Baw Baw plateau, elevation 1564m. Situated at the summit is the historic cairn used as a survey reference in 1903.</p><br>
<h2>Cycling</h2><br>
<p>The access road to the resort, the Mount Baw Baw Tourist Road, features one of the toughest climbs accessible by road bicycles in Australia. The final climb of 6.2 kilometres rises 718 metres at an average grade of 11.5%, maxing out at 20.3%. The climb is not as long as, but considerably steeper than, any of the hors catégorie climbs featured in the Tour de France. The Mount Baw Baw Classic, which began in 2001, is an annual cycling race held by the Warragul Cycling Club, and ends at the Mount Baw Baw village.</p><br>
<h3>Downhill mountain biking</h3><br>
<p>There is a purpose-built downhill track located on the south western side of the mountain, facing towards the sea. The course has hosted the Victorian Downhill Championships as well as a number of state rounds. The track is around min in duration, comprising a good mix of cambered dirt, rocks, fire road and technical sections. A shuttle service is provided from the base of the track along the Mount Baw Baw Tourist Road back to the Baw Baw Village, so that the venue is very mountain bike friendly.</p><br>
<p>Dahshur  is a royal necropolis located in the desert on the west bank of the Nile approximately 40 km south of Cairo. It is known chiefly for several pyramids, two of which are among the oldest, largest and best preserved in Egypt, built from 2613–2589 BC.</p><br>
<h2>Pyramids</h2><br>
<h2>Tombs & Cemeteries</h2><br>
<p>Located closely to the pyramid of the 12th Dynasty several undisturbed tombs of royal women were found, containing a large amount of lapidary and jewelry that have been determined to be of the highest stage of metalworking in Egypt during this time period. The pyramid of Sesostris III was part of a huge complex, with several smaller pyramids of royal women, along with another pyramid to the south. In a gallery tomb next to this pyramid were found two treasures of the kings daughters (Sithathor). Extensive cemeteries of officials of the Old Kingdom and Middle Kingdom have been found around Dahshurs pyramids. Dahshur was Egypt&#39;s royal necropolis during the reign of the 12th Dynasty king Amenemhat II.</p><br>
<h2>Contemporary history</h2><br>
<p>In July 2012, Dahshur&#39;s entire Christian community, which some estimate to be as many as 100 families, fled to nearby towns due to sectarian violence. The violence began in a dispute over a badly ironed shirt, which in turn escalated into a fight in which a Christian burned a Muslim to death. This, in turn, sparked a rampage by angry Muslims, while the police failed to act. At least 16 homes and properties of Christians were pillaged, some were torched, and a church was damaged during the violence. This incident was reported internationally.</p><br>
<p>As of January 2013, and due to the security vacuum that still prevails in Egypt following the 2011 uprising, the site is under threat of desecration and damage due to encroachment by locals of surrounding urban settlements.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>Dahshur has a hot desert climate (BWh) according to the Köppen-Geiger climate classification system.</p><br>
<p>The Red Pyramid, also called the North Pyramid, is the largest of the three major pyramids located at the Dahshur necropolis in Cairo, Egypt. Named for the rusty reddish hue of its red limestone stones, it is also the third largest Egyptian pyramid, after those of Khufu and Khafra at Giza. It is also believed to be Egypt&#39;s first successful attempt at constructing a "true" smooth-sided pyramid. Local residents refer to the Red Pyramid as el-heram el-watwaat, meaning the Bat Pyramid.</p><br>
<p>The Red Pyramid was not always red. It used to be cased with white Tura limestone, but only a few of these stones now remain at the pyramid&#39;s base, at the corner. During the Middle Ages much of the white Tura limestone was taken for buildings in Cairo, revealing the red limestone beneath.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Red Pyramid was the third pyramid built by Old Kingdom Pharaoh Sneferu, and is located approximately one kilometer to the north of the Bent Pyramid. It is built at the same shallow 43 degree angle as the upper section of the Bent Pyramid, which gives it a noticeably squat appearance compared to other Egyptian pyramids of comparable scale. Construction is believed to have begun during the thirtieth year of Sneferu&#39;s reign. Egyptologists disagree on the length of time it took to construct. Based on quarry marks found at various phases of construction, Rainer Stadelmann estimates the time of completion to be approximately 17 years while John Romer, based on this same graffiti, suggests it took only ten years and seven months to build.</p><br>
<p>Archaeologists speculate its design may be an outcome of engineering crises experienced during the construction of Sneferu&#39;s two earlier pyramids. The first of these, the Pyramid at Meidum, collapsed in antiquity, while the second, the Bent Pyramid, had the angle of its inclination dramatically altered from 54 to 43 degrees part-way through construction.</p><br>
<p>Some archaeologists now believe that the Meidum pyramid was the first attempt at building a smooth-sided pyramid, and that it may have collapsed when construction of the Bent Pyramid was already well underway &mdash; and that the pyramid may by then have already begun to show alarming signs of instability itself, as evident by the presence of large timber beams supporting its inner chambers. The outcome of this was the change in inclination of the Bent Pyramid, and the commencement of the later Red Pyramid at an inclination known to be less susceptible to instability and therefore less susceptible to catastrophic collapse.</p><br>
<h2>Modern day</h2><br>
<p>The Red Pyramid is 105 m high. A rare pyramidion, or capstone, for the Red Pyramid has been uncovered and reconstructed, and is now on display at Dahshur. However, whether it was actually ever used is unclear, as its angle of inclination differs from that of the pyramid for which it was apparently intended.</p><br>
<p>The Red Pyramid, along with the Bent Pyramid, was closed to tourists for many years because of a nearby army camp. It is now usually open for tourists and a somewhat intrusive ventilation has been installed which pipes air down the entrance shaft to the interior chambers.</p><br>
<p>Visitors climb steps cut in or built over the stones of the pyramid to an entrance high on the north side. A passage, 3 ft in height and 4 ft wide, slopes down at 27° for 200 ft to a short horizontal passage leading into a chamber whose corbelled roof is 40 ft high and rises in eleven steps. At the southern end of the chamber, but offset to the west, another short horizontal passage leads into the second chamber. This passage was probably closed at one time and the offset was a measure intended to confuse potential robbers.</p><br>
<p>The second chamber is similar to the first and lies directly beneath the apex of the pyramid. High in the southern wall of the chamber is an entrance, now reached by a large wooden staircase built for the convenience of tourists. This gives onto a short horizontal passage that leads to the third and final chamber with a corbelled roof 50 ft high. The first two chambers have their long axis aligned north-south, but this chamber&#39;s long axis is aligned east-west. Unlike the first two chambers, which have fine smooth floors on the same level as the passages, the floor of the third chamber is very rough and sunk below the level of the access passage. It is believed that this is the work of robbers searching for treasure in what is thought to have been the burial chamber of the pyramid.</p><br>
<p>Tjörnin  is a prominent small lake in central Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland. Most visitors to the city pass along its shore, as it is situated in the city centre next to the Reykjavik City Hall and several museums. Tjörnin means "the lake" or "the pond". Tarn, meaning "mountain lake", is a northern English dialect word derived from the Norse word tjörn and its genitive/plural tjarnar. Bird feeding on the lake shore, a popular pastime, has led to the lake being called "the biggest bread soup in the world" .</p><br>
<p>Tjörnin was the setting for scenes in the 2010 Icelandic movie Gauragangur.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Tjörnin is described as a lagoon next to a barrier beach. The lake’s formation is attributed to the lagoon which was part of a reef that existed at the present location of Hafnarstræti (a city street, "Harbour Street"). The outflow from the lake is Lækurinn, previously an open water channel flowing through the city centre, but since 1911 part of the sewage system under Lækjargata. During the winter, the lake usually freezes periodically and is used for ice skating. Both banks of the lake are paved and terminate at the Hljómskálagarður (formally known as Tjarnargarður), a well-tended park decorated with statues to the south of the lake. The winding paths are frequented by joggers and cyclists. Notice boards along the shore give daily reports of the numbers of birds on the lake.</p><br>
<h2>Avifauna</h2><br>
<p>The lake is frequented by between 40 and 50 species of water birds, including the Arctic tern, the Eider, the Gadwall, the Greylag goose and other species of goose, the Mallard, several species of seagulls, and the scaup. Whooper swan are viewable within close proximity. The Arctic tern’s arrival heralds the start of summer. Birders from all over the North Atlantic come to pursue their hobby in the lake area. The lake is also a favorite place to take young children to watch and feed birds. The popularity of bird feeding has led to the lake being poetically referred to as "the biggest bread soup in the world" (stærsta brauðsúpa í heimi). Lately, however, preying seagulls have caused the City Council to issue warnings to residents, asking them to refrain from feeding the ducks in Tjörnin to avoid putting ducklings at risk.</p><br>
<h2>Cityscape</h2><br>
<p>The earliest urban development of Reykjavík took place between the lake and the northern coast of the peninsula. Over the years, the lake became an integral part of the urban environment.</p><br>
<p>Development of the city has centered around the lake. The postmodern City Hall, Ráðhúsið, stands in the northwest corner on the edge of the lake: it looks as if it is rising out of the lake. Other notable buildings in the area are those of the Supreme Court, Reykjavík Art Museum, the National Museum, the Living Art Museum, Reykjavík City Library, and the National Theatre, as well as the Parliament building, which houses the Parliament of Iceland, and the Dómkirkja cathedral, apart from a shopping complex and restaurants. Several buildings belonging to the University of Iceland are also close by.</p><br>
<p>Reykjavík airport is situated immediately south of the lake, on the other side of the Hringbraut thoroughfare.</p><br>
<p>A wooden pedestrian bridge was built over Tjörnin in 1920. To accommodate motorized traffic, the original construction was replaced in 1942 by a concrete bridge which is still in use.</p><br>
<h2>Conservation</h2><br>
<p>Vatnsmýrin Reserve, the protected area around Tjörnin, has deteriorated in recent years as evidenced by a drop in</p><br>
<p>the variety of reported birds. Part of the issue is attributed to the lack of appropriate nesting grounds due to invasive flora species as well as the presence of animals in the reserve. Action plans have been initiated jointly by the Nordic House, the University of Iceland, and Reykjavík City Council, to improve the reserve&#39;s condition with appropriate wetland vegetation, construction of embankments and sedimentation ponds to improve the water flow, as well as some desilting of the lake.</p><br>
<p>Iejima, previously romanized in English as Ie Shima, is an island in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, lying a few kilometers off the Motobu Peninsula on Okinawa Island. The island measures 20 km in circumference and covers 23 km&sup2;. As of December 2012 the island had a population of 4,610. Most islanders live in Ie Village, which has a ferry connection with the town Motobu on Okinawa Island. Iejima is generally flat. The most notable geographic feature is a peak called Mount Gusuku  at a height of 172 meters. The mountain resembles a volcano but is actually an erosion artifact.</p><br>
<p>USA journalist Ernie Pyle died there during the Battle of Okinawa in World War II. There is a monument dedicated to his memory on the southern part of the island. Every year on the weekend closest to his April 18 death there is a memorial service.</p><br>
<p>Alternately called "Peanut Island," for its general shape and peanut crop, or "Flower Island," for its abundant flora and more sizeable crop, Iejima draws tourists by ferry, especially during late April when the Ie Lily Festival begins. The Youth Excursion Village accommodates campers for 400 yen a person and includes access to a good beach. The YYY Resort and Hotel located just east of the ferry port is available for those who do not wish to camp.</p><br>
<h2>Surrender of Japan</h2><br>
<p>Iejima, then called Ie Shima by US military and media, was the major starting point for the Surrender of Japan in World War II. It was the home of the 413th Fighter Group which comprised the 1st, 21st and 34th Fighter Squadrons, the 345th Bombardment Group, consisting of the 498th, 499th, 500th and 501st Squadrons, along with the 548th and 549th Night Fighter Squadrons of the 7th Fighter Command. All three groups were stationed there toward the end of the war.</p><br>
<p>The surrender preparations started on August 17, 1945, with the flight of two Japanese Betty bombers to Iejima where the Japanese emissaries transferred to USA Army Air Force C-54s to complete their journey to Corregidor to meet with General Douglas MacArthurs staff. B-25 Mitchells of the 345th were assigned to escort the Japanese bombers from the Japanese mainland to Iejima, and P-38s were assigned the duty of top-cover. Japanese officials ordered the remaining Japanese Air Force to shoot down their own bombers, because they believed that honor required that Japan should fight to the very last person. Instead of flying directly to Iejima, the two Japanese planes flew northeast, toward the open ocean, to avoid their own fighters. One of the Japanese delegates aboard remarked, after looking through a bullet hole in the side of the plane, that a squadron of fighters was approaching and he thought that their surrender mission had failed. However, the squadron of fighters were USA P-38 Lightnings assigned as top-cover. The 345th had been directed to send two B-25s as escorts. However, fully aware of the difficulty in communication with the Japanese and correctly anticipating the possibility of necessary deviation from plans, the 345th had dispatched three flights of B-25s so as to bracket the enemys proposed flight path. This proved to be excellent planning, as only the second of the three flights intercepted the Japanese and the top-cover, off-course and headed on a route that would not have brought them to Iejima. Operating under orders to come no nearer than 1000 feet to the Japanese planes, Major J.C. McClure found it impossible to keep the Japanese on the proper course flying abreast of them, so he pulled out well ahead of them to lead their formation. Seconds later he was surprised to find the Japanese tucked in tightly under his wings. To them it was the safest way to approach the island which had only days before been their target. The four planes arrived over Iejima in perfect show formation.</p><br>
<p>The Japanese emissaries continued on to the Philippines as planned, concluded the arrangements for the formal surrender scheduled to take place on September 2 in Tokyo Bay, and returned to Iejima on August 18. As the Bettys were taxiing into place to receive their passengers for the return trip to Tokyo, one of them ran off of the runway and broke its landing gear, leaving it unable to continue the trip that day. The Japanese delegation split, with the less important delegates staying on Iejima overnight as the damaged plane was repaired, while the operable aircraft proceeded that evening. Ironically, and for some unexplained reason, that plane ran out of fuel some 130 miles from their destination and was ditched in shallow water. The emissaries waded ashore and arrived in Tokyo the next day.</p><br>
<h2>Farmers' Movement</h2><br>
<p>In 1955, the United States military embarked upon a wide-scale campaign to seize land from the farmers of Iejima. The campaign began in 1954 with a so-called survey project. After the islands farmers signed the papers, they realized that in fact they had agreed to their voluntary evacuation. In 1955, the American military landed on Iejimas southern beaches and seized the farmers&#39; lands by force.</p><br>
<p>Following this seizure, the residents of Iejima began a five decade campaign to oppose the American military. Led by Shoko Ahagon, they traveled throughout the Okinawan islands garnering support for their campaign. This Beggars&#39; March took the islanders all over the prefecture where they were treated hospitably by their fellow Okinawans. However, when they returned to Iejima and started to farm their land once more, the American military razed their crops and arrested the islanders.</p><br>
<p>In the late 1950s, many residents of Iejima resorted to collecting scrap metal from the military bombing range. This was dangerous work resulting in the deaths or disfigurement of local men.</p><br>
<h2>Today</h2><br>
<p>The United States military maintains a small "auxiliary landing strip" on Ie; this airstrip is now a military training facility run by the USA Marine Corps. There is a detachment of 12 US Marines which operates the range. The jobs include Operation Scheduler, Range Warden, Crash/Fire/Rescue, and Motor Transportation. The north-west corner of the island that contains a 5000-foot coral runway, a simulated LHD deck, and a drop zone for parachute training.</p><br>
<p>The three runways that were in use when World War II ended still exist. The center one is now abandoned and is used as a thoroughfare for the locals to get from the north to the south side of the island. The eastern one is now used by a small civilian air carrier, and the western one is still unimproved and is part of the training range.</p><br>
<h2>Cultural references</h2><br>
<p>The island is the setting of a traditional Okinawan drama where a sad girl by the name of Hando-gwaa fell in love with a man named Kanahi, Iejima&#39;s headman. When Hando-gwaa learned that Kanahi had already wed she climbed up to Tacchu Mountain and hanged herself with her long, black hair. One can find a statue of this woman in a garden that sits below Gusukuyama.</p><br>
<p>The Bent Pyramid is an ancient Egyptian pyramid located at the royal necropolis of Dahshur, approximately 40 kilometres south of Cairo, built under the Old Kingdom Pharaoh Sneferu . A unique example of early pyramid development in Egypt, this was the second pyramid built by Sneferu.</p><br>
<p>The Bent Pyramid rises from the desert at a 54-degree inclination, but the top section (above 47 meters) is built at the shallower angle of 43 degrees, lending the pyramid its very obvious bent appearance.</p><br>
<p>Archaeologists now believe that the Bent Pyramid represents a transitional form between step-sided and smooth-sided pyramids (see Step pyramid). It has been suggested that due to the steepness of the original angle of inclination the structure may have begun to show signs of instability during construction, forcing the builders to adopt a shallower angle to avert the structures collapse. This theory appears to be borne out by the fact that the adjacent Red Pyramid, built immediately afterwards by the same Pharaoh, was constructed at an angle of 43 degrees from its base. This fact also contradicts the theory that at the initial angle the construction would take too long because Sneferus death was nearing, so the builders changed the angle to complete the construction in time. In 1974 Kurt Mendelssohn suggested the change of the angle to have been made as a security precaution in reaction to a catastrophic collapse of the Meidum Pyramid while it was still under construction.</p><br>
<p>It is also unique amongst the approximately ninety pyramids to be found in Egypt, in that its original polished limestone outer casing remains largely intact. British structural engineer Peter James attributes this to larger clearances between the parts of the casing than used in later pyramids; these imperfections would work as expansion joints and prevent the successive destruction of the outer casing by thermal expansion.</p><br>
<p>The ancient formal name of the Bent Pyramid is generally translated as (The)-Southern-Shining-Pyramid, or Sneferu-(is)-Shining-in-the-South.</p><br>
<h2>Interior passages</h2><br>
<p>The Bent Pyramid has two entrances, one fairly low down on the north side, to which a substantial wooden stairway has been built for the convenience of tourists (though so far the pyramid is not open to tourists, although plans have been proposed to open it). The second entrance is high on the west face of the pyramid. Each entrance leads to a chamber with a high, corbelled roof; the northern entrance leads to a chamber that is below ground level, the western to a chamber built in the body of the pyramid itself. A hole in the roof of the northern chamber (accessed today by a high and rickety ladder 15 m long) leads via a rough connecting passage to the passage from the western entrance.</p><br>
<p>The western entrance passage is blocked by two stone blocks which were not lowered vertically, as in other pyramids, but slid down 45° ramps to block the passage. One of these was lowered in antiquity and a hole has been cut through it, the other remains propped up by a piece of ancient cedar wood. The connecting passage referenced above enters the passage between the two portcullises.</p><br>
<h2>Pyramid temple</h2><br>
<p>On the east side of the temple there are the fragmentary remains of the pyramid temple. Like the pyramid temple of the Meidum pyramid, there are two stelae behind the temple, though of these only stumps remain. There is no trace of inscription to be seen. The temple remains are fragmentary but it is presumed to be similar to that of the Meidum temple.</p><br>
<h2>Satellite pyramid</h2><br>
<p>A satellite pyramid, built to house the Pharaohs Ka, is located 55 metres south of the Bent Pyramid. The structure is made of limestone blocks, relatively thick, arranged in horizontal rows and covered with a layer of fine limestone from Tura. The burial chamber is accessible from a descending corridor with its entrance located 1.10 metres above the ground in the middle of the north face. The corridor, inclined at 34°, originally measured 11.60 metres in length. A short horizontal passage connects the corridor with an ascending corridor, inclined at 32° 30, leading up to the chamber.</p><br>
<p>The design of the corridors is similar to the one found in the Great Pyramid of Giza, where the Grand Gallery takes up the place of the ascending corridor. The corridor leads up to the burial chamber (called this despite that it most probably never contained any sarcophagus). The chamber, located in the center of the pyramid, has a corbel vault ceiling and contains a four metres deep shaft, probably dug by treasure hunters, in the southeast part of the chamber.</p><br>
<p>Like the main pyramid, the satellite had its own altar with two stelae located at the eastern side.</p><br>
<p>Tomb KV6 in Egypts Valley of the Kings was the final resting place of the 20th-dynasty Pharaoh Ramesses IX. However, the archaeological evidence and the quality of decoration it contains indicates that the tomb was not finished in time for Ramessess death but was hastily rushed through to completion, many corners being cut, following his demise.</p><br>
<p>It is located in the central part of the Valley. Its unusually wide entrance stands between, and slightly above, those of two other particularly interesting tombs: KV5 and KV55. Running a total distance of 105 metres into the hillside, the tomb begins with a gate and a shallow descending ramp. Following on from the ramp come three successive stretches of corridor. The first of these has four side chambers &ndash; two on each side &ndash; but none of these are decorated or finished.</p><br>
<p>At the end of the corridors come three chambers. The first of these is decorated with the Opening of the Mouth ritual, and it is possible that a well shaft would have been dug here had the builders been afforded more time. The second chamber contains four large columns, but neither the stonecutting nor the decoration work were completed. At the far end of this chamber, a ramp slows down to the actual burial chamber, where the pharaohs sarcophagus was placed (the floor has a rectangular section carved out to accommodate it). The ceiling is vaulted, and is decorated with splendid pictures of the goddess Nut. The side walls show scenes from the Book of Caverns and the Book of the Earth. The far wall depicts Ramses on his barque, surrounded by a host of gods. The yellows, dark blues, and blacks used to decorate this chamber are visually striking and unusual among the tomb decorations in the Valley. While the sarcophagus itself has long since vanished, Ramesses IXs mummy was one of those found in the Deir el-Bahri cache (DB320) in 1881.</p><br>
<p>KV6 has been open since antiquity, as can be seen by the graffiti left on its walls by Roman and Coptic visitors.</p><br>
<p>Lampeia  is a mountain village, a community and a former municipality in Elis, West Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Archaia Olympia, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 72.447 km. In 2011 the population of the village was 468, and of the community, which includes the village Amygdali, 529.</p><br>
<p>Lampeia is situated south of Mount Erymanthos, in the valley of a tributary of the river Erymanthos. Its elevation is about 800 m above sea level. The Greek National Road 33 (Patras - Tripoli) passes through it. Lampeia is 4 km west of Oreini, 9 km northeast of Koumanis, 28 km northeast of Olympia and 45 km south of Patras.</p><br>
<h2>Subdivisions</h2><br>
<p>The municipal unit Lampeia is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets):</p><br>
<p>Astras (Astras, Kalyvia Astra)</p><br>
<p>Lampeia (Lampeia, Amygdali)</p><br>
<p>Oreini (Oreini, Paliofytia)</p><br>
<h2>Population</h2><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The name Lampeia was taken from the mountain Lampeia, which is part of the Erymanthos range. According to Pausanias the river Erymanthos has its source on the mountain Lampeia, which is sacred to Pan. The area was part of Arcadia. Due to its inaccessibility, Lampeia saw few invaders. Also the Ottomans stayed in the lower areas for strategic reasons. The Zoodochos Pigi monastery in Lampeia was a centre of Greek culture and education. Several inhabitants fought in the Greek War of Independence, and some well known families of politicians (Petralias, Panagoulis, Stefanopoulos, Zafeiropoulos) came from Divri/Lampeia.</p><br>
<p>Lampeia was created as one of the eight municipalities of the Elis prefecture in the 1830s, and was disbanded in 1913. This municipality was larger than the present municipal unit, and included several villages now in adjacent municipal units (among others Koumanis, Antroni and Klindia). The municipality was recreated under the Capodistrian Plan in the late-1990s, and became a subdivision of the municipality of Archaia Olympia in 2011.</p><br>
<h2>Notable people</h2><br>
<p>Pavlos Matesis, writer</p><br>
<p>Huangshan  is a mountain range in southern Anhui province in eastern China. Vegetation on the range is thickest below 1,100 m, with trees growing up to the treeline at 1,800 m.</p><br>
<p>The area is well known for its scenery, sunsets, peculiarly-shaped granite peaks, Huangshan pine trees, hot springs, winter snow, and views of the clouds from above. Huangshan is a frequent subject of traditional Chinese paintings and literature, as well as modern photography. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and one of China&#39;s major tourist destinations.</p><br>
<h2>Physical description</h2><br>
<p>Huangshan is known for its sunrises, hot springs, winter snow, and views of clouds touching the mountainsides for more than 197 days out of the year.</p><br>
<p>The Huangshan mountain range has many peaks, some more than 1,000 meters (3,250 feet) high. The three tallest and best-known peaks are Lotus Peak (Lianhua Feng, 1,864 m), Bright Peak (Guangming Ding, 1,840 m), and Celestial Peak (Tiandu Feng, literally Capital of Heaven Peak, 1,829 m). The mountains were formed in the Mesozoic, approximately 100 million years ago, when an ancient sea disappeared due to uplift. Later, in the Quaternary Period, the landscape was shaped by the influence of glaciers.</p><br>
<p>The vegetation of the area varies with elevation. Mesic forests cover the landscape below 1,100 meters. Deciduous forest stretches from 1,100 meters up to the tree line at 1,800 meters. Above that point, the vegetation consists of alpine grasslands. The area has diverse flora, where one-third of China&#39;s bryophyte families and more than half of its fern families are represented. The Huangshan pine (Pinus hwangshanensis) is named after Huangshan and is considered an example of vigor because the trees thrive by growing straight out of the rocks.</p><br>
<p>The mountaintops often offer views of the clouds from above, known as the Sea of Clouds or "Huangshan Sea" because of the cloud&#39;s resemblance to an ocean, and many vistas are known by names such as "North Sea" or "South Sea." One writer remarked on the view of the clouds from Huangshan as follows:</p><br>
<p>The area also is host to notable light effects, such as the renowned sunrises. Watching the sunrise is considered a "mandatory" part of visiting the area. and has a high concentration of carbonates. The waters are said to help prevent skin, joint, and nerve illness.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Huangshan was formed approximately 100 million years ago and gained its unique rock formations in the Quaternary Glaciation.</p><br>
<p>During the Qin Dynasty, Huangshan was known as Yishan (Mount Yi). In 747 AD, its name was changed to Huangshan (Mount Huang) by imperial decree; Huangshan was fairly inaccessible and little-known in ancient times, but its change of name in 747 AD seems to have brought the area more attention; from then on, the area was visited frequently and many temples were built there.</p><br>
<p>Huangshan is known for its stone steps, The date at which work on the steps began is unknown, but they have been said to be more than 1,500 years old.</p><br>
<p>Over the years, many scenic spots and physical features on the mountain have been named; many of the names have narratives behind them. For example, one legend tells of a man who did not believe the tales of Huangshan&#39;s beauty and went to the mountains to see them; almost immediately, he was converted to the same view. One of the peaks he is said to have visited was named Shixin (始信), roughly meaning "start to believe."</p><br>
<p>In 1982, Huangshan was declared a "site of scenic beauty and historic interest" by the State Council of the People&#39;s Republic of China. It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990 for its scenery and for its role as a habitat for rare and threatened species.</p><br>
<p>In 2002, Huangshan was named the "sister mountain" of Jungfrau in the Swiss Alps.</p><br>
<h2>Artistic and scientific inspirations</h2><br>
<p>Much of Huangshan&#39;s reputation derives from its significance in Chinese arts and literature. In addition to inspiring poets such as Li Bai,</p><br>
<p>The area also has been a location for scientific research because of its diversity of flora and wildlife. In the early part of the twentieth century, the geology and vegetation of Huangshan were the subjects of multiple studies by both Chinese and foreign scientists. The mountain is still a subject of research. For example, in the late twentieth century a team of researchers used the area for a field study of Tibetan macaques, a local species of monkey.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>Having at least 140 sections open to visitors, In 2007, for instance, more than 1.5 million tourists visited the mountain. The foot of the mountain is linked by rail and by air to Shanghai, and also is accessible from cities such as Hangzhou and Wuhu.</p><br>
<p>As of 1990, there were more than 50 kilometers of footpaths providing access to scenic areas for visitors and staffers of the facilities. Today there are also cable cars that tourists may use to ride directly from the base to one of the summits. Throughout the area there are hotels and guest houses that accommodate overnight visitors, many of whom hike up the mountains, spend the night at one of the peaks to view the sunrise, and then descend by a different route the next day. The area is classified as a AAAAA scenic area by the China National Tourism Administration.</p><br>
<p>The hotels, restaurants, and other facilities at the top of the mountain are serviced and kept stocked by porters who carry resources up the mountain on foot, hanging their cargo from long poles balanced over their shoulders or backs.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>Huangshan has an oceanic climate (Cfb) according to the Köppen climate classification. Its elevation makes it colder and wetter than the rest of Anhui.</p><br>
<h2>Image gallery</h2><br>
<p>The Old Harrison County Courthouse is located in the center of Whetstone Square in Marshall, Texas and is one of the most famous and admired buildings in Texas. It is the signature landmark of Marshall and is frequently used to represent East Texas in travel literature.</p><br>
<p>The Old Courthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. From 1964 until 2000 the building housed the Harrison County Historical Museum. The building is noted as being the location of the first sit-ins in Texas.</p><br>
<h2>Design</h2><br>
<p>The structure was designed by J. Riely Gordon and supervised by a local architect C. G. Lancaster.</p><br>
<h3>The Dome</h3><br>
<p>The building’s dome is its most distinctive feature and stands above a four-level rotunda. The rotunda is crowned by a coffered or false dome. Between the coffered dome and the outer dome are the workings of four-faced clock, that has been recently restored. Surrounding the coffered dome are six walls, which would resemble a hexagon if view from above, all of which support the outer dome. On the outside is a false portico aligned with each wall. Where the side of the hexagonal floor plan meet, a V-shaped brick pillar where two sides of the hexagon meet; thus each side of the V-shaped brick pillars span two porticos. In between the V-shaped brick pillars are three marble columns; one on each side of every window set into the walls supporting the outer dome. The windows are aligned to feed light through stained glass insets in the coffered dome hanging over the rotunda.</p><br>
<p>A cornice extends out over the false porticos and their pillar from the bottom of the outer dome. A balustrade, runs along the top of the cornice which like the porticos below it would appear as a hexagon if viewed from above. Eagle statues are perched wherever two sides of six-sided balustrade meet. The outer dome rise in from the cornice, which if viewed from above would appear as a circle inside a hexagon. The north, south, east, and west side of the outer dome are interrupted by clock faces, which maintain a vertical position even as the outer dome curves backwards. A false belfry, reminiscent of the lantern on top of the United States Capitol building, is located on top of the outer dome. On the top of the belfry is a 6 ft statue of Lady Justitia, which has the typical features of any Lady Justice: a blindfold, scales, and raised sword; as well as the rather atypical feature of a set of wings.</p><br>
<p>Cooks Bay is the southernmost bay of Lake Simcoe in Ontario, Canada. It was named by John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, for James Cook, who had served as Master aboard the HMS Pembroke in 1759 under the command of Captain John Simcoe, the Lieutenant-Governors father. Most of the southern part of the bay is within the jurisdiction of Georgina, a town in the Regional Municipality of York. Its western end is in Simcoe County, and a small portion from the mouth of the Holland River to the Simcoe County border is within Bradford West Gwillimbury. The largest community on the shores of the bay is Keswick.</p><br>
<p>The bay is used for fishing, and is especially known for yellow perch. It attracts windsurfers and kitesurfers throughout the year, and its northern end features many cottages that are part of Ontario&#39;s cottage country. Marinas and motel accommodations are available.</p><br>
<p>The Tama River is a major river in Yamanashi, Kanagawa and Tokyo Prefectures on Honshū, Japan. It is officially classified as a Class 1 river by the Japanese government. Its total length is 138 km, and the total of the river&#39;s basin area spans 1,240 km&sup2;.</p><br>
<p>The river flows through Tokyo, on the dividing line between Tokyo and Kanagawa. In the city, its banks are lined with parks and sports fields, making the river a popular picnic spot.</p><br>
<h2>Course</h2><br>
<p>The Tama’s source is located at Mt. Kasadori in Koshu in Yamanashi Prefecture. From there, it flows eastward into mountainous western Tokyo, where the Ogōchi Dam forms Lake Okutama. Below the dam, it takes the name Tama and flows eastwards through Chichibu Tama Kai National Park towards Ōme, Tokyo. It then flows southeast between Tama Hills and Musashino Terrace. At Hamura is the source of the historic Tamagawa Aqueduct built by the Tamagawa brothers in 1653 to supply water to Edo (present day Tokyo). Further downstream, the river forms the boundary between Tokyo and the city of Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture. Its mouth on the heavily industrialised Tokyo Bay is next to Haneda Airport.</p><br>
<h2>Flooding</h2><br>
<p>Tama River is very prone to flooding, and has wrought havoc on surrounding areas throughout history. On occasions the river even changed its course after massive floods, sometimes dividing pre-existing settlements in two. As a result, there are several locations where the place names on opposing sides of the river are the same, such as Todoroki. The current course was set as a result of a 1590 flood.</p><br>
<p>Levees have been in place for hundreds of years, but floodwaters have breached them numerous times in history. Extensive engineering projects in the early 20th century have dramatically reduced the amount of flood damage, although a 1974 typhoon caused floodwaters to burst a levee in Komae, washing away 19 houses.</p><br>
<p>The levees have not been breached since 1974. Projects to further upgrade the levees have been underway since 1990.</p><br>
<p>As with most major rivers in Japan, the levees are built some distance away from the river itself to accommodate the extra floodwater. The open expanse between the levees and the river in the middle is covered in grass and shrubbery, forming a useful belt of greenery and wide open space which is used as playing fields in many places.</p><br>
<h2>Wildlife</h2><br>
<p>Rapid post-war urbanization of surrounding areas took its toll on Tama River, whose water quality in the urban areas plummeted from 1950s onwards rendering it uninhabitable for most species. Pollution control measures and the river&#39;s official designation as a wildlife protection zone have now led to the return of many species.</p><br>
<p>Carp, rainbow trout, cherry salmon, iwana (char), ugui (big-scaled redfin) and ayu all inhabit Tama River in sufficient numbers for limited commercial fishing to take place in upstream areas. Recent moves to fit weirs with fish ladders have resulted in a steep increase in the numbers of ayu migrating upstream. Other fish such as loach inhabit the river, as do crabs, turtles and crayfish.</p><br>
<p>Japanese cormorants, kingfishers, white wagtails, spot-billed ducks, grey herons, little egrets, Japanese white-eyes, Mandarin ducks, and black-headed gulls are among birds often seen at the river. Various types of ducks have made a comeback after the 1969 designation of the river as a wildlife protection zone. The expanse of greenery between the levees and the river itself attract additional wildlife.</p><br>
<p>In the summer of 2002, Tama-chan, a normally arctic male bearded seal first spotted in the Tama River by the Maruko Bridge, became a major nationwide celebrity.</p><br>
<p>In recent years the Tama River has been settled by a larger number of non-native species including Red-eared slider turtles and tropical fish like piranhas. It is assumed that life for tropical fish became possible because of higher water temperature of river due to global warming and waste water from sewage treatment plants. Those higher temperatures now allow tropical pet fish abandoned by their owners to survive the cold Japanese winters. In the early 2000s a Kawasaki man named Mitsuaki Yamasaki established a "fish shelter" to house pet fish that owners would otherwise dump into the river.</p><br>
<p>There are also a large number of stray cats living along the river.</p><br>
<h2>Homeless</h2><br>
<p>Some homeless people live near the Tama River.</p><br>
<h2>Recreation</h2><br>
<p>Near the outskirts of Tokyo, the river is a popular kayaking spot, with the Japan National Slalom Kayak competitions being held on the Tama River where it passes through Mitake.</p><br>
<p>This section of river is also a budding white water rafting and hydrospeeding destination being so accessible from Tokyo. Companies operate from early spring until late autumn.</p><br>
<p>The boulders on the riverbed around Mitake also form one of Tokyos premier climbing (bouldering) spots. Some of Japans famous boulder problems can be found here, on boulders such as and Deadend.</p><br>
<p>Further down, sports fields appear on both banks of the river, with many teams practicing or playing a range of sports here on a regular basis, including baseball, soccer and rugby union. (There is a rugby club named after the river, called Tamariba Club.) There are also many playgrounds, park spaces and golf driving ranges found on the side of the river as it passes through the city.</p><br>
<p>A bike path and running track travels the length of the river through urban Tokyo, extending to the river mouth in Tokyo bay.</p><br>
<h2>Redevelopment</h2><br>
<p>The area around Tama River on both sides have generally been suburban in nature, with a few low to mid-rise office buildings. High-rises were virtually nonexistent until the late 2000s, with the bottoming of Tokyos 2 decade long real estate bubble collapse. This has changed with increased rail passenger services due to double tracking and line extensions and thru-services. The skyline has visibly changed at Futako-Tamagawa Station and Musashi-Kosugi Station but there are also renewed developments from Keio-Tamagawa Station area downstream as the combination of urban convenience and wide open river space is an uncommon amenity in Tokyos typically claustrophobic urban area.</p><br>
<h2>Other names</h2><br>
<p>Ichinose-gawa (Ichinose River) – its upper stream</p><br>
<p>Taba-gawa (Taba River) – its upper stream</p><br>
<p>Rokugo-gawa (Rokugo River) – near its mouth</p><br>
<h2>Man-made lakes</h2><br>
<p>Lake Okutama</p><br>
<p>Shiromaru Lake</p><br>
<p>The Snæfellsnes is a peninsula situated to the west of Borgarfjörður, in western Iceland.</p><br>
<p>It has been named Iceland in Miniature, because many national sights can be found in the area, including the Snæfellsjökull volcano, regarded as one of the symbols of Iceland. With its height of 1446 m, it is the highest mountain on the peninsula and has a glacier at its peak (jökull means "glacier" in Icelandic). The volcano can be seen on clear days from Reykjavík, a distance of about 120 km. The mountain is also known as the setting of the novel Journey to the Center of the Earth by the French author Jules Verne. The area surrounding Snæfellsjökull has been designated one of the four National Parks by the government of Iceland.</p><br>
<p>The peninsula is one of the main settings in the Laxdœla saga and it was, according to this saga, the birthplace of the first West Norse member of the Varangian Guard, Bolli Bollasson. Other historical people who lived in the area according to the saga include Guðrún Ósvífursdóttir, Bolli Þorleiksson and Snorri the Goði.</p><br>
<p>Local fishing villages and small towns on the northern shore of Snæfellsnes include Arnarstapi, Hellnar, Rif, Ólafsvík, Grundarfjörður and Stykkishólmur.</p><br>
<p>Near Hellissandur is the tallest structure in western Europe, the Longwave Radio Mast at Hellissandur.</p><br>
<p>In June 2008, the people of Snaefellsnes reached certification status as an EarthCheck community, becoming the first EarthCheck-certified area in Iceland and in Europe, and only the fourth in the world. Snaefellsnes has been committed to the EarthCheck programme since 2003 and has been successfully benchmarked for the past five consecutive years.</p><br>
<p>Antioch in Pisidia &ndash; alternatively Antiochia in Pisidia or Pisidian Antioch  and in Roman Empire, Latin: Antiochia Caesareia or Antiochia Colonia Caesarea &ndash; is a city in the Turkish Lakes Region, which is at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, Aegean and Central Anatolian regions, and formerly on the border of Pisidia and Phrygia, hence also known as Antiochia in Phrygia. The site lies approximately 1 km northeast of Yalvaç, the modern town of Isparta Province. The city is on a hill with its highest point of 1236 m in the north.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The city is surrounded by, on the east the deep ravine of the Anthius River which flows into Lake Eğirdir, with the Sultan Mountains to the northeast, Mount Karakuş to the north, Kızıldağ (Red Mountain) to the southeast, Kirişli Mountain and the northern shore of Lake Eğirdir to the southwest.</p><br>
<p>Although very close to the Mediterranean on a map, the warm climate of the south cannot pass the height of the Taurus Mountains. Owing to the climate, there is no timberland but crop plants grow in areas provided with water from the Sultan Mountains, whose annual average rainfall is c. 1000 mm on the peaks and 500 mm on the slopes. This water feeds the plateau and Antioch. The other Pisidian cities Neapolis, Tyriacum, Laodiceia Katakekaumene and Philomelium founded on the slopes, benefited from this fertility.</p><br>
<p>The acropolis has an area of 460,000 square metres (115 acres) and is surrounded by fortified defence walls. The Territorium of the settlement can be seen from the Temple of Men in the sanctuary of Men Askaenos on a hill to the southeast. The Territorium of the city is estimated to have been approximately 1,400 km² in ancient times. According to the 1950 census, there were 40 villages with 50,000 people living in the area. The population during the Roman period must have been a little more than this.</p><br>
<p>The constantly irrigated fertile soil of the land is very suitable for growing fruits and for husbandry. For the veterans (retired Roman legionaries) who came from poorer parts of Italy during the Roman period, agriculture must have been the driving force for integration of the colonies into the area.</p><br>
<p>The modern town of Yalvaç is the second biggest in Isparta province with an area of 14,000 km² The population in the centre is 35,000, the total is c. 100,000. The town is 230 km from Antalya, 180 km from Konya, 105 km from Isparta and 50 km from Akşehir, via the main road.</p><br>
<h2>History of Antioch</h2><br>
<h3>Prehistory</h3><br>
<p>It has been a tradition to claim that the city dates back to the 3rd century BC and that it was founded by the Seleucid Dynasty, one of the Hellenistic kingdoms. But the history of the city cannot be separated from the history of the Lakes Region and of Pisidia. Research done in the area has shown habitation since the Paleolithic age.</p><br>
<p>During the excavations and surveys made by D.M. Robinson and the University of Michigan around Yalvaç in 1924 it was shown that finds from surrounding mounds date back to the 3rd millennium BC.</p><br>
<p>In Antioch itself, no finds have emerged from the Proto-Hittite, Hittite, Phrygian or Lydian civilisations, but we learn from Hittite records that the region was named "Arzawa" and that independent communities lived in the region. These people did not come under the yoke of the Hittites, but fought beside them against the Egyptians in the Battle of Kadesh.</p><br>
<p>Over the ages, people were able to live independently in the Pisidian region because of its strategical position. Even the Persians, who conquered Anatolia in the 6th century BC, and attempted to rule the area by dividing it into satrapies, were unable to cope with constant uprisings and turmoil.</p><br>
<p>The approach of some researchers who would like to connect the cult of Men Askaenos with the cult of the Phrygian Mother Goddess Cybele is also controversial. The worship of Cybele, traces of which can be seen in Antioch, is not a result of Phrygian influence: the idea of a Mother Goddess dates back to the Neolithic age as is shown by idols and figurines exhibited in Yalvaç Museum.</p><br>
<h3>Hellenistic age</h3><br>
<p>After the death of Alexander the Great, Seleucus I Nicator, founder of the Seleucid Dynasty, took control of Pisidia. Captured places were Hellenised and, in order to protect the population, fortified cities were founded at strategically important places, usually on an acropolis. Seleucus I Nicator had nearly 60 cities founded, and gave to 16 of them the name of his father Antiochos. Colonists were brought from Magnesia on the Maeander to found Pisidian Antioch (the Land of Antiochus).</p><br>
<p>Meanwhile, fights for the sharing of Anatolia continued and were complicated by the Galatians coming in from Europe. The self-interested Hellenistic dynasties could not expel the Galatians from the interior, but Antiochus I Seleucos fought against them in 270 BC in the Taurus Mountains and defeated them by the help of elephants, which the Galatians had never seen before. The historian Lucian reported the comment of Antiochos: "It&#39;s a great shame that we owe our liberation to 16 elephants". Anyway, Antiochos celebrated his victory when he returned to Syria and was given the title of "Soter" (Saviour).</p><br>
<p>The most reasonable approach is that Antioch was founded by Antiochus I Soter as a military base to control the Galatian attacks because it was on the border of the regions of Pisidia and Phrygia. The foundation of Antioch indicates a date of the last quarter of the 3rd century BC, but archeological finds at the Sanctuary of Men Askaenos in the northeast date back to the 4th century. This indicates that there had been earlier classical cultures in the area.</p><br>
<h3>Roman period</h3><br>
<p>While the Hellenistic Kingdoms (the inheritors of Alexander the Great) were fighting each other and the Galatians, Rome became the most powerful state in Europe and started to follow a policy of expansion to the east. They invaded Macedon, Thrace, and the Dardanelles, and reaching Phrygia via Magnesia and Pisidia. They cowed the Galatians and according to the treaty signed in Apamea in 188 BC, they gave the land of Pisidia which they had got from Antiochos III, to their ally the Pergamon Kingdom which dominated the region. Attalos III, the last king of Pergamon, bequeathed his kingdom to Rome on his death in 133 BC Aristonikos who claimed Pergamon was defeated in 129, then Rome affected Anatolia with its well-developed, creative culture for centuries.</p><br>
<p>Although Anatolia was dominated by the Roman Empire as the province of Asia, Pisidia was given to the Kingdom of Cappadocia, which was an ally of Rome. During the following years, the authority gap which could not be filled by these kingdoms remote from central government, led to the rise of powerful pirate kingdoms, especially in Cilicia and Pisidia. The Romans were disturbed by these kingdoms and fought against them. Cilicia, Pamphylia, Phrygia and Pisida were freed from pirates and Roman rule was restored in 102 BC.</p><br>
<p>The geographical and strategical position of the region made it difficult to control the area and maintain constant peace. The Homonadesians, settled in the Taurus Mountains between Attaleia and Ikonion, caused problems for Rome. Marcus Antonius who had to control the roads connecting Pisidia to Pamphylia, charged his allied king Amyntas, King of Pisidia, to fight against Homonadesians, but Amyntas was killed during the struggle.</p><br>
<p>Then Rome started to colonize using military legions as a solution to the failure of the locally appointed governors. The Province of Galatia was established in 25 BC and Antioch became a part of it. To support the struggle against the Homonadesians logistically, the construction of a road called the Via Sebaste, the centre of which was Antioch, was started by the governor of the Province of Galatia, Cornutus Arrutius Aquila. The Via Sebaste was separated into two and directed to the southwest and southeast to surround the Homonadesians. Secondary connecting roads were built between these two roads. Rome by means of the Via Sebaste P.Sulpicius Quirinius brought an end to the Homonadesians problem in 3 BC, relocating survivors in different surrounding locations.</p><br>
<p>During the reign of Augustus, eight colonies were established in Pisidia, but only Antioch was honoured with the title of Caesarea and given the right of the Ius Italicum, maybe because of its strategic position. The city became an important Roman colony which rose to the position of a capital city with the name of "Colonia Caesarea".</p><br>
<p>Hellenisation became Latinisation during the Roman period and it was applied in Antioch best. The city was divided into seven quarters called "vici" all of which were founded on seven hills like in Rome. The formal language was Latin until the end of the 3rd century. The fertility of the land and the peace brought by Augustus (Pax Romana: Roman Peace) made it easier for the veterans as colonists in the area to have good relations and integration with the natives.</p><br>
<p>One of the three surviving copies of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti, the famous inscription recording the noble deeds of the Emperor Augustus was found in front of the Augusteum in Antioch. The original was carved on bronze tablets and exhibited in front of the Mausoleum of Augustus in Rome, but unfortunately has not survived. The Antioch copy on stone was written in Latin which is a sign of the importance of the city as a military and cultural base of Rome in Asia. (One of the copies, in Greek and Latin, is in Ankara, the other, in Greek, in Apollonia -Uluborlu).</p><br>
<h3>Early Christian-Byzantine period</h3><br>
<p>Paul the Apostle and Barnabas, as recounted in the Acts of the Apostles, visited Antioch of Pisidia in the course of Pauls first missionary journey, and Pauls sermon in the Jewish synagogue caused a great stir among the citizens, but the ensuing conflict with the Jews led to his expulsion, together with Barnabas, from the city. The two returned later, and appointed elders for the community there. Paul revisited the city on his return trip he also visited the region in both his second and his third journeys. Paul&#39;s "persecutions and sufferings" at Antioch are spoken of in.</p><br>
<p>In the 6th century the city of Antioch, which had been ranked as a Roman colonia an outpost established in conquered territory to secure it, lost its strategic importance and, as it was off the main trade route, it started to lose importance more generally.</p><br>
<h2>Bishopric</h2><br>
<p>Amid the remains of Antioch, beneath a ruined Byzantine church, which is the traditional site of the synagogue in which Paul preached, a 1st-century building has been discovered that may have been that synagogue.</p><br>
<p>As capital of the Roman province of Pisidia, Antioch was a metropolitan see. The Notitia Episcopatuum of Pseudo-Epiphanius, composed during the rule of Byzantine Emperor Heraclius in about 640, lists as its suffragan sees: Philomelium, Sagalassos, Sozopolis in Pisidia, Apamea Cibotus, Tyriacum, Baris in Pisidia, Hadrianopolis in Pisidia, Limnae, Neapolis, Laodicea Combusta, Seleucia Ferrea, Adada, Zarzela, Tymbrias, Tymandus, Justinianopolis in Pisidia, Metropolis in Pisidia, and Pappa. There is evidence that Prostanna and Atenia were also suffragans of Antioch. In the Notitia Episcopatuum attributed to Leo V the Wise, Neapolis, which had become a metropolitan see, and Philomelium and Justinianopolis have been removed from the list of suffragans of the suffragans of Antioch, but Binda, Conana, Parlais, Malus, Siniandus, and Tityassus are added.</p><br>
<h3>Ancient Bishopric</h3><br>
<p>Michel LeQuinn lists 30 known bishops for the bishopric up to his time.</p><br>
<p>Eudoxius</p><br>
<p>Optatus</p><br>
<p>Anthimus</p><br>
<p>Cyprian</p><br>
<p>Sergianus fl 314</p><br>
<p>Antonius</p><br>
<p>Optimus</p><br>
<p>Tranquillinus</p><br>
<p>Erechthius</p><br>
<p>Candidianus fl 449</p><br>
<p>Pergamius</p><br>
<p>John</p><br>
<p>Polydectus (Synod of Constantinople)</p><br>
<p>Bacchus fl 536</p><br>
<p>Theodorus</p><br>
<p>Stephen</p><br>
<p>George</p><br>
<p>Basil</p><br>
<p>Gregory</p><br>
<p>Zacharias</p><br>
<p>Theophylactus fl 997</p><br>
<p>Macarius</p><br>
<p>Eleutherius</p><br>
<p>Michael fl 1141</p><br>
<p>Unknown bishop at the Synod of Constantinople of 1156-57</p><br>
<p>Macarius II (under the emperors Michael VIII or Michael IX Palaiologos)</p><br>
<p>Methodius</p><br>
<p>Cosmas fl 1721</p><br>
<h3>Titular Catholic Diocese</h3><br>
<p>With the advance of Islam, Antiochia in Pisidia ceased to be a residential bishopric, and is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.</p><br>
<p>Known Bishops</p><br>
<p>Antiochia in Pisidia</p><br>
<p>Enrico de Rossi (12 Jun 1893 Appointed - 1897)</p><br>
<p>Leopoldo Franchi (11 Feb 1898 Appointed - 16 Oct 1902)</p><br>
<p>Pietro Monti (30 Dec 1902 Appointed - 24 Jun 1909 Died)</p><br>
<p>Angelo Giacinto Scapardini (10 Sep 1910 Appointed - 23 Sep 1910 Appointed, Titular Archbishop of Damascus)</p><br>
<p>Charles-François Turinaz (1 Aug 1913 Appointed - 19 Oct 1918)</p><br>
<p>Giovanni Volpi (3 Jul 1919 Appointed - 19 Jun 1931)</p><br>
<p>Gustavo Matteoni (3 Mar 1932 Appointed - 29 Sep 1932)</p><br>
<p>Filippo Bernardini (13 Mar 1933 Appointed - 26 Aug 1954)</p><br>
<p>José María Bueno y Monreal (27 Oct 1954 Appointed - 8 Apr 1957)</p><br>
<p>Fermín Emilio Lafitte (20 Jan 1958 Appointed - 25 Mar 1959)</p><br>
<p>Francisco de Assis Pires (11 Jul 1959 Appointed - 10 Feb 1960)</p><br>
<p>Corrado Bafile (13 Feb 1960 Appointed - 24 May 1976)</p><br>
<h3>Muslim invasions</h3><br>
<p>The Byzantine Empire directed its economic, political and military power to the southeast because the warriors of a new religion from the Arab Peninsula were invading the furthest borders of the Empire. The Arab raids from the sea and land weakened the empire, the capital city Constantinople was besieged by Arabs several times. Anatolian cities were damaged by these raids, and they began to be deserted. In the 8th century the raids increased. The fiercest attack of all against Antioch was conducted in 713 by the Umayyad prince al-Abbas ibn al-Walid, the son of Caliph al-Walid I. Antioch never recovered and hundreds years of glory vanished.</p><br>
<p>In Antioch, which was visited by crusaders as well, a new people appeared in the 11th century: the Seljuk Turks, who captured the area and founded the Anatolian Seljuk Empire (Sultanate) in Central Anatolia. Until the 12th century Antioch was a base where soldiers stopped for a rest, constantly changing hands. On 11 September 1176, the armies of the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Sultanate met at Myriokephalon (thousand heads). Its exact location is unknown, but it is widely accepted that it was somewhere near Yalvaç. Sultan Kılıçarslan won the battle against Manuel I Comnenus, and the subsequent treaty signed in Antioch between Kılıçarslan and Manuel led to the introduction of Turkish culture, which survives to the present day.</p><br>
<p>The Turks settled in the valley instead of on the acropolis. As they controlled the whole of central Anatolia, they did not need defence walls, and the valley was very suitable for agriculture. They did not change the names of most of the captured cities, but the name of Antioch was forgotten and, with no Christians left in the region, they named it "Yalvaç" which means "Prophet", perhaps a reference to Saint Paul.</p><br>
<h2>Archaeology</h2><br>
<p>Francis Vyvyan Jago Arundell, British chaplain at İzmir between 1822–1834, was the first person to define and study the city. In 1828 he published the record of his first journey to inner Anatolia made in 1826 as A visit to the seven Churches of Asia. His notes after his second journey in 1833 were published under the title Discoveries in Asia Minor: including a description of the ruins of several ancient cities and especially Antioch of Pisidia in London in 1834.</p><br>
<p>W. J. Hamilton came to the region passing over the Sultan Mountains and observed the aqueducts, bath, and great basilica. His notes were published as "Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus, Armenia" in 1842. He was followed at different periods by noted explorers of the 19th century such as Tchihatcheff, Laborde, Ritter, Richter, but none of them have the power of Arundell&#39;s detailed study, until Ramsay.</p><br>
<p>William Mitchell Ramsay, who devoted 50 years of his life to the historical geography of Asia Minor, made his first journey to Anatolia in 1880. Together with J. R. S. Sterrett he embarked on two journeys studying inscriptions which provided detailed historical information. On both journeys they visited Antioch. In the same period Weber concentrated his studies on aqueducts: the water system was examined and the monumental fountain was identified. The outcomes of Ramsay&#39;s studies up to 1905 were published in 1907 as The Cities of St. Paul. Their influence on his Life and Thought.</p><br>
<p>In 1911 Ramsay and his wife, W. M. Calder and M. M. Hardie made camp in Antioch and studies were started systematically. Calder and Hardie explored the Sanctuary of Men Askaenos which is on Karakuyu Hill 5 km to the southeast of Antioch. The following year, excavations were made under the direction of Ramsay and were supported by Princeton University. During these excavations up to 1914, some important buildings were excavated in and around the city. In 1914 one of the breathtaking finds of archaeology, the "Res Gestae Divi Augusti", appeared as fragments in front of the Imperial Sanctuary. After a compulsory break during World War I, Ramsay returned in 1923.</p><br>
<p>In 1924 a major expedition was mounted by Francis W. Kelsey of the University of Michigan which included Ramsay.</p><br>
<p>The excavations were under the direction of D.M. Robinson and, employing at times over 200 men from Yalvaç, the Great Basilica, Tiberia Platea, Propylon and monumental western gate were exposed. Then after only one year of excavation the work of the Michigan group ceased, the result of the bitter quarrel between Ramsay and Robinson.</p><br>
<p>The only person who might have had the authority to resolve matters was Kelsey, and he died in 1927. Ramsay visited again between 1925 and 1927 but without any major results. No further studies were made until the 1960s. During this long interval many of the architectural blocks from these major buildings were used by the natives for the construction of modern Yalvaç and by the early 1960s, when Yalvaç Museum was about to be built, Antioch had become buried again.</p><br>
<p>In 1962 a detailed survey was made by M.H. Ballance and A. Frazer. K. Tuchelt came to the city in 1976 and caused some new arguments about the Imperial Sanctuary. Stephen Mitchell and Marc Waelkens conducted a survey and documentation of Antioch between 1982–3. Using their discoveries and drawing from earlier studies, especially those of the University of Michigan in 1924, they subsequently brought together all the available information about the city, supported with new finds, in a book entitled "Pisidian Antioch" (1998).</p><br>
<p>Today&#39;s Antioch is studied by Dr. Mehmet Taşlıalan, Director of Yalvaç Museum (1979–2002), and Tekin Bayram, Mayor of Yalvaç. Mr. Taşlıalan obtained his Ph.D. thesis on the Imperial Sanctuary and described the building known as the Great Basilica as the Church of St.Paul.</p><br>
<h2>Acropolis and fortifications</h2><br>
<p>The city, like other Hellenistic colonies, was founded on a hill for ease of defence. The steep valley of the River Anthius in the east provides a perfect defence. On the other slopes the acropolis goes up smoothly in terraces and reaches a height of 60 meters above the plain. It is not known whether the bastions of semi-circular plan which can be seen in the West continue in other parts of the defence walls.</p><br>
<p>The city is surrounded by re-used blocks made of mainly grey local limestone. The massive blocked wall structure of the earlier phases are different from the mortared Byzantine-Early Christian walls. No clear evidence of defence towers has yet been found. Curved semi-circular walls in the south and north would have made it easier to defend the fortifications. The defence system, when the masonry of the walls is considered, is very similar to the neighbouring colonies Cremna, Sagalassos and even Aphrodisias in Caria. Most of the walls and defence system are from the 4th century. Other buried entrances and fortifications datable back to the Hellenistic period will no doubt come to light as excavations continue.</p><br>
<p>The acropolis was a defended space to which natives retreated during wartime or invasion: houses and farms however, were outside the walls. Especially in the west and east, on the slopes going down to the plain the remains of houses have been found. The location of the necropolis is not known, but pieces of sarcophagi, Phrygian door-tombstones and funeral inscriptions in the walls of the houses in the modern Kızılca Quarter are indications that the necropolis should be looked for there.</p><br>
<h2>City plan</h2><br>
<p>Most of the city has not been excavated and questions like, for example, the relationship between the Theatre and the Cardo Maximus cannot yet be fully explained. There is much which is still buried under the hills in the potential excavation area of 800 by 1000 meters. Electromagnetic studies in recent years have shown that the Hippodamic plan with streets at right-angles was applied successfully like at Priene and Miletos. The city was divided by the streets into quarters (vicus, plural vici). The names of the following vici are known from inscriptions: Venerius, Velabrus, Aediculus, Patricius, Cermalus, Salutaris and Tuscus, but their extent has yet to be established.</p><br>
<p>One of the two principal streets is the Decumanus Maximus which starts from the Western City Gate and it is 90+320 m long. The other is the Cardo Maximus which is 400 m. long and it starts from the Nympheum and crosses the Decumanus c. 70 m south of the Tiberia Platea. On both sides of the streets are ruins dating back to the 1st&ndash;2nd centuries AD. The name Platea is used for large areas of street-squares surrounded by shops and porticos. In the eastern Roman provinces, the platea became colonaded streets. The discovery of monumental buildings and especially of several nympheums on both sides of these two colonaded main streets prove that this was something which occurred in Antioch also.</p><br>
<h2>Tour of Antioch after Ünal Demirer</h2><br>
<p>Arriving at Antioch from the west, visitors can see the fortifications and structures of various periods. Architectural fragments of the City Gate by the main street are awaiting re-erection. The road through the gate passes the ruins of the Waterfall and turns to the right at the beginning of the Decumanus Maximus, which has been excavated recently.</p><br>
<p>In this street, one can see the damaged drainage system and wear from the wheels of vehicles, and after passing the Theatre, one turns left into the second important street, the Cardo Maximus.</p><br>
<p>The Cardo leads the visitor to the Tiberia Platea and Central Church with buildings from later periods on either side. The remains of the 12 steps up to the monumental Propylon take one to the most impressive architectural structure which has survived from the earlier periods of Antioch: the Imperial Sanctuary-Augusteum.</p><br>
<p>Going back to the Tiberia Platea and following the Cardo to the right will take one to the source of life of the city: the Nympheum. The aqueducts which can be seen behind the Nympheum brought fresh water from springs in the Sultan Mountains 11 km from the city over the centuries.</p><br>
<p>The Bath which is some distance from the water source, is to the west of the Nympheum and is in good condition. On the way to the Great Basilica, which can be seen from any high point of the city, one can see the small valley created by the horseshoe shaped Stadion. The tour ends back at the Western Gate.</p><br>
<h3>City gate</h3><br>
<p>Facing the valley in the west, the Western Gate is most probably the main entrance to the city as a number of ancient roads meet here. It is supported by the city walls on both sides. Like 40% of the monumental gates in Anatolia it is a three-vaulted victory arch. In architectural structure and in ornament, the gate was influenced by the pre-existing Propylon (the entrance to the Imperial Sanctuary).</p><br>
<p>It was excavated in 1924 by the University of Michigan team. The gate had inscriptions on both sides. These were mounted on architraves and were formed from individually cast bronze letters which had mounting lugs on their reverses. These lugs were fixed with lead into holes cut in the stone.</p><br>
<p>These letters are now missing, but in 1924 one stone was found which still had letters in position. It read: C.IVL.ASP. Robinson jumped to the conclusion that this referred to Caius Julius Asper who was proconsul of the Province of Asia in AD 212 and for many years this was taken as the date of construction of the gate.</p><br>
<p>Over the last ten years Dr Maurice Byrne has been working on the gate and the archives of the 1924 expedition. He has found that Robinson&#39;s own records show that lying on the ground next to the stone with the letters was another which had broken off it. This stone continued the name and showed that it was not that of the proconsul, but of a member of a distinguished Antioch family, the Pansiniani, who are known of over a number of generations.</p><br>
<p>Many of the stones from the inscriptions on both sides of the gate are missing (in 1924 one of these was found in the local graveyard acting as a tombstone). Dr Byrne&#39;s present reading of the inscriptions (or rather of the holes into which they were mounted) is:</p><br>
<p>Inner side:</p><br>
<p>C. IVL. ASP PANSINIVS II VIR V TRIB</p><br>
<p>LEG I PRAEF AL D S P F ET ORNAVIT</p><br>
<p>"Caius Julius Asper Pansinianus, mayor for the fifth time (or for five years), military tribune of the first legion, prefect of the foreign cavalry composed of soldiers from... (here a stone is missing) constructed and ornamented (this gate) from his own money."</p><br>
<p>Outer side:</p><br>
<p>IMP. CAESARI DIVI ADRIANO AU MAX. TRIB. POT. XIII. COS III P.P. ET SABINAE AU COL.</p><br>
<p>"For the Emperor Caesar Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, grandson of the deified Nerva, son of the deified Traianus, Pontifex Maximus, Tribunus for the 13th time, Consul for the 3rd time, Pater Patriae (Father of the land) and for Sabina Augusta....the colony."</p><br>
<p>This outer inscription makes it possible to date the gate to the year AD 129 AD when Hadrian visited Asia Minor. The gates at Antalya and Phaselis were also built during this period. It is a possibility that further work was done on the gate at a later date which was recorded by the internal inscription.</p><br>
<p>Monumental gates in Roman cities, especially in colonies were built as victory arches to symbolize the military power of Roman authority. The main gate in Antioch decorated with nikes, weapons, armour, bucrania and garlands is a perfect example of this tradition.</p><br>
<h3>The waterfall</h3><br>
<p>On the main axis of the street through the gate, about 7 m into the city, the remains of a semi-circular ended pool can be seen. This stands at the bottom of a waterfall which consisted of a series of tanks 2 meters wide and 0.80 m high. These rose up the hill to the Decumanus Maximus and water flowed down the hill from tank to tank. This must have been a most welcome sight to thirsty travellers on a hot summer&#39;s day. A similar waterfall is known at Perge. The water system feeding the waterfall is not yet clear and awaits investigation at the start of the Decumanus Maximus.</p><br>
<h3>The theatre</h3><br>
<p>Beyond the City Gate the Decumanus Maximus begins. Fifty meters up this street there is the entrance to the theatre. Unfortunately little more than the semi-circular seating survives. It is rather difficult to get an idea of a typical Graeco-Roman building from its present condition. The blocks of the cavea (auditorium), diazoma (dividing corridor of the auditorium), kerkidai (climbing steps), entrances and the orchestra have been carried away for later period constructions in Antioch and in Yalvaç. Arundell observed that many blocks had been removed when he identified the theatre in 1833.</p><br>
<p>During the recent clearing by Dr.Taşlıalan it is understood that the width of the scene building at the back of the theatre is c. 100 meters. So we can compare the building to the theatre of Aspendos in Pamphylia with its capacity of 12,000 people. It is rather bigger and larger than the other important Pisidian city theatres at Sagalassos, Termessos and Selge.</p><br>
<p>The theatre was enlarged in the period AD 311-13. This involved building above the Decumanus Maximus which was taken through a tunnel 5 m wide and 55 m long. An inscription which was at the entrance to the tunnel dates this enlargement. The original architecture can be dated back to the founding of the colony or may go back to the Hellenistic age. Further excavation is needed.</p><br>
<h3>Central church</h3><br>
<p>At the end of the Decumanus Maximus a left turn takes one into the Cardo Maximus, leading after 75 meters to the Central Church.</p><br>
<p>The church is on the axis of the Platea, Propylon, and Augusteum and was so named by researchers because of its topographical position. One apse which was then visible had been identified as part of a church by Arundell, but none of the further researchers were interested in the building until 1924, when it was excavated and the architect Woodbridge drew a rough plan. It was thought that the church had a small Latin-cross plan, but continuing excavations in 1927 by Ramsay and in the present by Taşlıalan have shown that the central church has a larger and a more orthodox plan.</p><br>
<p>Ramsay carried out unrecorded excavations in 1927 and found an iron seal with the names of three martyrs from the period of Diocletian: Neon, Nikon and Heliodorus. Taşlıalan adds the name of St. Bassus of Antioch to this finding and the church is known as St.Bassus Church today.</p><br>
<p>Ramsay went deeper to earlier phases of the church and found another apse in the south of the church. He thought that this earlier apse had been built on the synagogue in which St.Paul preached to the first Christians of Antioch. The details of the plan and connections between the two apses and the construction phases are not clear because of unsystemathic digging. So the 4th century date given by Ramsay can be taken forward about a century because new results from Mitchells survey and Taşlıalans excavations.</p><br>
<h3>Tiberia Platea</h3><br>
<p>Opposite the central church, at the end of an 11 m wide and 85 m long street can be seen the stairs of the Propylon. This large street was decorated with colonnades and statues on both sides. There is still an argument whether the name "Tiberia Platea" (Tiberius square) should be given to the whole street complex or only to the 30 m wide square in front of the Propylon. The architectural plan of the shops behind the porticos on both sides of the large street-square and the connection between square and street are evidence that the whole complex up to the Propylon can be named as the Tiberia Platea.</p><br>
<p>The 1924 finds: inscriptions, altars, drinking cups, eating or preserving pottery, several kitchen tools and hundreds of coins show that the shops were like little restaurants and bars. Because of the central situation of the Platea and its close proximity to the Imperial Sanctuary we can say that this place was at the heart of urban life in its time.</p><br>
<p>The name of the Platea is known from the famous inscription recording the edict governing the hoarding of grain made by L. Antistius Rusticus, governor of Galatia-Cappadocia. The inscription is in Afyon Museum today. Robinson and Ramsay published it in the same year in different articles, each claiming the right of publication. This was the opening round in a series of increasingly rancorous publications by these two scholars. As a consequence of this quarrel the Americans did not return after 1924 and the well-shaped paving blocks of this ownerless area were pulled up and used for road building or for modern buildings in Yalvaç as late as the 1970s.</p><br>
<p>A short wander amongst the older houses of Yalvaç will reveal many ornamental pieces from the Augusteum, Tiberia Platea, Propylon and other important buildings of Antioch. It is certain that many pieces lie beneath the foundations of mud-brick walls which are now covered by the risen level of the streets.</p><br>
<p>Over two hundred further pieces of the Monumentum Ancyranum (Res Gestae Divi Augusti) whose first fragments were found in 1914, were also found during the 1924 excavations of the Platea. The restored remains of nearly 60 pieces are on display in Yalvaç Museum.</p><br>
<p>In 1924, 20 meters from the Propylon and at the south corner of the Platea, architectural blocks from an eight-columned circular building were unearthed. This little tholos (rotunda) was built on a square base of side 5.20 m. It appears that the Ionic and composite columns were standing directly on the stylobate without column bases. The building was covered with a conical stone roof decorated in imitation of tiling and looking like fish scales. From the remains of an inscription reading …I ANTONINI AUG. on a cornice block which can still be seen at the site, one learns that the tholos belongs to the period of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Caracalla) who became Augustus in 198 and died in 217.</p><br>
<p>As a characteristic of the period are concentrated drillwork and light contrast in the stonemasonship of the building. There are several similar examples of a tholos in other metropolitan cities of antiquitiy, for example at Pergamon and Ephesus. Meanwhile, the small inscription on the cornice shows us the importance of epigraphy for dating archaeological remains.</p><br>
<p>During the Michigan excavations in 1924 an interesting square block of side 1.7 m was found set into the pavement on the main axis of the Propylon, Platea and Augusteum.</p><br>
<p>It bore an inscription on a domed circular panel. This was originally formed from bronze letters recessed into the stone. Although the bronze letters were missing it was possible to read the whole inscription. Because it was too heavy to carry away or because there were many well-shaped blocks nearby the block was not removed although it has been damaged. It can be seen at the site today. The inscription, which dates to the first building phase of the Platea in 25–50 AD, records the gift of our citizen Baebius Asiaticus who paid for the paving of the street:</p><br>
<p>T.BAEBIUS T.F.SER</p><br>
<p>ASIATICUS</p><br>
<p>III PEDUM D S P</p><br>
<p>STRAVIT</p><br>
<p>"Titus Baebius Asiaticus, son of Titus, of the tribe Sergia, Aedile (Mayor)</p><br>
<p>paved 3000 feet from his own money."</p><br>
<p>It is clear, as Mitchell has pointed out, exactly where these 3000 feet paved by Baebius were. This is because 3000 Roman feet, each of 0.296 m, fit the total lengths of the Decumanus and Cardo (810 m) plus that of the Platea (70 m)=880 m or 2973 Roman feet.</p><br>
<p>Another interesting find in the Platea is a fountain block. The remains of a water system made out of earthenware tubes can be seen in the Platea today. This system distributed water which came from the nympheum to the shops from a fountain under the second column of the Propylon to the north.</p><br>
<h3>Propylon</h3><br>
<p>The 12 steps at the end of the Tiberia Platea are all that remain of the Propylon, a monumental passage gateway leading up to the Imperial Sanctuary. Woodbridge, the architect of the 1924 excavations proposed a reconstruction of the Propylon which is still accepted today.</p><br>
<p>It was triple-arched and highly ornamented with its massive entablature carried by four columns in front and four at the rear. The building was an exemplar not only for the later Western City Gate but also for many other victory arches in Anatolia. The Propylon was built to honour Augustus who, as Octavian, had won the sea-battle of Actium against Marcus Antonius in 31 BC and thus became the single power of the Roman world. The aim of the decoration of the building is to commemorate the naval and other victories of Augustus.</p><br>
<p>The Sanctuary beyond the gate provides the function for the building. The discovery of many fragments of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti in front of the Propylon is further confirmation. Although there is not agreement on the exact position where the stone panels bearing the inscription were mounted on the Propylon, it is clear that the letters of the inscription (the remains of which are in Yalvaç Museum) were intended to be read at eye level.</p><br>
<p>The most recent work on the bronze letter inscriptions which were mounted on the architraves of both sides of the central entrance has been done by Dr. Maurice Byrne. He located in the 1924 photographic archive evidence of three stones which have been lost subsequently. These show that the same inscription was mounted on both sides of the building, but that the vertical alignment of the letters in the two lines of the inscription differed by the width of one letter between the two sides. The inscription reads:</p><br>
<p>IMP. CAESVI. VGVSTO. PONTIICI.</p><br>
<p>MO COS. XUNPOTESTATIS.</p><br>
<p>XXII.P.XIIII. P.</p><br>
<p>"For the emperor Caesar Augustus, son of a god, pontifex maximus, consul for the 13th time, with tribunician power for the 22nd time, imperator for the 14th time, father of the country."</p><br>
<p>The inscription is a dedication to Augustus who became Pater Patriae on 5 February 2 BC. A similar briefer inscription exists on an Imperial Temple at Pola:</p><br>
<p>ROMAE ET AVGVSTO CAESARI DIVI F. PATRI PATRIAE.</p><br>
<p>The width of the central entrance is 4.5 metres and of the side entrances 3.5 m. Both upper sides of the central arch were decorated with two face-to-face Pisidian captives, one of them naked, whose hands are tied at the back. The side entrances are decorated with Eros and Nike face-to-face and carrying garlands. There was a frieze on the architrave ornamented with symbols of victory, several weapons, armour and tritons.</p><br>
<p>Without Woodbridge&#39;s reconstruction it is impossible to recreate the shape of the Propylon from what can be seen today. The structure has been totally destroyed and blocks may have been used in later defences, or in buildings in Yalvaç.</p><br>
<h3>Augusteum/Sebasteion (sanctuary of the imperial cult)</h3><br>
<p>The most effective, most monumental complex at Antioch is reached after climbing the twelve steps of the Propylon. The temple that was constructed at the highest point of the city by cutting away the rock has on first sight a stunning effect on the visitor with its ornamental and architectural richness.</p><br>
<p>The Augusteum was one of the first places to be dug by Ramsay&#39;s team in 1913. Callander, a member of the team, wrote with emotion on their work at the Augusteum. Current thinking is that construction of the temple started when Augustus was alive and that it was dedicated to him after his death. The complex seen now is contemporary with the Propylon and Platea but there are some traces on the rock that the area could have been used for another cult in earlier times.</p><br>
<p>When a large section of the mound was cut away to form the semicircle and smooth the area, a huge block, 14x28 m and 2.5 m high, was left in the centre as a podium for the temple. The interior of this podium was carved out to form a cult room (Naos).</p><br>
<p>There were twelve steps up to the temple, like at the Propylon, and the order was a four columned prostylos. The 8.72 m high fluted drum-columns, which stood on Anatolian type bases, carried with their Corinthian capitals a three-fascia architrave. On the architrave there was a frieze of garlands and bucrania. The entablature was surmounted with a tympanon which had an epiphania window (at which god showed himself to the people) in the middle, surrounded with lotus and palmet leaves.</p><br>
<p>The ornamental richness of the building is completed with a floral frieze on the walls of the cella. Important parts of the friezes are well-preserved and can be seen at the site and in Yalvaç Museum but unfortunately the same cannot be said about the columns and other architectural blocks.</p><br>
<p>In the surrounding sanctuary, which measures c. 100x85 m, the perimeter of the semi-circular area was covered with a portico. At each end of this portico, on the south and north sides there were stoas. The stoas and portico are connected to each other organically and in the area carved from the rock, the broken surfaces were renovated with local limestones. The stoas at the sides were one floored with Doric columns. The semi-circular portico had two floors, the lower with Doric columns without bases and the upper with fine Ionic columns. In reconstruction tests it is believed that about 150 columns were used in the monumental construction.</p><br>
<p>The excavators reported that the rock was covered with a hard stucco-like mortar. The regular rectangular holes were for beams carrying the second floor of the portico and the occasional rectangular holes of different size were possibly for the scaffolding put up during the construction and then filled with mortar.</p><br>
<h3>Nympheum and water supply system</h3><br>
<p>After returning to the Cardo Maximus from the Augusteum and continuing to the north of the city, the Nympheum waits at the beginning of Cardo. The building is a large U-shape and was built to collect water brought by the aqueduct and distribute it throughout the city.</p><br>
<p>The Nympheum complex included a reservoir 27x3 m to collect incoming water, an ornamented facade building 9 m high and a pool 27 by 7 m and 1.5 m deep. Just behind the complex, the remains of the aqueduct which brought water to the city from the "Suçıkan" source in Sultan Mountains c. 11 km away, can be seen. The modern town of Yalvaç uses the same water from the same source today.</p><br>
<p>The excavations in the nympheum only reveal the foundations and it is difficult to interpret the ornaments of the facade from only a few fine marble remains, but no doubt these were similar to those in other Roman cities. No inscription has been found associated with the building.</p><br>
<p>In Imperial Rome, aqueducts appeared with the development of urbanism and a well-preserved example of such a structure can be seen at Antioch. Especially as a result of the Pax Romana (Roman Peace), the problem of supplying the needs of fast growing populations was solved by these structures. The aqueduct arches were constructed robustly to bear the weight of the water and they are still standing despite many earthquakes.</p><br>
<p>In Antioch the water, which comes from an altitude of 1465 m in the mountains, is conveyed the 11 km to the city sometimes in channels, sometimes in tunnels and sometimes on arches of one or two stories, according to the terrain, in stone and earthenware tubes to the nympheum which is at 1178 m.</p><br>
<p>This gives an average slope of 2.6% along the 287 m difference of altitude between the source and nympheum. The water pressure along such a slope is high and the pressure of flow was lowered by phases and when the water arrived at the syphon aqueducts at the end of the system, the flow was controlled with a slope of only 0.02%. As a result of this feat of experimental engineering 3000 cubic meters of water was distributed to the city daily without any problems for centuries. The height of nympheum should therefore be at least 9 m to give water to the higher points of city like the Platea, and Owens has suggested that part of the supply was a sealed pressurised tube.</p><br>
<p>Around 200 meters of the aqueduct can be seen on the hills and the ruined parts can be followed along a line right up to the nympheum.</p><br>
<p>The height of the arches which are still standing varies between 5 and 7 m and the massive blocked pylons are on average 4 m high and have a floor area of 4 m². The blocks are bossaged with a deep anathrosys and this gives an effect of solidity to the whole structure. The lines beneath the arch feet hide the heaviness of the structure and give a lightness of appearance. There are no ornaments on the keystones showing us that the building was primarily functional. The distance between two pylons varies between 3.8 and 4.7 m.</p><br>
<p>The key-stones are sometimes single, sometimes double, and the masonship of the round arches is different but the aqueduct appears as a unity. The cause of this strength or solidity depends on the perfectionism of the arch architecture.</p><br>
<p>The entablature is completely ruined, but many of the stone tubes for the water supply (Specus Canalis) with c. 25 cm holes can be seen in the area.</p><br>
<p>The nympheum and water supply system is dated to the first half of the 1st century when Antioch became Colonia Caesarea.</p><br>
<h3>The Bath</h3><br>
<p>The bath lies at the northwest corner of the city and the building did not receive much interest from researchers over the last 150 years. Most of them identified the building as an arched, colossal complex but none of them had anything to say about the function of the building. Seven section of the building have been unearthed by the excavations directed by Taşlıalan in recent years, but an important part of the complex, which is 70x55 m, is still buried and the plan is not yet clear. There is still some uncertainty whether the building is in fact a bath or not.</p><br>
<p>For example, because of sun and wind factors, the entrances to bath-houses in Anatolia were made on the south or east sides, but here the situation is different, the entrances are on the west and north-west sides. Also there are not clear traces of a water supply and heating system and in this situation the building rather looks like the lower part of a huge building that bore a massive structure above on its strong arches. Also because of the slope of the area on which it is constructed, the arches provide a solution so that the complex looks like the foundations for a building on a slope. For instance at Pergamon the same remedy was used for the Trajaneum.</p><br>
<p>But until further excavations prove the contrary the building can be accepted as a bath house which it resembles.</p><br>
<p>Treating it as a bath, the building is a reasonable distance from the nympheum. The exterior of the walls of the building on the north side are similar to the semi-circular fortifications of the western city walls. So it is possible that the massive external walls of the structure were also used for fortification in an as yet unrecognized plan and the small entrance in the north wall was used for the supply of wood needed for heating. The stonemasonship of the building is the strongest work visible at Antioch and it looks as if it will keep the building standing for many thousand years yet to come.</p><br>
<p>In the rooms cleared during the excavations it is understood that some places were filled deliberately. The style of the blocked and mortar-filled walls show the techniques of different centuries and show that the building was used over an extended period and possibly for different purposes also.</p><br>
<p>The court which is 38 by 29 m, identified as a palaestra, at the east side of the complex is connected to the building in an organic way. The court is surrounded with a colonaded-portico but the plan is not yet clear.</p><br>
<p>In one room, the remains of a floor heating system (Hypocaust) is visible as baked-clay tubes and rectangular brick-columns, but this would not reach the central heating oven of the building which should be at east or south side, if the building is a bath. It will be possible to understand the functions and phases of the building by continuing the excavations and in this situation the building may be comparable with the bath-house of Sagalassos in Pisidia which is 80x55 m. The beginning of the building phases can be dated to the first half of the 1st century AD. like the aqueduct and nympheum.</p><br>
<h3>Stadium</h3><br>
<p>Outside the late period defence walls and opposite the Great Basilica, a small valley can be discerned. It has been recognized as a stadium only recently. The building blocks have all gone but traces of a U-shaped stadium c. 190x30 m for athletic games and competitions can be seen.</p><br>
<h3>The great basilica</h3><br>
<p>One of the most important building complexes of Antioch is the Great Basilica in the northwest of the city, close to the outer walls. Arundell first identified the building as a basilica and the plan published by him became a guide for subsequent researchers. The Basilica was excavated first in 1924 by the Michigan team and it was then buried again for 80 years until the outside of the building was cleared by Taşlıalan who has most recently made a sondage in the apse.</p><br>
<p>The building lies in the east-west direction and is 70 by 27 m The narthex which is 27 by 13 m bears against the defence walls. The format reflects all the specifications of a basilica with an apse, a large nave in the middle and two narrow ones at the sides. The outer wall of the apse is of hectagonal plan.</p><br>
<p>The basilica shows changes to its plan over time. Possibly at the end of the 4th century the apse and naves were filled up to the level of the floor visible today and the filled area was pressed and covered with mosaics. Three new entrances were added to the building on the north side in this phase and the courtyard on the north side also dated to this period. The central axis of the basilica is different from the central axis of the mosaic floor, showing changes of structure. The mosaic which was unearthed by Robinson&#39;s team is covered with c. 30 cm of earth today, and 1924 photographs show that it was of geometrical floral motives in rectangular frames.</p><br>
<p>In the central nave at the beginning of the apse where there should be an altar a mosaic inscription was found giving the name of Bishop Optimus who represented Antioch at the Council of Constantinople in 381. This date is at the beginning of the building of basilical churches in Asia Minor. It also consolidates the dating of the Great Basilica. So, the Great Basilica of Antioch is known as one of the two earliest examples of Early Christian churches in Anatolia. The other example is in another Antioch on the Orontes (Hatay) dedicated to St. Babylas in Daphne.</p><br>
<p>The apse is 10.8 m in diameter and the central nave is separated by two rows of 13 columns standing on hectagonal bases. Beneath the filling, there are earlier construction phases of the naves. The recent sondage shows traces of an arched foundation on both sides. Possibly the second floor was carried on this. These vaults were subsequently filled and the columns of the Optimus phase erected on this filled surface. Three gates were added to the north wall of which the central one is 4 m wide and two were added to the south wall. The northern entrances open onto the central ceremonial court which is surrounded with an L&ndash;shaped portico. All the material of this court is reused from earlier buildings. In the north of the court a baptistery pool was added to the basilical complex and the foundations of a mosaic paved building beside the pool may possibly be a bishops residence.</p><br>
<p>There is no church comparable to the basilica in Pisidia and it is earlier than the churches of Sagalassos, Thekla, Anabarzus and Korykos. Evidence from the late 4th century like the enlarged theatre, a new agora, enlarged fortifications show that the city had one of its most brilliant eras at the beginning of the 5th century.</p><br>
<p>Dr.Taşlıalan identified the Great Basilica as the "Church of St.Paul" by means of an altar which was found in Yalvaç market place and he claims that the wall foundations at the south side of the basilica belong to the synagogue where St.Paul first preached to the Gentiles.</p><br>
<p>The altar is dated to the 6th century and the rough inscription is easily readable as "AGIOS PAULOS". W.M. Calder is the first who mentions this altar, found in the Yalvaç Baths, in his reports of 1911 and he said it could be belong to an unknown Church of St.Paul. Podromos, the Greek guide of Calder, was the first man who translated the inscription on the altar.</p><br>
<p>It is not clear if the basilica was used for another purpose in its earlier levels. Conservation and lifting of the mosaics will give opportunities to go deeper into the naves of Optimus and this will shed further light on this important Antioch building.</p><br>
<h2>The sanctuary of Men Askaenos</h2><br>
<p>A sanctuary exists on the neighbouring hill east of Antioch, which is about 1600 m high, that 6 km away from Antioch(3.5 km as the crow flies) dedicated to one of the mystic gods of Anatolia: Men Askaenos. The hill is known as Gemen Korusu (grove of Gemen) or Karakuyu (blackwell, because of a dried spring beside a church from the times of the Byzantine Empire). Even today the hill is rendered attractive by means of the sacred trees of the Father God(Patrios Theos)of Antioch, pine trees. The sanctuary was founded on a high hill to see the Beyşehir Lake in southeast, Eğirdir Lake in southwest and the territory of Antioch 400 meters below.</p><br>
<p>At the beginning of the 20th century, the discoverer of Antioch wondered about the sanctuary that Strabo mentions in his Geography, and Ramsay&#39;s team found a sacred prosessional road with votive steles on either side leading up to the sanctuary. And the researchers met there with a temple in a temenos, another smaller one, a stadion, andron, ceremonial hall, Byzantine church and house-shaped unidentified buildings. Inscriptions indicate that a strong cult of a local belief reigned in sanctuary in a long period between the 4th century BC and 4th century AD.</p><br>
<p>Ramsay and Hardie identified the Temple of Men as a "Great Altar" maybe from its similarity to Pergamon Altar. The next year they recognized the building and identified as "an unusual shaped small temple".</p><br>
<p>On temenos walls especially on the south –southwest side that looks to Antioch they discovered many inscriptions on votive stels dedicated to Men begging help, health, protection; telling sins, dreams, wishing forgiving and giving thanks, shortly shared lives with the Patrios Theos.</p><br>
<p>The temple is a peripteral Ionic ordered temple with 11x6 columns. The measures are 31x17.4 in podium base and 25x12.5 on the podium. There are 10 steps in southwest-northwest sides and 6 steps in southeast-northeast sides of the podium.</p><br>
<p>The site and other buildings are in a bad condition. Although it has been surveyed, the site has not been excavated yet. With the growth of Christianity, sites of local polytheistic religions of Anatolia and imported cults like emperors were systematically damaged in the 4th century. This is why even plan specifications of the buildings cannot be clearly seen in the present day.</p><br>
<h2>Yalvaç museum</h2><br>
<p>Continuing research in the area makes Yalvaç a centre for interest in the Pisidian Region. Even from the early years of the last century research and excavations led to the need for a museum. Some early finds went to the Museum at Konya. The artifacts that were found in the American excavations were at first kept in the High School, but as the natives started to bring many different objects there, it became necessary to build a museum in Yalvaç. In 1947 even the excavations stopped for this coming inflating objects a storage room built.</p><br>
<p>For some time objects were displayed in Yalvaç Public Library but the need continues and the present building was started in 1963 and finished in 1966.</p><br>
<p>The museum consisting of a Prehistoric hall, a classical hall, an etnographic hall, with the garden in the centre, and is open every day, except Monday, between 08.30 and 17.30.</p><br>
<h3>The Pre-History Hall</h3><br>
<p>Just at the left side of the entrance, fossil finds are on display, which were found at Tokmacık (a small town 17 km from Yalvaç). They are the remains of several mammals belonging to the Late Miocene Era, 7 million to 8 million years old.</p><br>
<p>In continuous windows, early Bronze Age finds by villagers and surveyors who explored around the 17 prehistoric-settled mounds of the Yalvaç region are on display. These objects, baked clay cups and jars, several stone objects, axes, weights, seals, and figurines reflect the characteristic style of the Lake District.</p><br>
<h3>The Classical Hall</h3><br>
<p>This hall is in the central part of the museum and mostly contains finds from the excavations at Antioch. On display are statues, statue fragments, portraits and reliefs, all reflecting the culture of a Roman colony that melded in Anatolian pot.</p><br>
<p>Objects of daily use, such as jars, jewellery, perfume bottles, terracotta and bronze figurines together with marble statuettes, votive steles from the Men Sanctuary, and early examples of Christian crosses are on display forming a rich, concentrated collection.</p><br>
<h3>Ethnographic Hall</h3><br>
<p>Some beautiful examples of Turkish culture, which had settled in Yalvaç from the 12th century, are exhibited in this gallery. Particularly impressive are the carved wooden chimneys, ceilings, doors and wardrobes. In other cabinets, objects of daily use, such as dresses, jewellery, weapons, and medals are on display.</p><br>
<h3>The Garden</h3><br>
<p>This contains some representative examples of architecture from the site of Antioch together with many stones found in Yalvaç and its surroundings.</p><br>
<p>The development of the museum is continued by research. There is now a need for a larger museum for the display of objects in storage. The coins, manuscripts, weapons, reliefs and statue fragments are still waiting to be exhibited in new galleries.</p><br>
<h2>Surrounding villages</h2><br>
<p>It is believed that the villages around Yalvaç may have lineage of the ancient city of Antiochia in Psidia. An English explorer named Mitchell Ramsay drew a link to the workers class ancient ionian settlers in the region to the village of Manarga in the vicinity of Yalvaç. He assumed the name of this village to be man-arga or meaning worker folk in ancient anatolian Greek. Their deity was Hephaestus, the god of all skilfulthings and labour-saving devices. This village has only recently been renamed Dedeçam. Interestingly, Ramsay speaks of two other settler folk named Geleontes and Aigikoreis, being farmers and priests respectievely.</p><br>
<p>Consequently, there are two other villages in the vicinity of the village of Manarga which are Gelemi/Gelegemi and Oekuenes. These villages are at 1 km distance from each other, and their names strikingly reveal similarities with the Geleontes (farm folk) and the Aigikoreis (priests). In the village of Oekuenes which is situated on top of a hill, there is an old sand road leading towards Yalvaç and thuss may have been used in antiquity to go to the ancient city of Antiochia in psidia. The city centre of the village of Manarga also has a very high hill and there have been found ancient human bones in the vicinity thereof.</p><br>
<p>Ramsey speaks of a fourth ionian settler tribe, namely the hopletes (soldiers), and mentions that antioch in psidia was a garrison city to hold off invasions from native non-Greeks. It is highly likely that the soldiers that defended psidia in antioch were actually living in the city itself or in the immediate vicinity thereof.</p><br>
<p>On the southeast end of the village of Manarga there was recently discovered a small tunnel and researchers concluded that this tunnel was a waterway originating directly from lake Egirdir. This is a characteristic ancient Greek watertunnel known as an orygma amphistomon. There are several watertunnels originating from lake Egirdir to several villages in the vicinity. This adds to the conclusion that the village of Manarga is indeed an ancient village. This is also reflected in the views of its inhabitants who say that their village is older than any other village in the vicinity.</p><br>
<p>Backbone Mountain is a ridge of the Allegheny Mountains of the central Appalachian Mountain Range. It is situated in the USA states of West Virginia and Maryland and forms a portion of the Eastern Continental Divide. In the state of Maryland, Backbone Mountain reaches an elevation of 3,360 ft, making it Maryland’s highest point.</p><br>
<h2>Description and geography</h2><br>
<p>Backbone Mountain stretches approximately 39 mi southwest to northeast, from the Black Fork near Hambleton in Tucker County, West Virginia to the Savage River Reservoir in Garrett County, Maryland.</p><br>
<p>The mountain provides a boundary between two watersheds. The headwaters of Youghiogheny River, in the watershed of the Mississippi River, lie just northwest of the mountain, whereas the headwaters of the North Branch of the Potomac River lie just south of the mountain, along the West Virginia-Maryland border.</p><br>
<p>The ridge is crossed twice by USA Route 219, once north of Parsons and again near Silver Lake. It is also crossed by USA Route 50 east of Red House, Maryland, which is marked by a Maryland State Highway Administration sign.</p><br>
<h2>Notable features</h2><br>
<h3>Hoye-Crest</h3><br>
<p>Located just inside of Maryland along Backbone Mountain is Hoye-Crest. At an elevation of 3,360 ft, it is the highest point in the state of Maryland. The location, named for Captain Charles Hoye, founder of the Garrett County Historical Society, has a marker and offers a view of the North Branch Potomac River valley to the east. The location is accessible via a path leading from USA Route 219 to the west.</p><br>
<h3>Olson Observation Tower</h3><br>
<p>The southern end of Backbone Mountain was the location of West Virginia&#39;s first fire tower. The first tower was built in 1922 by the state and subsequently transferred to Monongahela National Forest. In 1963, the original tower was replaced with the one currently on-site and named after Ernest B. Olson in recognition of 28 years of service in MNF fire control and conservation programs.</p><br>
<p>While the cab of the tower is not open to the public, the 133 steps leading to it are. From the tower it is possible to view the surrounding area, including Cheat River watershed, Parsons, Blackwater Canyon, Canaan Mountain and the Otter Creek Wilderness.</p><br>
<h3>Crabtree Woods</h3><br>
<p>Crabtree Woods, on the northwest slopes of Backbone Mountain, is in the Potomac-Garrett State Forest. It constitutes Maryland&#39;s largest surviving remnant of old-growth forest: over 500 acre of mixed Appalachian hardwoods (sugar maple, red oak, basswood and cucumber tree).</p><br>
<p>Thórsmörk  is a mountain ridge in Iceland that was named after the Norse god Thor . It is situated in the south of Iceland between the glaciers Tindfjallajökull and Eyjafjallajökull. The name "Thórsmörk" properly refers only to the mountain ridge between the rivers Krossá, Þröngá, and Markarfljót, but is sometimes used informally to describe a wider area that includes the region between Thórsmörk and Eyjafjallajökull. Thórsmörk is one of the most popular hiking areas in Iceland.</p><br>
<p>In the valley, the river Krossá winds between the mountains. The valley is closed in between glaciers, Mýrdalsjökull being at the rear end of the valley. This leads to an especially warm climate, better than in the rest of south Iceland. In the protected valley, green vegetation of moss, fern, birchwood, and other small shrubs are found.</p><br>
<p>Thórsmörk is popular amongst hikers. Many different tours are possible, from hiking on the glaciers to trekking (i.e., Laugavegur up to Landmannalaugar) or smaller excursions, such as to the canyon Stakkholtsgjá with its waterfall or five small day treks, to the summits of surrounding peaks, with rewarding views, even in bad weather. The Krossá is a cold, fast river coming down from glaciers; a bridge allows pedestrians to cross. Coaches arrive daily from Reykjavík and other towns in Iceland.</p><br>
<h2>Volcanic ash from Eyjafjallajökull</h2><br>
<p>During to the spring 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, much of the area was covered in a thick layer of volcanic ash. Several months were needed for nature to return to normal.</p><br>
<p>Enchanted Rock  is an enormous pink granite pluton batholith located in the Llano Uplift approximately 17 mi north of Fredericksburg, Texas and 24 mi south of Llano, Texas, United States. Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, which includes Enchanted Rock and surrounding land, spans the border between Gillespie County and Llano County, south of the Llano River. Enchanted Rock covers approximately and rises approximately 425 ft above the surrounding terrain to elevation of 1,825 ft above sea level. It is the largest such pink granite monadnock in the United States. Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, a part of the Texas state park system, includes 1,644 acre. Designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1936.</p><br>
<p>Enchanted Rock was rated in 2017 as the best campsite in Texas in a 50-state survey conducted by Msn.com.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The prominent granite dome is visible for many miles in the surrounding basin of the Llano Uplift. The weathered dome, standing above the surrounding plain is known to geologists as a monadnock. The rock is actually the visible above-ground part of a segmented ridge, the surface expression of a large igneous batholith, called the Town Mountain Granite of middle Precambrian material that intruded into earlier metamorphic schist, called the Packsaddle Schist. The intrusive granite of the rock mass, or pluton, was exposed by extensive erosion of the surrounding sedimentary rock, primarily the Cretaceous Edwards limestone, which is exposed a few miles to the south of Enchanted Rock.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Archaeological evidence indicates human visitation at the rock going back at least 11,000 years.</p><br>
<p>According to the book The Enchanted Rock published in 1999 by Ira Kennedy</p><br>
<p>These hunter-gatherers had flint-tipped spears, fire, and stories. With these resources, some twelve thousand years ago, the first Texans became the wellspring of Plains Indian culture. On the basis of archaeological evidence, human habitation at Enchanted Rock can be traced back at least 10,000 years. Paleo-Indian projectile points, or arrowheads, 11–12,000 years old have been found in the area upstream and downstream from The Rock. The oldest authenticated projectile point found within the present day park is a Plainview point type, dating back 10,000 years.</p><br>
<p>The rock has been the subject of numerous geological surveys and paintings.</p><br>
<h2>Legends</h2><br>
<p>Folklore of local Tonkawa, Apache and Comanche tribes ascribes magical and spiritual powers to the rock (hence the name Enchanted Rock). While attempting to hide from Anglo settlers in the area, the natives would hide on the top two tiers of the rock, where they were invisible from the ground below. The first European to visit the area was probably Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1536. The Tonkawa, who inhabited the area in the 16th century, believed that ghost fires flickered at the top of the dome. In particular they heard unexplained creaking and groaning, which geologists attribute to the rock&#39;s night-time contraction after being heated by the sun during the day. The name "Enchanted Rock" derives from Spanish and Anglo-Texan interpretations of such legends and related folklore; the name "Crying Rock" has also been given to the formation.</p><br>
<p>A plaque formerly embedded in Enchanted Rock near the top, but now removed to a kiosk below, reads:</p><br>
<p>From its summit in 1841, Captain John C. Hays, while surrounded by Comanche Indians who cut him off from his ranging company repulsed the whole band and inflicted upon them such heavy losses that they fled.</p><br>
<p>Marked by the State of Texas 1936</p><br>
<p>Other legends</p><br>
<p>associated with Enchanted Rock are</p><br>
<p>Named “Spirit Song Rock” for native legends</p><br>
<p>Revered by native tribes as a holy portal to other worlds</p><br>
<p>Anyone spending the night on the rock becomes invisible</p><br>
<p>Spanish priest fled to the rock pursued by native tribes, disappeared, and returned to tell a mystic tale of falling into a cavern and being swallowed by the rock, encountering many spirits in the tunnels, eventually to be spit out two days later</p><br>
<p>Haunted by spirits of warriors of a now-extinct Native American tribe who were slaughtered at Enchanted Rock by a rival tribe</p><br>
<p>Haunted by a Native American princess who threw herself off the rock after witnessing the slaughter of her people</p><br>
<p>Alleged sacrifices at the rock by both Comanche and Tonkawa tribes</p><br>
<p>Believed to be a lost silver mine, or the lost El Dorado gold</p><br>
<p>Bad fortune and death will befall anyone who climbs the rock with bad intent</p><br>
<p>Footprint indentations on the rock of Native American chief who sacrificed his daughter, condemned to walk Enchanted Rock forever</p><br>
<p>Woman’s screams at night are of a white woman who took refuge on Enchanted Rock after escaping a kidnapping by Native Americans</p><br>
<p>Spanish soldier Don Jesús Navarro’s Enchanted Rock rescue of native maiden Rosa, daughter of Chief Tehuan, after her kidnap by Comanches intent on sacrificing her on the rock</p><br>
<h2>Flora and fauna</h2><br>
<p>More than 500 species of plants, from four chief plant communities — open oak woodland, mesquite grassland, floodplain, and granite rock community — inhabit the rock. Vernal pools, ecologically threatened depressions of flora and fauna adapted to harsh environments, contain fragile invertebrate fairy shrimp. Other wildlife includes bats, ringtails, squirrels, and fox. A wide variety of lizards, including the Texas horned lizard also make the Enchanted Rock area their home.</p><br>
<p>Designated a key bird watching site, bird enthusiasts can observe wild turkey, greater roadrunner, golden-fronted woodpecker, Woodhouses scrub jay, canyon towhee, rufous-crowned sparrow and black-throated sparrow, lesser goldfinch, common poorwill, chuck-wills-widow, black-chinned hummingbird, vermilion flycatcher, scissor-tailed flycatcher, Bells vireo and yellow-throated vireo, blue grosbeak, painted bunting, orchard oriole, vesper sparrow, fox sparrow, Harriss sparrow and Lark sparrow.</p><br>
<h2>Enchanted Rock State Natural Area and Conservation</h2><br>
<p>Park activities include caving, hiking, primitive backpack camping, rock climbing and picnicking. The Summit Trail is the most popular hiking path.</p><br>
<p>The Granite Gripper is an annual rock climbing competition that acts as a fund raiser for park conservation through the Friends of Enchanted Rock.</p><br>
<p>Emphasis is placed on activity safety and ecological preservation. Visitors are asked to keep human incursion at a minimum by not disturbing plants, animals or artifacts.</p><br>
<p>Federal and state statutes, regulations and rules governing archeological and historic sites apply. The state Game Warden as a commissioned peace officer is authorized to inspect natural resources and take any necessary action for the preservation of the resources. As of March 1st, 2016, dogs are not allowed on the summit trail anymore.</p><br>
<p>Texas Parks and Wildlife Department partners with Friends of Enchanted Rock, a volunteer-based nonprofit organization that works for the improvement and preservation of Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. Scheduled Summit Trail tours are the third Saturday of the month starting April, May, September, October, November, and December. Private tours are available for groups at other times.</p><br>
<p>Nordaustlandet  is the second-largest island in the archipelago of Svalbard, Norway, with an area of 14,443 km&sup2;. It lies north east of Spitsbergen, separated by Hinlopen Strait. Much of Nordaustlandet lies under large ice caps, mainly Austfonna and Vestfonna, the remaining parts of the north being tundra inhabited by reindeer and walruses. The island is uninhabited and lies entirely within Nordaust-Svalbard Nature Reserve.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>English walrus hunters first sighted the south point of Nordaustlandet in 1617. This discovery was shown on the Muscovy Companys map (1625; but based on discoveries made in and prior to 1622), with the island labeled as Sir Thomas Smyths Iland. It also shows the North Cape (Point Purchas). It is first named Oostlandt ("East Land") on a Dutch map of 1662, and the following year another Dutch map marked its coastline more distinctly, showing its west and north coasts, separating the latter from the Seven Islands (Sjuøyane). A Dutch map of 1710 was the first to show the island accurately, naming it Het Noord Ooster Land ("The North-east Land").</p><br>
<h2>Geology and landscape</h2><br>
<p>The rock types in Nordaustlandet stem from many different geological eras. The northern part consists of old crystalline basement, with rocks such as marble, quartzite, mica schist, gneiss and granite. East of Lady Franklinfjorden, on the peninsula Botniahalvøya and east of Duvefjorden there are volcanic rocks. In the east and south of Rijpfjorden the bedrock is made up of distinctive red-coloured granite. The Rijpfjord granite is medium grained, and contains two micas (muscovite and biotite) in addition to quartz, plagioclase and pink K-feldspar. It was emplaced in late Silurian times.</p><br>
<p>Layered gabbro and dolerite of Silurian age occur at Kapp Laura in easternmost Nordaustlandet, on the island of Storøya, and in the eastern part of the island of Kvitøya. On Andréeneset, in the southern part of Kvitøya, gneisses and granites are the most common rock types. Four generations of rocks: gneiss, amphibolite, and grey and pink granite are present on Isispynten, a headland east of Austfonna. South of Wahlenbergfjorden there is a large area with sedimentary rocks – mostly limestone and dolomite – from the Carboniferous and Permian. The youngest rocks in Nordaustlandet are Jurassic–Cretaceous dolerite dikes, which intrude the basement rocks on the island of Lågøya and in the outlet of Brennevinsfjorden.</p><br>
<p>Unconsolidated deposits in Nordaustlandet consist of scree slopes, block fields and raised shore deposits. There are only small amounts of river deposits. The largest strandflats on Nordaustlandet can be found in the north-west, around Murchisonfjorden and on the island of Lågøya. Another large strandflat is Svartknausflya in the south, just west of the glacier of Bråsvellbreen. Here, there are raised shore deposits up to 120 m.a.s.l., where ancient whale bones have been found 70 m above today’s sea level. Svartknausflya is also the largest moraine area in Nordaustlandet; it measures about 70 km².</p><br>
<p>Glacial activity has shaped the landscape in Nordaustlandet through several ice ages. Gentle plateaus and rounded mountains are the most common sight. The tallest and steepest mountains, up to 600 m.a.s.l., can be found in the north. The eastern part of Nordaustlandet is covered in glaciers, and there are few areas without ice. Between Vibebukta and Kapp Laura, the steep front of the Austfonna ice cap dominates. The glacier has retracted a bit during recent decades, revealing new areas of dry land on the few headlands that can be found around here (such as Isispynten). Austfonna, including Vegafonna, stretch across an area of 8,450 km². Austfonna covers approximately 58% of Nordaustlandet. Vestfonna is 2,445 km². The largest areas with no ice are between Austfonna and Vestfonna and on the peninsulas in the north and north-west of Nordaustlandet.</p><br>
<p>The glacier Bråsvellbreen is a branch of Vestfonna. In 1937-1938 it had one of the largest surges ever recorded in Svalbard. The 30 km glacier front 20 km forwards and into the ocean.</p><br>
<p>Katakolo  is a seaside town in the municipality of Pyrgos in western Elis, Greece. It is situated on a headland overlooking the Ionian Sea and separating the Gulf of Kyparissia from the rest of the Ionian. It is 11 km west of Pyrgos. The small village of Agios Andreas, which in ancient times was the natural harbour for Ancient Olympia, lies northwest of Katakolo. A railway connects Katakolo with Pyrgos and Olympia.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In the Middle Ages, Katakolo was the site of the fortress of Pontikon or Pontikokastro (Ποντικόν, Ποντικόκαστρο), which the Frankish rulers of the Principality of Achaea called Beauvoir or Belveder. The fortress was built by the Byzantines and taken over by the Franks ca. 1205.</p><br>
<h2>Visitor attractions</h2><br>
<p>The port of Katakolo is a popular stop for cruise ships, offering an opportunity for passengers to visit the site of Olympia. Low hills with forests surround Katakolo. Visitors here have the opportunity to visit the ancient port of Olympia, the of Pheia. Ancient Pheia was on the other side of the mountain of Ichthys, now Agios Andreas, within walking distance of Katakolo port. The lighthouse of Katakolo was built in 1865. One of the most important sites of Katakolo is the Museum of Ancient Greek Technology.</p><br>
<p>In 2017 a Greek and Worldwide Mythology Park (exhibition) was established, situated in Katakolo square, where you can see mythical monsters like Cerberus, Minotaurus, Chimaera and Centaur, and it has the form of a labyrinth.</p><br>
<p>The remains of the medieval Pontikokastro/Beauvoir castle still stand on a hilltop northeast of the modern port, but the castle is mostly ruined and its original appearance can only be surmised.</p><br>
<h2>Historical population</h2><br>
<h2>People</h2><br>
<p>Pavlos Haikalis (1949 -) actor and member of parliament</p><br>
<p>Yiannis Latsis (1910–2003) shipping tycoon</p><br>
<p>(1983-....) John Panierakis, Sanga Carlos Cantounis & John Kampiotis, music producers in the Israeli psytrance industry.</p><br>
<p>Lake Koocanusa is a reservoir in British Columbia  and Montana  formed by the damming of the Kootenay River by the Libby Dam in 1972. The Dam was formally dedicated by President Gerald Ford on August 24, 1975.</p><br>
<p>The lake is formed north of the dam, reaching 48 mi to the Canada–United States border and 42 mi further into British Columbia. The lake holds 13% of the water in the Columbia River system. The town of Rexford was moved, as well as the Great Northern Railroad line. The town of Waldo, British Columbia is now covered by the lake. What was once a barrier to river travel, Jennings Canyon is now inundated by the lake.</p><br>
<p>Lake Koocanusa was named in a contest won by Alice Beers of Rexford, Montana. The name is made from the first three letters of the Kootenay (alternately, Kootenai) River, Canada, and USA.</p><br>
<p>Lake Koocanusa was built as a joint project of the USA and Canada. It is 26 km (16 mi) from Libby, Montana, also on the Kootenai River, from which the dam gets its name. Libby Dam has a Visitors Center and can be accessed by the Lake Koocanusa Scenic Byway which begins in the nearby town of Libby, Montana.</p><br>
<p>The Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail follows Highway 37 along the east side of the lake before crossing over the Lake Koocanusa Bridge and climbing up Webb Mountain.</p><br>
<p>Carson Sink is a playa in the northeastern portion of the Carson Desert that was formerly the terminus of the Carson River. The sink is currently fed by drainage canals of the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District. The southeastern fringe of the sink where the canals enter is a wetland of the Central Basin and Range ecoregion, which is mostly included within the Fallon National Wildlife Refuge and the Stillwater Wildlife Management Area. This area serves as an important stopover for migrating waterfowl. The Sehoo Formation is in the south of the Carson Sink.</p><br>
<h2>Carson Sink and Lone Rock working areas</h2><br>
<p>The Carson Sink and Lone Rock working areas are the northwest portion of both the Carson Sink and the Fallon Range Training Complex. Lone Rock is in the middle of a Bravo-20 live bombing area and is a solitary pinnacle of rock through the playa that is held sacred by the Paiute.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Carson Sink was a deep portion of the Pleistocene water body Lake Lahontan, the lakebed of which is now the Lahontan Basin.</p><br>
<p>The Carson Trail used during the California Gold Rush across the Lahontan Basin included a section from through the Forty Mile Desert to the first drinkable water on the Carson River. The Carson Sink station of the Pony Express was built in March, 1860.</p><br>
<p>In 1984, the natural dike between the Carson Sink and the Humboldt Sink was breached by the Nevada Department of Transportation to prevent Interstate 80 and the town of Lovelock from flooding due to unusually heavy snowfall in the preceding three years. The sinks remained connected by water for 3 years, until 1987.</p><br>
<h2>Panorama</h2><br>
<p>The Lyman House Memorial Museum, also known as the Lyman Museum, is a Hilo, Hawaii-based natural history museum founded in 1931 in the Lyman family mission house, originally built in 1838. The main collections were moved to an adjacent modern building in the 1960s, while the house is open for tours as the island&#39;s oldest surviving wood-framed building.</p><br>
<h2>The mission</h2><br>
<p>Reverend David Belden Lyman and his wife, Sarah Joiner Lyman, arrived in 1832, missionaries from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. It was one of the first houses on the island to be built in the style of their native New England, using native koa and ohia woods. Guests included Mark Twain and Isabella Bird. In 1854 - 1859 the new Haili Church was built across the street, replacing the thatched structures that served previously for the congregation.</p><br>
<p>The mission house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 24, 1978 as site 78001012. It is located at 276 Haili Street in Hilo, coordinates 19&deg;43&prime;18&Prime;N latitude, 155&deg;5&prime;28&Prime;W longitude.</p><br>
<h2>The museum</h2><br>
<p>Almost a century after the missionaries&#39; arrival, a museum was founded in 1931 by their descendents.</p><br>
<p>In the late 1960s noted architect Vladimir Ossipoff designed and built a Museum building adjacent to the mission house. Upon its completion, the Museum moved there and expanded its exhibits. It has extensive displays on Hawaiian culture and is renowned for its collection of shells and minerals, including a specimen of orlymanite, named for Orlando Hammond Lyman (1903–1986), the museum&#39;s founder and great grandson of David and Sarah Lyman. The Museum has been an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution since 2002.</p><br>
<p>The Gaslamp Quarter is a district of San Diego, California. It is a 16½ block historical neighborhood in Downtown San Diego, and is the site of several entertainment and night life venues, as well as scheduled events and festivals, including Mardi Gras in the Gaslamp, Street Scene Music Festival, Taste of Gaslamp and ShamROCK, a St. Patricks Day event. Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres is located one block away in downtown San Diegos East Village.</p><br>
<p>The area is listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places as Gaslamp Quarter Historic District. Its main period of development began in 1867, when Alonzo Horton bought the land in hopes of creating a new city center closer to the bay, and chose 5th Avenue as its main street. After a period of urban decay, the neighborhood underwent urban renewal in the 1980s and 1990s.</p><br>
<p>The Gaslamp Quarter extends from Broadway to Harbor Drive, and from 4th to 6th Avenue, covering 16½ blocks. It includes 94 historic buildings, most of which were constructed in the Victorian Era, and are still in use with active tenants including restaurants, shops and nightclubs.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>When development of the area began in the 1860s, the area currently known as the Gaslamp Quarter was known as New Town, in contrast to Old Town, which was the original Spanish colonial settlement of San Diego. Though Gaslamps were not the main source of lighting in the district, it was chosen as the symbol for the "Gaslamp Quarter" during the redevelopment and preservation efforts that occurred during the 1980s. In actuality, the main source of lighting was arc lighting. Four new gaslamps have been installed at the intersection of Market Street and 5th Avenue.</p><br>
<h2>Timeline</h2><br>
<p>1850: William Heath Davis bought 160 acre in what would eventually become the Gaslamp Quarter. Despite heavy investment from Davis, little development happened in this period.</p><br>
<p>1867: Real estate developer Alonzo Horton arrived in San Diego and purchased 800 acre of land in New Town for $265. Major development began in the Gaslamp Quarter.</p><br>
<p>1880s to 1900s: Known as the Stingaree, the area was home to many saloons, gambling halls, and bordellos.</p><br>
<p>1950s-1970s: The decaying Gaslamp Quarter became known as a "Sailor&#39;s Entertainment" district, with a high concentration of pornographic theaters, bookshops and massage parlors.</p><br>
<p>1970: Public interest in preserving buildings downtown started, especially in Gaslamp Quarter.</p><br>
<p>1976: The city adopted the Gaslamp Quarter Urban Design and Development Manual, aimed at preserving buildings in the area, and the redevelopment of Gaslamp Quarter as a national historic district.</p><br>
<p>1982: Gaslamp Quarter became the major focus of the redevelopments in downtown by the city of San Diego.</p><br>
<p>Bras dOr Lake is an inland sea, or large body of partially fresh/salt water in the centre of Cape Breton Island in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. Bras dOr Lake is sometimes referred to as the Bras dOr Lakes or the Bras dOr Lakes system; however, its official geographic name is Bras dOr Lake as it is a singular entity. Canadian author and yachtsman Silver Donald Cameron describes Bras dOr Lake as "A basin ringed by indigo hills laced with marble. Islands within a sea inside an island." The lake is connected to the North Atlantic by natural channels, the Great Bras dOr Channel north of Boularderie Island and the Little Bras dOr Channel to south of Boularderie Island, connect the northeastern arm of the lake to the Cabot Strait. The Bras d&#39;Or is also connected to Atlantic Ocean via the Strait of Canso by means of a lock canal completed in 1869—the St. Peters Canal, at the southern tip of the lake.</p><br>
<p>There are several competing explanations of the origin of the name "Bras dOr". The most popular is that the first Europeans to discover and subsequently settle the area were French, naming the lake Bras dOr meaning "arm of gold&quot this likely referring to the sun&#39;s rays reflected upon its waters. However, on the maps of 1872 and earlier, the lake is named "Le Lac de Labrador," (or more simply "Labrador") and this is more likely the true derivation of the present name. The literal meaning of Labrador is "Laborer."</p><br>
<p>In a paper prepared by the late Dr. Patterson for the Nova Scotia Historical Society he says he believed the name Bras dOr came from the Breton form of Bras d&#39;eau arm of water or of the sea.</p><br>
<p>The Mikmaq Nation named it Pitupok, roughly translated as "long salt water".</p><br>
<p>With an area of approximately 1,099 square kilometres, the extents of Bras dOr Lake measures roughly 100 km in length and 50 km in width. Surrounded almost entirely by high hills and low mountains, the shape of the lake is dominated by the Washabuck Peninsula in the centre-west, Boularderie Island in the northeast, and a large peninsula extending from the centre-east dominated by the Boisdale Hills. The Washabuck Peninsula and Boisdale Hills divide the lake into northern and southern basins, linked by the 1 km wide Barra Strait. The maximum depth of Bras dOr Lake of 287 metres is found in the St. Andrews Channel.</p><br>
<p>This area was designated the Bras d&#39;Or Lake Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2011.</p><br>
<h2>Subdivisions</h2><br>
<p>The effect of local topography has resulted in the following major components of Bras d&#39;Or Lake:</p><br>
<p>Northern Basin</p><br>
<p>Great Bras d&#39;Or</p><br>
<p>Little Bras d&#39;Or</p><br>
<p>St. Andrews Channel</p><br>
<p>St. Patricks Channel</p><br>
<p>Baddeck Bay</p><br>
<p>Nyanza Bay</p><br>
<p>Whycocomagh Bay</p><br>
<p>Southern Basin</p><br>
<p>Denys Basin</p><br>
<p>St. Peters Inlet</p><br>
<p>East Bay</p><br>
<p>West Bay</p><br>
<p>The largest part of the lake measures approximately 25 kilometres across in the southern basin, framed by East Bay and West Bay with Denys Basin to the north and St. Peters Inlet to the south. The Barra Strait is crossed by highway and railway bridges running between the Washabuck Peninsula and the Boisdale Hills.</p><br>
<h2>Rivers</h2><br>
<p>The following major rivers empty into the lake (which can also be defined as an inland sea, or a gulf):</p><br>
<p>River Denys</p><br>
<p>Middle River</p><br>
<p>Baddeck River</p><br>
<p>Skye River</p><br>
<p>Georges River</p><br>
<p>Washabuck River</p><br>
<p>The restricted tidal exchange in its three points of contact with the Atlantic ocean, coupled with significant freshwater drainage from the many rivers and streams in the lake watershed, cause the lake water to have less salinity than the surrounding ocean. Although salinity varies throughout the lake system, it approximates a one third fresh, two-thirds sea water mixture, and hence may be termed brackish water. Without much exchange with the ocean outside the island, the lake water quality is threatened by runoff from human activities in the surrounding watershed, especially from sewage treatment plants and septic tanks, ocean-going ships and small craft plying the lake system. Partly for this reason, the lakes were designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.</p><br>
<h2>Wildlife</h2><br>
<p>Bras dOr Lake is home to an array of wildlife with successful lobster and oyster fisheries, as well as the pursuit of other marine species. The lakes largely undeveloped shorelines have resulted in significant concentrations of bald eagle populations.</p><br>
<h2>Boating</h2><br>
<p>Sailing Yacht Racing is a long traditions in the Bras dOr, with the various yacht clubs around lake hosting annual Regattas and race weeks. Regatta Week hosted by the Bras dOr Yacht Club has been an annual tradition for over 100 years. A new addition to the summer racing calendar is the annual Race the Cape, now in its fourth year, a point-to-point sail race of 175 nautical miles, broken into five legs of up to 40 nautical miles through the Bras d’Or Lake and along Cape Breton Island’s Atlantic coast leading north to the Cape Breton Highlands. Race the Cape is an International Sailing Federation – Off Shore Special Regulations (OSR) Category 4 Race, for both cruising boats and racing yachts. There are both Spinnaker and Non-Spinnaker Divisions.</p><br>
<p>While there are more than 20 launch ramps for trailered boats spread throughout the lake, they are scarce outside the lake villages.</p><br>
<p>The heavily indented shoreline of the lake system, bold shores and numerous protected coves and harbours with snug anchorages provide shelter and keep wave action small, resulting in the lake being known as one of the best sailing waters in North America.</p><br>
<p>Ocean-going ships presently enter the lake at the Great Bras d&#39;Or and via the St. Patricks Channel to a gypsum quarry at Little Narrows.</p><br>
<p>Before construction of the Trans-Canada Highway and other roadways, ships and boats plied the Bras d&#39;Or Lake carrying coal, gypsum, marble, agricultural and forestry products from Cape Breton to the outside world, via barge through the St. Peters Canal to destinations along the Atlantic coast of North America. In addition, some products - like marble quarried into the early 20th century at Marble Mountain, were shipped by lake barges through both lakes to Sydney for transshipment. Mail boats also ran on scheduled service across the lakes until the 1960s, providing connecting passenger service to the train at Iona.</p><br>
<h2>Lakeside development</h2><br>
<p>The largest communities located on Bras dOr Lake are the villages of Baddeck, Eskasoni, Little Bras dOr, St. Peter&#39;s, and Whycocomagh. Remaining parts of lake shorelines are largely rural with some farming, although encroaching urban sprawl from Sydney in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) is approaching East Bay. Many cottage and recreational properties are located in rural areas, largely owned by people from Sydney, Halifax, or from out of province.</p><br>
<p>There is little significant protection for shorelines from development in the form of designated parks or conservation areas. In addition, Nova Scotia does not provide much protection of rural areas from subdivision of property. Despite this, most of the shoreline is undeveloped.</p><br>
<p>Until modern roads were built in the 20th century, coastal freighters/steamships would make the rounds to various lakeside communities, frequently making connection with passenger trains at Iona/Grand Narrows where the railway crossed the Barra Strait.</p><br>
<p>Unlike the industrial part of CBRM where coal, steel, and manufacturing industries flourished in the early 20th century, and the petroleum, manufacturing, and pulp and paper industries located in the Strait of Canso region since the construction of the Canso Causeway in 1955, Bras d&#39;Or Lake has no major industries within its watershed aside from logging and gypsum extraction.</p><br>
<h2>Mi'kmaq culture</h2><br>
<p>The Mikmaq called the Bras dOr "Pitupaq" Ba-doo-buck (long salt water). The lake connected ancient lakeside and even ocean coastal communities elsewhere on Cape Breton Island by Canoe such as Chapel Island, Eskasoni, Wagmatcook, Waycobah, and Galtoneg, among many others. The lake was also a major source of food for these historic communities, with abundant populations of mussels, crabs, clams, trout, salmon, herring, cod and mackerel.</p><br>
<h2>Historic role as a research center and first Bell Labs</h2><br>
<p>From the summer of 1886, famed inventor and scientist Alexander Graham Bell made his estate and future retirement home at Red Head, a peninsula opposite Baddeck. He named his 640 Acre estate Beinn Bhreagh (pronounced "ben vreeah" meaning "Beautiful Mountain" in Scottish Gaelic) and lived there half of his life until his death in 1922. It is because of Bell&#39;s connection to this area that Beinn Bhreagh and Baddeck are routinely featured on National Geographic maps showing eastern North America.</p><br>
<p>Bell established a research laboratory—the first Bell Labs on Beinn Bhreagh, and used the Bras d&#39;Or Lake to test man-carrying kites, airplanes and hydrofoil boats, as part of his many and varying research activities.</p><br>
<h2>Flight of the Silver Dart</h2><br>
<p>Baddeck Bay, between Baddeck and Beinn Bhreagh, was the site of the first officially recognized heavier-than-air powered flight in the British Empire which then included Canada. The flight was performed by an airplane designed by Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, F.C. Baldwin and Glenn Curtiss and others, in the original Bell Labs on Beinn Bhreagh. The Silver Dart flew off the frozen ice of Baddeck Bay in January 1909. Commemorating this event, 100 years later, in January, 2009 a replica of the original airplane was flown off the ice in the same location: Baddeck Bay.</p><br>
<p>After demonstrating their airplanes using tricycle landing wheels and other innovations, Bells laboratory on Beinn Bhreagh designed and built a hydrofoil boat- the HD4 - which set a water speed record of 71 MPH (63 knots) in 1919., an experimental 1960s-era Canadian Forces hydrofoil, reportedly the worlds fastest warship ever built, was named honor of the hydrofoils tested long before on Baddeck Bay by Bell.</p><br>
<p>In 2003, National Geographic Traveler rated Cape Breton Island its second-ranked worldwide destination for sustainable tourism, citing Bras dOr Lake as having a major influence on this designation. Cape Breton Island tied for second place with New Zealands South Island and Chile&#39;s Torres del Paine, behind the Norwegian fjords.</p><br>
<p>"The Bras d&#39;Or Lakes are my favorite landscape on planet Earth. Nestled into the rolling hills of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, their pristine tidal waters reflect centuries of Scottish culture, music, and friendly people."</p><br>
<p>Gilbert M. Grosvenor, Chairman of the Board, National Geographic Society</p><br>
<p>Via Rail Canadas weekly Halifax–Sydney tourist passenger train, the Bras dOr was named in honour of the spectacular scenery provided by Bras d&#39;Or Lake along the eastern part of its journey.</p><br>
<p>Punchbowl Crater  is an extinct volcanic tuff cone located in Honolulu, Hawaii. It is the location of the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.</p><br>
<p>The crater was formed some 75,000 to 100,000 years ago during the secondary activity of the Honolulu Volcanic Series. A crater resulted from the ejection of hot lava through cracks in the old coral reefs which, at the time, extended to the foot of the Koolau Mountain Range. The volcano is most likely a monogenetic volcano, meaning that it only erupted once.</p><br>
<p>Although there are various translations of the Punchbowl&#39;s Hawaiian name, "Puowaina," the most common is "Hill of Sacrifice." This translation closely relates to the history of the crater. The first known use was as an altar where Hawaiians offered human sacrifices to pagan gods and killed violators of the many taboos. Later, during the reign of Kamehameha the Great, a battery of two cannons was mounted at the rim of the crater to salute distinguished arrivals and signify important occasions. Early in the 1880s, leasehold land on the slopes of the Punchbowl opened for settlement and in the 1930s, the crater was used as a rifle range for the Hawaii National Guard. Toward the end of World War II, tunnels were dug through the rim of the crater for the placement of shore batteries to guard Honolulu Harbor and the south edge of Pearl Harbor.</p><br>
<p>During the late 1890s, a committee recommended that the Punchbowl become the site for a new cemetery to accommodate the growing population of Honolulu. The idea was rejected for fear of polluting the water supply and the emotional aversion to creating a city of the dead above a city of the living. Fifty years later, Congress authorized a small appropriation to establish a national cemetery in Honolulu with two provisions: that the location be acceptable to the War Department, and that the site would be donated rather than purchased. In 1943, the governor of Hawaii offered the Punchbowl for a national cemetery. The $50,000 appropriation proved insufficient, however, and the project was deferred until after World War II. By 1947, Congress and veteran organizations placed a great deal of pressure on the military to find a permanent burial site in Hawaii for the remains of thousands of World War II servicemen on the island of Guam awaiting permanent burial. Subsequently, the Army again began planning the Punchbowl cemetery; in February 1948 Congress approved funding and construction began.</p><br>
<p>Devon Island  is the largest uninhabited island on Earth. It is located in Baffin Bay, Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is one of the larger members of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the second-largest of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Canada&#39;s sixth largest island, and the 27th-largest island in the world. It comprises 55,247 km&sup2;  of Precambrian gneiss and Paleozoic siltstones and shales. The highest point is the Devon Ice Cap at 1,920 m which is part of the Arctic Cordillera. Devon Island contains several small mountain ranges, such as the Treuter Mountains, Haddington Range and the Cunningham Mountains.</p><br>
<h2>History and settlement</h2><br>
<p>Robert Bylot and William Baffin were the first Europeans to sight the island in 1616. William Edward Parry charted its south coast in 1819-20,</p><br>
<p>and named it North Devon, after Devon in England, a name which was changed to Devon Island by the end of the 1800s.</p><br>
<p>In 1850 Edwin De Haven sailed up Wellington Channel and sighted the Grinnell Peninsula.</p><br>
<p>An outpost was established at Dundas Harbour in 1924, and it was leased to Hudson&#39;s Bay Company nine years later. The collapse of fur prices led to the dispersal of 53 Baffin Island Inuit families on the island in 1934. It was considered a disaster due to wind conditions and the much colder climate, and the Inuit chose to leave in 1936. Dundas Harbour was populated again in the late 1940s, but it was closed again in 1951. Only the ruins of a few buildings remain.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Because of its relatively high elevation and its extreme northern latitude, it supports only a meagre population of musk oxen and small birds and mammals; the island does support hypolith communities. Animal life is concentrated in the Truelove Lowland area of the island, which has a favourable microclimate and supports relatively lush Arctic vegetation. Temperatures during the brief (40 to 55 days) growing season seldom exceed 10 &deg;C, and in winter can plunge to as low as -50 &deg;C. With a polar desert ecology, Devon Island receives very little precipitation.</p><br>
<p>Cape Liddon is an Important Bird Area (IBA) notable for its black guillemot and northern fulmar populations. Cape Vera, another IBA site, is also noted for its northern fulmar population.</p><br>
<p>Devon Island is also notable for the presence of the Haughton impact crater, created some 39 million years ago when a meteorite about 2 km in diameter crashed into what were then forests. The impact left a crater about 23 km in diameter, which was a lake for several million years.</p><br>
<h2>Scientific research</h2><br>
<h3>Devon Island Research Station</h3><br>
<p>The Devon Island Research Station was established in 1960 and it is maintained by the Arctic Institute of North America. It is located in Truelove Lowland, on the northeast coast of Devon Island (75&deg;40&prime;N latitude, 84&deg;35&prime;W longitude).</p><br>
<h3>Flashline MARS</h3><br>
<p>The Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station project entered its third season in 2004. In July 2004, Devon Island became the temporary home for five scientists and two journalists, who were to use the Mars-like environment to simulate living and working on the Red Planet. April 2007 through 21 August 2007 was the longest simulation period and included 20 scientific studies.</p><br>
<p>The Haughton crater is now considered one of Earths best Mars analog sites. It is the summer home to a complementary scientific program, NASAs Haughton Mars Project. HMP has conducted geological, hydrological, botanical, and microbiological studies in this harsh environment since 1997. HMP-2008 is the twelfth field season at Devon Island.</p><br>
<p>In 2007, fossils of the seal ancestor Puijila darwini were found on the island.</p><br>
<p>On July 16, 2013, the Canadian Space Agency assigned Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen to a secondment with the Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration of the University of Western Ontario at Haughton Crater in preparation for a potential future manned exploration of Mars, the Moon or the asteroids.</p><br>
<p>The Mud Islands reserve is located within Port Phillip, about 90 km south-west of Melbourne, Australia, lying 10 km inside Port Phillip Heads, 7 km north of Portsea and 9 km east of Queenscliff. The land area of about 50 ha is made up of three low-lying islands surrounding a shallow tidal 35 ha lagoon connected to the sea by three narrow channels. The shapes and configuration of the islands change over the years due to movement of sand by tidal currents.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>First sighted by Europeans in 1802, the islands were originally named Swan Isles because of the large number of swans on the surrounding waters. It was not until 1836 that Lt. T M Symonds and H R Henry of the HMS Rattlesnake surveyed the islands and renamed them Mud Islands.</p><br>
<h3>Protection</h3><br>
<p>In 1961, the area of the islands above high water was proclaimed a permanent reserve for the management of wildlife. It forms part of the Port Phillip Bay (Western Shoreline) and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar Site, which was designated in 1982, as a wetland of international importance, and it is also included on the Register of the National Estate. Since 2002 it has been, with the adjacent waters, part of the Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park.</p><br>
<h2>Environment</h2><br>
<h3>Flora</h3><br>
<p>Within the reserve there are nine native vegetation communities. Seagrass meadows, sand dunes, mudflats and salt marshes support a diversity of life ranging from marine invertebrates to fish and birds. Wind and tide are gradually changing the shape of the islands, although they are partly stabilised by a salt marsh of austral sea-blite and beaded and Tecticornia arbuscula</p><br>
<p>shrubby glasswort. The dense coastal scrub on the northern island has disappeared, apparently as a result of overgrazing by rabbits. Today only a single specimen of coastal teatree (Leptospermum laevigatum) remains.</p><br>
<h3>Fauna</h3><br>
<p>The site is part of the Swan Bay and Port Phillip Bay Islands Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International. Some 70 species of birds have been recorded on the Islands, which form essential breeding, feeding and roosting areas for seabirds and waders, many of them migratory.</p><br>
<h4>Seabirds</h4><br>
<p>The isolation of the islands provides protection from predators and makes them an ideal sanctuary for breeding seabirds, notably the five and a half thousand white-faced storm-petrels which, during summer, lay their eggs in burrows in the loose sand of Middle Island. During the day they feed at sea on shrimps and small fish, returning at night to feed their chicks. Although there are fewer than at nearby South Channel Fort, nearly a quarter of the white-faced storm-petrels in Victoria breed on Mud Islands.</p><br>
<p>Silver gulls are even more numerous. During the second half of the 20th century the breeding population increased to about 100,000. Given a chance, gulls readily attack the eggs and young of other breeding seabirds. The impact is under study.</p><br>
<p>Other seabirds nesting on Mud Islands include nearly a thousand crested terns, one of the largest colonies in Victoria and the only one in Port Phillip. Also important to the islands are the dozen breeding pairs of Caspian terns and, in 1983 and 1986, several pairs of Australian pelicans. Little penguins and fairy terns have bred there in the past. The common tern also roosts in exceptionally large numbers and as many as 260 have been seen there at once.</p><br>
<h4>Waders</h4><br>
<p>The mud from which the islands get their name is excellent feeding habitat for migratory waders. More than 1% of the known Australian populations of four wader species, Pacific golden plover, grey plover, lesser sand plover and ruddy turnstone, spend the summer around Mud Islands. More than 5% of the Victorian populations of red knot, great knot, eastern curlew and bar-tailed godwit feed in Swan Bay to the west but roost on the islands at high tide. Two resident waders, the pied oystercatcher and the red-capped plover, regularly breed on undisturbed parts of the islands.</p><br>
<h4>Other</h4><br>
<p>Few land birds are permanently resident, although many species visit and may breed. Large numbers of straw-necked ibis and, to a lesser extent, Australian white ibis, nest and roost on the islands and fly daily to the mainland for feeding. Lewin&#39;s rail occasionally breeds in the salt marsh but is so shy that nesting is seldom recorded. Up to 100 rare orange-bellied parrots have been seen on the islands during winter when they migrate to the Australian mainland from Tasmania. Since the mid-20th century, however, numbers have declined, possibly because the increasing number of gulls has changed the chemistry of the soil and so the vegetation on which the parrots feed. Nevertheless, the islands are an important habitat for this endangered species. Bronze whaler sharks are known to breed around the islands.</p><br>
<h2>Access</h2><br>
<p>The islands can only be reached by boat, the most convenient departure points being Queenscliff or Sorrento. Day visitors are permitted, but overnight camping is not. BirdLife Australia conduct regular tours to Mud Islands, usually in February and March. South Bay Eco Adventures also run guided walking tours of the islands. As the islands are surrounded by shallow waters, visitors need to be cautious when attempting a landing. Passengers must be ferried to shore by dinghy or else wade in. Visits need careful planning to avoid the boat being stranded at low tide.</p><br>
<p>The Smithsonian Institution Building, located near the National Mall in Washington, D.C. behind the National Museum of African Art and the Sackler Gallery, houses the Smithsonian Institution&#39;s administrative offices and information center. The building is constructed of Seneca red sandstone in the faux Norman style  and is nicknamed The Castle. It was completed in 1855 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Castle was the first Smithsonian building, designed by architect James Renwick, Jr., whose other works include St. Patricks Cathedral in New York City and the Smithsonians Renwick Gallery, also in Washington D.C. The building committee held a nationwide design competition in 1846 and selected Renwicks design by a unanimous vote. A cardboard model of Renwicks winning design survives and is on display in the Castle. Renwick was assisted by Robert Mills, particularly in the internal arrangement of the building.</p><br>
<p>Initially intended to be built in white marble, then in yellow sandstone, Scholarly evidence indicates it is likely that slaves were employed at Seneca in quarrying stone for the Castle, though no evidence has surfaced that slaves were involved in the actual Castle construction.</p><br>
<p>The building committee selected Gilbert Cameron as the general contractor, and construction began in 1847. The East Wing was completed in 1849 and occupied by Secretary Joseph Henry and his family. The West Wing was completed later the same year. A structural collapse in 1850 of partly completed work raised questions of workmanship and resulted in a change to fireproof construction. The Castles exterior was completed in 1852; Renwicks work was completed and he withdrew from further participation. Cameron continued the interior work, which he completed in 1855. Construction funds came from "accrued interest on the Smithson bequest."</p><br>
<p>Despite the upgraded fireproof construction, a fire in 1865 caused extensive damage to the upper floor of the building, destroying the correspondence of James Smithson, Henrys papers, two hundred oil paintings of American Indians by John Mix Stanley, the Regents Room and the lecture hall, and the contents of the public libraries of Alexandria, Virginia and Beaufort, South Carolina, confiscated by Union forces during the American Civil War. The ensuing renovation was undertaken by local Washington architect Adolf Cluss in 1865-67. Further fireproofing work ensued in 1883, also by Cluss, who by this time had designed the neighboring Arts and Industries Building. A third and fourth floor were added to the East Wing, and a third floor to the West Wing. Electric lighting was installed in 1895.</p><br>
<p>Around 1900 the wooden floor of the Great Hall was replaced with terrazzo and a Children&#39;s Museum was installed near the south entrance. A tunnel connected to the Arts and Industries Building. A general renovation took place in 1968-70 to install modern electrical systems, elevators and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. The Enid A. Haupt Garden was dedicated in 1987, along with the Renwick Gate facing Independence Avenue, built from Seneca redstone retrieved from the demolished D.C. Jail.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>James Renwick designed the Castle as the focal point of a picturesque landscape on the Mall, using elements from Georg Mollers Denkmäler der deutschen Baukunst. Renwick originally intended to detail the building with entirely American sculptural flora in the manner of Benjamin Henry Latrobes work at the United States Capitol, but the final work used conventional pattern-book designs.</p><br>
<p>The building is completed in the Gothic Revival style with Romanesque motifs. This style was chosen to evoke the Collegiate Gothic in England and the ideas of knowledge and wisdom. The façade is built with red sandstone from the Seneca quarry in Seneca, Maryland in contrast to the granite, marble and yellow sandstone from the other major buildings in Washington, D.C.</p><br>
<p>On the exterior, the principal tower on the south side is 91 ft high and 37 ft square. On the north side there are two towers, the taller on 145 ft tall. A campanile at the northeast corner is 17 ft square and 117 ft tall.</p><br>
<p>The plan allowed for expansion at either end, a major reason for the informal medievally-inspired design, which would not suffer if asymmetrically developed.</p><br>
<h2>Current use</h2><br>
<p>The Smithsonian Castle houses the administrative offices of the Smithsonian. The main Smithsonian visitor center is also located here, with interactive displays and maps. Computers electronically answer most common questions. A crypt just inside the north entrance houses the tomb of James Smithson.</p><br>
<p>Ste. Anne de Détroit , founded July 26, 1701, is the second oldest continuously operating Roman Catholic parish in the United States, established when the area was part of the French colony. The current Gothic Revival cathedral styled church, built in 1886, is located at 1000 Ste. Anne Street in Detroit, Michigan, in the Richard-Hubbard neighborhood, near the Ambassador Bridge, and the Michigan Central Station. Historically, the parish community has occupied eight different buildings. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The main entry to the Church faces a grand tree-lined, brick paved plaza. The present parish is largely Hispanic in population.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Ste. Anne&#39;s church was the first building constructed in Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit, which later developed as the city of Detroit. Cadillac and a party of French colonists arrived at the bank of the Detroit River on July 24, 1701. They began construction of a church on July 26, 1701, the feast day of Saint Anne (sainte Anne). The parish was founded and named by the settlers in honor of the patron of France, Saint Anne, mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus. Nicholas Constantine del Halle, a Franciscan, and François Vaillant, a Jesuit, were the two priests who accompanied the group. Vaillant returned east to Quebec in the fall.</p><br>
<p>Native Americans set the church on fire in 1703, which destroyed part of the fort including the church, the rectory, and the baptismal records. A new church building was built in 1704. The oldest surviving church records date to this time, with the first record on February 2, 1704 being the baptism of a child born to Cadillac. Father del Halle was kidnapped by local Native Americans, likely the historic Ojibwe of the area. After his release, as he walked back to the fort, he was shot and killed by an Indian. His remains were buried under the altar of Ste. Anne&#39;s and have been moved four times since to the succeeding new church buildings.</p><br>
<p>Father Chérubin Deniau was assigned to the parish and began work on a larger church in 1708. This church was outside the fort&#39;s palisade. It was burned in 1714 by settlers during a Fox attack, as they feared it would offer cover to the attackers.</p><br>
<p>The parish did not have a church building for many years after this. One may have been built by Father Bonaventure Liénard, who was priest here for more than three decades, between 1722-1754. Father Simple Bocquet is known to have begun construction of a new church building in 1755, within a year after he arrived. Bocquet served here for nearly 30 years; in 1763 Detroit passed from French to British rule after the latters victory in the Seven Years War. After the American Revolutionary War and establishment of independence, the territory came under United States rule. An Anglican wedding was recorded in the parish records during this period.</p><br>
<p>Father Gabriel Richard was called to Ste. Annes in 1796. He helped start the school that eventually developed as the University of Michigan, started primary schools for white boys and girls as well as for Indians, and was elected as a territorial representative to USA Congress. He helped initiate a road-building project that connected Detroit and Chicago. He also brought the first printing press to Detroit and started The Observer, the Michigan Territorys first newspaper. After his death in 1832, Father Richard was interred under the altar of Ste. Anne&#39;s.</p><br>
<p>In 1805, most of Detroit, including the church, was destroyed in an accidental fire. A new church building was not begun until 1818 and was not completed until 1828. This church was at a new location outside the grounds of the old fort but still near the Detroit River. In 1833, Ste. Annes was designated as the cathedral for the new Roman Catholic diocese of Detroit; it served in this role until 1848. That year coadjutor bishop Peter Paul Lefevere moved the bishops throne to St. Peters Cathedral, todays Saints Peter and Paul Church. Around that time, the old St-Ann&#39;s parish registers were stolen. Because of this loss, parish registers are no longer freely and easily accessible to the public. Because they contain precious information about the founders and history of Detroit and Michigan, efforts have been made to get copies into the public domain.</p><br>
<p>In 1817, many of the remains in the old cemetery were moved to the churchyard of the new Ste. Annes. In the 1860s, many were moved again to Mount Elliott Cemetery, including the remains of Colonel Jean François Hamtramck. In the 1860s, the 1818 church building was demolished. Furnishings and even the cornerstone were split between the new Ste. Annes and the new parish of St. Joachim, named after Ste. Anne&#39;s husband.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>Often attributed to Leon Cocquard, parish records, Detroit building permit #23 and the final report for the Ste. Anne historic district list Albert E. French as the architect of Ste. Anne de Détroit Catholic Church (1886-1887). French designed the church in the Gothic Revival style with flying buttresses, reflecting the French history of the parish and territory. The Church faces a landscaped grand brick plaza, and the main entrance on the north facade includes four gargoyles. Ste. Annes displays the oldest stained glass in the city of Detroit. Ste. Annes is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<p>The 1818 church altar and Father Richard&#39;s remains are installed in a side chapel of the present Church. Other elements from the 1818 church include the communion rail, a statue of Ste. Anne and the church bell.</p><br>
<p>Both Ste. Anne and St. Joachim parishes continued French traditions. Increased immigration and demographic changes resulted in Ste. Anne&#39;s becoming a parish with a primarily Irish-American congregation by the 1920s. In the following decades, its population became primarily Hispanic. At that time, most Hispanic parishioners were immigrants from Mexico and Puerto Rico. The first sermon in Spanish was given in 1940; the last sermon in French in 1942. A Spanish-speaking priest was assigned in 1946. The parish remains largely Hispanic, bolstered by immigration from Central and South American nations.</p><br>
<p>In the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Somerset Island  is a large, uninhabited island separated by the 2 km wide Bellot Strait from the Boothia Peninsula in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada, lying between Peel Sound  and Prince Regent Inlet . It has an area of 24,786 km&sup2, making it the 46th largest island in the world and Canada&#39;s twelfth largest island.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Around 1000 AD, the north coast of Somerset Island was inhabited by the Thule people, as evidenced by whale bones, tunnels and stone ruins.</p><br>
<p>William Edward Parry was the first European to sight the island in 1819. In late 1848, James Clark Ross, commanding two ships, landed at Port Leopold on the northeast coast to winter. In April the following year, he launched an exploration of the island by sledge.</p><br>
<p>Roald Amundsen transited the passage between the Island and the Prince of Wales Island in the Gjøa in the first successful traverse of the Northwest Passage in 1904. Henry Larsen transited the passage, in the St Roch in the second successful transit in 1943. But he found this route was dangerously icebound, and also too shallow for commercial travel.</p><br>
<p>The Fort Ross trading post was established and run by the Hudsons Bay Company at the southeastern end of the island from 1937-1948. When it was closed, the island was left uninhabited except for occasional use of the former store and managers house as shelters by Inuit caribou hunters from Taloyoak and a small settlement at Creswell Bay, which after 1967 consisted solely of the family of Timothy Idlout and Naomi Nangat. The Idlout family left Somerset Island in 1991, leaving it completely uninhabited. In 2006, CBC&#39;s The National included Fort Ross in a special series focused on climate change.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>Arctic Watch Lodge, a tourism establishment built in 1992, is located on Somerset Island. Arctic Watch was established at Cunningham Inlet because of the large number of beluga whales that congregate there in the summer. Arctic Watch Lodge is operated by Richard Weber and Josée Auclair.</p><br>
<p>North Cape  is a cape on the northern coast of the island of Magerøya in Northern Norway. The cape is in Nordkapp Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The European route E69 highway has its northern terminus at North Cape. The plateau is a popular tourist attraction. The cape includes a 307 m with a large flat plateau on top, where visitors, weather permitting, can watch the midnight sun and views of the Barents Sea to the north. North Cape Hall, a visitor centre was built in 1988 on the plateau. It includes a café, restaurant, post office, souvenir shop, a small museum and a super video cinema.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The steep cliff of North Cape is located at 71&deg;10&prime;21&Prime;N latitude, 25&deg;47&prime;04&Prime;E longitude, about 2,102.3 km from the North Pole. Nordkapp is often wrongly referred as the northernmost point of Europe. However, the neighbouring Knivskjellodden Cape, actually extends 1,450 m further north. Furthermore, both of these points are situated on an island, albeit one connected by road to the mainland. The northernmost point of mainland Europe is located at Cape Nordkinn (Kinnarodden) which lies about 5.7 km further south and about 70 km to the east. That point is located near the village of Mehamn on the Nordkinn Peninsula. The northernmost point of Europe including islands is hundreds of kilometres further north, either in Russias Franz Josef Land or Norways Svalbard archipelago, depending on whether Franz Josef Land is considered to be in Europe or in Asia.</p><br>
<p>The North Cape is the point where the Norwegian Sea, part of the Atlantic Ocean, meets the Barents Sea, part of the Arctic Ocean. The midnight sun can be seen from 14 May to 31 July. The sun reaches its lowest point between 00:14 and 00:24 during those days.</p><br>
<h2>Transport</h2><br>
<p>The North Cape is reached by European route E69 highway through the North Cape Tunnel, an undersea tunnel connecting the island of Magerøya to the mainland. The EuroVelo bicycle route EV1 runs from North Cape to Sagres, Portugal—a 8,196 km distance by land and sea.</p><br>
<p>Several Cruise ships visit North Cape every year. Honningsvåg is one of the main stops of the Hurtigruten coastal ships.</p><br>
<p>Regular buses run from the nearby town of Honningsvåg to the North Cape (36 km), and coaches meet the many cruise ships that call at the port of Honningsvåg. The nearest airport is Honningsvåg Airport, Valan (IATA code: HVG).</p><br>
<h3>Winter</h3><br>
<p>It is possible to visit North Cape during winter, but the last stretch of road is only open for convoy driving at certain times. The road to North Cape is kept open during winter and is accessible to regular vehicles and drivers that both can cope with the hard snow and wind conditions that may occur in winter. Before this, E69 was the only winter-closed E road in Europe.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The North Cape was named by the Englishman Steven Borough, captain of the Edward Bonaventure, which sailed past in 1553 in search of the Northeast Passage.</p><br>
<h3>World War II</h3><br>
<p>In 1943, the Battle of North Cape was fought in the Arctic Ocean off this cape, where the Kriegsmarine battleship Scharnhorst was eventually sunk by gunfire from the HMS Duke of York and torpedoes from Norwegian Navy destroyer HNoMS Stord, and other ships of the British Navy.</p><br>
<h3>Admission fee controversy</h3><br>
<p>The government of Norway demanded in 2011 a reduction of the admission fee to the plateau. At the time, an adult ticket cost between. The fee has not been lowered, instead slightly increased. Often there is fog (since the plateau is above the common cloud base), which obscures the view. There is no discount for this situation, but the full price ticket is valid for multiple entries within 48 hours.</p><br>
<h2>Sport and leisure</h2><br>
<p>The 2009 Trans Europe Foot Race started in Bari, Italy and finished at North Cape. The total distance was 4,485 kilometres.</p><br>
<p>The first stage of the 2014 Arctic Race of Norway was held on North Cape on 14 August 2014. The bicycle race started in Hammerfest, finishing on North Cape and was won by Norwegian, Lars Petter Nordhaug for in a time of 4 hours 51 minutes 3 seconds.</p><br>
<p>The record of cycling from the northern to the southern end of Norway, North Cape to Lindesnes, is 4 days, 22 hours and 18 minutes, performed by a group of five men from Rye in Oslo, in July 2003.</p><br>
<p>Jabal al-Druze , officially Jabal al-Arab , is an elevated volcanic region in the As-Suwayda Governorate of southern Syria. Most of the inhabitants of this region are Druze, and there are also small Muslim and Christian communities. Safaitic inscriptions were first found in this area. The State of Jabal Druze was an autonomous area in the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon from 1921 to 1936. In the past, the name Jabal al-Druze was used for a different area, located in Mount Lebanon.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The Jabal al-Druze volcanic field, the southernmost in Syria, lies in the Haurun-Druze Plateau in SW Syria near the border with Jordan. The most prominent feature of this volcanic field is 1800m-high Jabal al-Druze (also known variously as Jabal ad Duruz, Djebel Al-Arab, Jabal Druze, Djebel ed Drouz). The alkaline volcanic field consists of a group of 118 basaltic volcanoes active from the lower-Pleistocene to the Holocene. The large SW Plateau depression is filled by basaltic lava flows from volcanoes aligned in a NW-SE direction. This volcanic field lies within the northern part of the massive alkaline Harrat al-Shamah (also known as Harrat al-Shaam) volcanic field that extends from southern Syria to Saudi Arabia.</p><br>
<h2>Peaks</h2><br>
<p>Tell Qeni (1803 m)</p><br>
<p>Tell Joualine (1732 m)</p><br>
<p>Tell Sleiman (1703 m)</p><br>
<p>Tell Qleib (1698 m)</p><br>
<p>Tell Abou-Hamra (1482 m)</p><br>
<p>Tell El-Ahmar (1452 m)</p><br>
<p>Tell Abed-Mar (1436 m)</p><br>
<p>Tell Khodr-Imtan (1341 m)</p><br>
<p>Tell Azran (1220 m)</p><br>
<p>Tell Shihan (1138 m)</p><br>
<p>In Arabic, the word "tell" means "mound" or "hill", but in Jabal al-Druze it rather refers to a volcanic cone.</p><br>
<p>Sfakiá  is a mountainous area in the southwestern part of the island of Crete, in the Chania regional unit. It is considered to be one of the few places in Greece that have never been fully occupied by foreign powers. With a 2011 census population of 1,889 inhabitants living on a land area of 467.589 km&sup2, Sfakia is one of the largest and least densely populated municipalities on the island of Crete. The etymology of its name is disputed. According to the prevailing theory, it relates to its rugged terrain, deriving from the ancient Greek word σφαξ, meaning land chasm or gorge.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The road from Chania to Sfakiá crosses the island from north to south, through the village of Vryses. From this village the route crosses the White Mountains (Lefká Óri) to Hóra Sfakíon (35&deg;12&prime;N latitude, 24&deg;08&prime;E longitude) by the Libyan Sea. Halfway from Vrisses to Hóra Sfakíon is the fertile plateau of Askifou, surrounded by high mountain peaks. From here to Hóra Sfakíon the road is particularly spectacular. The road hugs the western slope of the Imbros Gorge offering scenic views. Another scenic route is that leading from Kapsodasos to the plateau of Kallikratis, northeast of Hóra Sfakíon.</p><br>
<p>There are many beaches in Sfakiá which do not see the numbers of tourists of the northern coast. More adventurous visitors can follow the European hiking footpath E4 which crosses Crete through Sfakiá&#39;s mountains. The coastal villages are not connected by a coastal road, but can be reached by ferry boats.</p><br>
<p>Not far east from Hóra Sfakíon is Frangokastello, literally "Frankish castle". The Venetian fortress here was built in 1371 to deter pirates and unsuccessfully, to control Sfakiá. It is largely ruined but is picturesquely set on a wide sandy beach with the towering White Mountains behind. Daskalogiannis was captured here in 1771.</p><br>
<p>Accessible only by boat from Sfakiá is Loutro, a small seaside village with some archaeological ruins, a few houses, small hotels and tavernas. Loutro is car-free; cars must be parked in Hóra Sfakíon or Paleohóra. In the north of Sfakiá is the fertile plain of Askyfou. The Sfakía region is crossed by many gorges, among which is the famous Samaria Gorge. All these gorges run from north to south and all end in the sea. Many of them can be walked, several even by inexperienced walkers. The region is inhabited by rare animals, like vultures and eagles, and the kri-kri (or agrimi), the wild Cretan goat. The coast of Sfakiá is on the Libyan Sea, which is inhabited by a diminishing fish population, but occasionally dolphins, and even whales may be seen.</p><br>
<p>The local speciality, "Sfakian Pies", are thin pancakes filled with mitzethra and served drizzled with honey.</p><br>
<h2>Resistance</h2><br>
<p>Hóra Sfakíon is famous as one of the centers of the resistance against the occupying forces of both the Venetians and the Turks. The impenetrable White Mountains to the north combined with the rocky beaches on the south helped the locals fight off all invaders. Anopolis, a village near Hóra Sfakíon, is the birthplace of one of the most celebrated Cretan revolutionaries, Daskalogiannis.</p><br>
<p>A famous legend and unexplained phenomenon describes a procession of visions (Drosoulites) seen in the nearby village Frangokastello as troops that died in the war of independence against the Turks.</p><br>
<p>Patrick Leigh Fermor wrote about the tall proud Sfakians and their resistance to occupation. Many tales of revolts and uprisings in Crete start in the mountains of western Crete - mountain guerillas, pallikari fighters and rebel assemblies.</p><br>
<p>After the Battle of Crete during World War II, the locals helped many New Zealand and Australian soldiers escape from here on the night of May 31, 1941, suffering great reprisals. King George II of Greece had already escaped this way when the Germans invaded. Near the village of Komitades is the Church of Panagia Thymiani where the revolution of 1821 began. At the village of Loutro is the ruined "chancellery" where the first revolutionary government of 1821 met.</p><br>
<p>Sfakiá is notorious for the harshness of the environment and the warlike people. Sfakians themselves are still considered somewhat beyond the reach of the lawmakers and tax collectors of Athens, with vendettas over stolen sheep and women&#39;s honour still fought late into the 20th century, with a whole village abandoned.</p><br>
<p>Stealing and banditry had been considered a way of life in the mountains, even appearing in a Creation myth, which made God Himself a Sfakiot, as recounted by Adam Hopkins:</p><br>
<p>The Sfakians are also famous for their hospitality and generosity towards guests, resulting in a shift from traditional labour towards tourism, with now many families running their own small hotel or restaurant.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The archeology and history of Sfakia is the object of a field survey undertaken by the University of Oxford.</p><br>
<h2>Province</h2><br>
<p>The province of Sfakia (Επαρχία Σφακίων) was one of the provinces of the Chania Prefecture. It had the same territory as the present municipality. It was abolished in 2006.</p><br>
<p>Henrys Lake is a small, shallow alpine lake, approximately 8 square miles in area, at 4 mi in length and 2 mi in width. It is located at 6,472 ft above sea level in the mountains of southeastern Idaho in the United States. It is on the southwest side of the Henrys Lake Mountains of northern Fremont County, approximately 2 miles south of the continental divide along the Montana state line, just west of Targhee Pass and north of Sawtell Peak. It is 16 miles due west of the western boundary of Yellowstone National Park. The lake is located in Caribou-Targhee National Forest.</p><br>
<p>Springs are found around the shoreline at Staley Springs, Pintail Point, Kelly Springs, the Cliffs, and along the northshore of the lake. Inlets are found at Timber Creek, Targhee Creek, Howard Creek, Duck Creek, Hope Creek, and Kenny Creek.</p><br>
<p>The lake provides the headwaters of the Henrys Fork, a tributary of the Snake River. The lake lies less than 10 mi across the continental divide from the headwaters of the Missouri River in southwestern Montana.</p><br>
<p>A dam built at the outlet of Henrys Lake in 1923 dramatically increased the surface area of the lake.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The area surrounding Henrys Lake has been inhabited by Native Americans for centuries. During the Nez Perce War and following the Battle of Camas Creek near what is now Kilgore, the Nez Perce tribe proceeded eastward toward Yellowstone. After receiving word that the Nez Perce had entered the wilderness area, General Oliver O. Howard rested for several days on the side of the lake. To this point, Howards troops had marched every day for 26 days at an unusually quick pace.</p><br>
<p>Following the Russian invasion of Finland in 1939, the USA Army began construction of a training outpost to be called the West Yellowstone Winter Training Camp near Henrys Lake Station. Plans were created that included a 100,000 acre training area that could hold 30,000 personnel.</p><br>
<p>Some buildings were constructed in 1941, but were ordered destroyed in 1942. At the time, the military offered no reasoning for the reversal of the plan. It was later discovered by an Ashton resident that the military did not want to interfere with trumpeter swans which used the lake as a breeding ground. The winter training program was relocated to Fort Drum in New York.</p><br>
<h2>Recreation</h2><br>
<p>The official Continental Divide Trail skirts around Henry&#39;s Lake. Many north bound thru hikers opt out of this section when leaving Yellowstone National Park and entering the Centennial Mountain Range in Idaho.</p><br>
<p>Henrys Lake is a popular destination for sport fishing. The most common species in the lake is Yellowstone cutthroat. They make up 55 percent of the trout population. The average size in 2015 was 15 inches but biologists found some fish over 20 inches. The second most prevalent species is rainbow-cutthroat hybrids, which make up 24 percent of the population. The average size is 19 inches, although Idaho Fish and Game found hybrids longer than 25 inches. Brook trout make up 21 percent of the population. The average length is 16 inches but biologists found several Brook trout that exceeded 20 inches in length. There is a fish hatchery on the north side of the lake that helps to replenish the lake.</p><br>
<p>Henrys Lake is home to a variety of migrating birds. The western and eastern edges of the lake provide wetland/marsh habitats that serve as breeding areas for many birds in spring. Notable at Henrys Lake are White Pelicans, Widgeon, Lesser Scaup, Cormorants, Red-necked and western Grebes, coots, mallards, bufflehead, Ring-necked Ducks, Canada Geese, Blue-winged Teal, eared Grebe, Killdeer, common Merganser, common tern, Cinnamon Teal, Trumpeter Swans, Great Blue Heron, California Seagulls, Bald Eagles, Swainson&#39;s Hawks, Red-tailed Hawks, Red-winged Blackbirds, cowbirds and more.</p><br>
<h3>Henrys Lake State Park</h3><br>
<p>On the south shore on the lake is a 585-acre state park off of US 20 near Goose Bay and the Henrys Lake Outlet. This state park is open the Thursday before Memorial Day until the second Saturday of October. It offers a boat ramp, but the docks are taken out the day before closing.</p><br>
<p>There are 83 overnight campgrounds, as well as cabins in the park. Some of the bathrooms offer showers.</p><br>
<p>There are hiking trails in the park, both paved and gravel.</p><br>
<h3>Frome Park</h3><br>
<p>Frome Park is owned and operated by Fremont County on the west shore of Henrys Lake. There is a boat ramp and about 40 campsites, both of which are free. Facilities are limited at Frome Park, especially when compared to the state park across the lake.</p><br>
<p>Targhee Pass is a mountain pass located on the Continental Divide in the Henrys Lake Mountains, along the border between southeastern Idaho and southwestern Montana, at an elevation of 7072 feet  above sea level. The pass is named for a Bannack Indian chief.</p><br>
<p>USA Highway 20 crosses the pass, approximately 15 mi (24 km) west of West Yellowstone, Montana, on the western boundary of Yellowstone National Park. The pass provides the most direct access to Yellowstone Park from southern Idaho.</p><br>
<p>The pass is located in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest. Henrys Lake, the headwaters of the Henrys Fork, a tributary of the Snake River is located just west of the pass. Hebgen Lake, a reservoir on the Madison River, a tributary of the Missouri River, is located just north of the pass.</p><br>
<h2>Nez Perce War</h2><br>
<p>During the 1877 Nez Perce War, Chief Joseph&#39;s band of Nez Perce traversed the pass on August 22 while evading USA Cavalry forces under the command of General Oliver O. Howard. The Nez Perce had just engaged the army at the Battle of Camas Creek in Idaho. After entering Montana Territory the Indians moved east up the Madison River into Yellowstone National Park.</p><br>
<p>North Twin  is one of the two peaks that comprise The Twins massif located at the northeast corner of the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. The other lower peak is named South Twin . North Twin is the third highest peak in the Canadian Rockies, after Mount Robson and Mount Columbia.</p><br>
<p>The massif was named The Twins in 1898 by J. Norman Collie and Hugh M. Stutfield. The decision to name the peaks separately was approved February 28, 1980.</p><br>
<p>In addition to North Twin and South Twin, the massif contains a northern subpeak of North Twin known as Twins Tower, 3,627 m. This sits atop the famed north face of the massif (see below), and was named in 1984.</p><br>
<h2>Routes</h2><br>
<p>The first ascent of North Twin was recorded on 10 July 1923 by W.S. Ladd, J.M. Thorington, and Conrad Kain, via the East Face.</p><br>
<p>The normal route is a ski mountaineering climb on the eastern slopes, and it is possible to ski all the way to the summit. A traverse can be made to the South Twin, although an ice axe is recommended for the narrow connecting ridge.</p><br>
<h2>Notable ascents</h2><br>
<p>The nearly vertical north face drops over 1,500 m from Twins Tower to the Athabasca River - the true summit of North Twin is somewhat removed from the top of the north face. The north face is renowned in climbing circles and has been climbed by only four parties:</p><br>
<p>1974 Lowe-Jones (VI 5.10 A3, 1500m), George Lowe and Chris Jones from 6 August to 12 August 1974.</p><br>
<p>1985 North Pillar or Blanchard/Cheesemond by Barry Blanchard and Dave Cheesmond.</p><br>
<p>2004 House/Prezelj by Steve House and Marko Prezelj.</p><br>
<p>2013 North Pillar (2nd Ascent) by Josh Wharton and Jon Walsh.</p><br>
<p>Mount Bogong, located in the Alpine National Park and part of the Victorian Alps of the Great Dividing Range, is the highest mountain in Victoria, Australia, at 1,986 m above sea level.</p><br>
<p>The Big River separates the massif of the mountain from the Bogong High Plains to the south. From the nearby town of Mount Beauty to its summit, Mount Bogong rises more than 1,600 m, thus making it one of the highest peaks in Australia not only in terms of its elevation above sea level, but also in terms of actual base-to-summit prominence.</p><br>
<p>Mount Bogong is a popular backcountry skiing mountain through winter but only has snow for the mid winter-spring months. It is around 30 km by road and walking track or 12 km direct to Mount Beauty. Falls Creek and Mount Hotham ski resorts are also nearby. Camping is relatively safe below the treeline but the summit ridgeline is very exposed.</p><br>
<p>Emergency shelter is also available at Bivouac Hut on the Staircase Spur, and at Cleve Cole, above Camp Creek on the broad ridge to the south of the summit, and Michell&#39;s Hut on the Eskdale Spur.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>In the Australian Aboriginal Waywurru and Dhudhuroa languages, the mountain is named Warkwoolowler, meaning the mountain where Aboriginal people collected the boo.gong fly. Additionally, in the Dhudhuroa language the word Bugung means the brown moth, referring to Agrotis infusa.</p><br>
<p>While "Bogong" in the local Aboriginal language is believed to mean bigfella.</p><br>
<h2>Flora and fauna</h2><br>
<p>The lower slopes of Mount Bogong are covered with tall forests of Alpine Ash (Eucalyptus delegatensis) to an altitude of about 1,300 m. From 1,300 m to 1,800 m, woodland and open woodland of Snow Gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora) dominate, and above 1,800 m, the vegetation consists of alpine shrubland, grassland and herbfield.</p><br>
<p>Animals that live on Mount Bogong have all found some way to adapt to the environment which is very harsh. For example, bogong moths gregariously aestivate in caves throughout the mountain to avoid desiccation. Other animals that live on Mount Bogong include the pygmy possum, smoky mouse, broad toothed rat, powerful owl, spotted tree frog and she-oak skink.</p><br>
<p>Much of the mountain, especially the northern side, was badly burnt in the 2003 Eastern Victorian alpine bushfires.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Mount Bogong towers above the Kiewa River valley and is of great significance to the local traditional owners. Parks Victoria states that "Many Aboriginal people have a remarkably rich history of Aboriginal use in the Victorian Alps and a vast knowledge of the cultural sites, oral history and ancestral stories that relate to the alpine region of Victoria. Throughout the many seasons each year, Aboriginal groups would come from as far away as the coast and south west slopes, to meet with the tribes of the mountains for intertribal ceremonies and feasting on Bogong Moths. During these festivities they would exchange cultural objects and materials for tools".</p><br>
<p>According to Eddie Kneebone, an indigenous historian, "the Yiatmathong (people) controlled the Kiewa and Mitta Mitta valleys, they also had control of the Alpine region on the Victorian side. Their southern most boundary extended to Hotham and ran along the highest ridge line of the Alps in an east-west direction. Because Mount Bogong fell within the Yiatmathong territory, permission had to be gained from them by the other tribes participating in the summer feast. Once this was done, the tribes would spend summer in the cooler climate of the mountains feasting on the protein rich Bogong moth". Kneebone claims that prior to climbing Mount Bogong and the Bogong High Plains, the tribes would gather by the Murray River at Mungabarreena (near modern Albury). After ceremonies, initiations, marriages, trading, settling of disputes, and renewing of alliances and friendships, the groups would walk from Albury to the mountain region to feed on the protein-rich Bogong moths.</p><br>
<p>Following European settlement, indigenous groups were decimated and survivors were placed onto settlements, often far from the traditional lands. Indigenous visitation to Mount Bogong is generally understood to have finished by the mid19 century. While there was cattle grazing for some time, it was the walkers and then skiers who became the next group to visit the mountain in large numbers.</p><br>
<p>In August 1936 Mick Hull, Howard Michell and Cleve Cole attempted the first winter crossing of the Bogong High Plains. The group became lost in blizzard conditions and Cole died of hypothermia soon after he and Mick Hull were discovered by a rescue party raised by Michell. Cole was buried on 22 August at the Cheltenham Pioneer Cemetery. The hut commemorating Cole&#39;s life was completed in 1938, and has served as the hub of back-country skiing and bushwalking exploration of the Bogong area since. Accommodation at the hut is free on a first-in-first-served basis, although donations to The Bogong Club are welcomed. Parks Victoria advises skiers and walkers to carry an alpine-capable tent, and not to rely on accommodation in the huts.</p><br>
<p>Cole&#39;s death illustrates the danger of Mount Bogong and of the Victorian Alps in general. The mountains are geologically old and worn. Their low altitude and flattish, rounded tops make for easy skiing and walking, but descent of their steep sides in whiteout conditions can be perilous.</p><br>
<h2>Ascent routes</h2><br>
<p>There are many routes up Mount Bogong for hikers, including (clockwise from north west) Staircase Spur, Eskdale Spur, Granite Flat Spur, Long Spur, Duane Spur, and Quartz Ridge. All involve a climb of more than 600 m from the saddle or creek at the base of these spurs.</p><br>
<p>The two main walking trails lead to the summit. The Staircase and Eskdale Spur can both be accessed from a trail that begins at Mountain Creek Picnic Area. It is also possible to access Camp Creek Gap on the Eskdale Spur in a 4WD vehicle along Eskdale Spur Track from Trappers Gap. Both trails are of moderate difficulty. Starting from the picnic area, the Staircase is a 16 km return trip, normally taking 6–9 hours return, while the Eskdale Spur is a 20 km return trip, normally taking 8–11 hours return.</p><br>
<p>The Staircase Spur is a difficult ascent due to its steep slopes. From the base of the staircase it is 6 km to the summit. Halfway up the staircase is Bivouac Hut which sits about 3 km from the summit on a small flat section, it offers emergency refuge, camp sites and a resting spot before heading to the summit.</p><br>
<p>The Eskdale spur may provide a slightly easier option up to the summit of Bogong if you have a 4WD, although if you walk up from Mountain Creek, it is just a longer way to do the same ascent. With a 4WD you can drive from the bottom of the Staircase Spur at Mountain Creek, through to Camp Creek Gap, from where it is about 2.5 hrs walk to the summit of Bogong, and this is the easiest winter access, although occasionally the 4WD track is covered with snow.</p><br>
<p>Just over halfway up the Eskdale Spur is Michell Hut, which burnt down during the 2003 bushfires but was later rebuilt. Michell Hut provides emergency refuge, toilet, camp sites and a resting area before the final climb up to where the Eskdale meets Granite Flat Spur at the treeline, where there is also a good, but exposed campsite</p><br>
<p>Granite Flat Spur also provides access to the summit. It can be accessed by 4WD either from Eskdale, or by continuing on from Camp Creek Gap around the 4WD track, which is only possible outside of winter. An hour beyond Camp Creek Gap by 4WD will get you to the end of the 4WD track, from which it takes about 1.5 hrs walk to the summit (i.e. it is no quicker than walking up the Eskdale, but you walk less, and drive further).</p><br>
<p>Above the treeline, both the Staircase and Eskdale Spurs are very exposed, particularly in winter, and they may "ice up" after about 4pm, making progress dangerous.</p><br>
<p>Diadem Peak is a peak located in the Sunwapta River Valley of Jasper National Park, Canada. Diadem Peak is essentially the high point of a ridge leading down from the slightly higher Mount Woolley . This peak was the first 11,000er north of the Columbia Icefield to be climbed and one of the few peaks in the Canadian Rockies to be climbed before 1900.</p><br>
<p>The mountain was named in 1898 by the first ascent team of J. Norman Collie, Hugh Stutfield and Hermann Woolley. Upon reaching the summit, they discovered a crown (diadem) of snow about 30 m high covering the almost flat layer of rocks on top.</p><br>
<h2>Climbing history</h2><br>
<p>In the summer of 1898, J. Norman Collie, Hugh Stutfield and Herman Woolley, had made their way up Woolley Creek and initially had their sights on reaching the top of Mount Woolley by climbing the icefield that separates Mt. Woolley from Diadem Peak. However, after a brief downpour which forced them to seek shelter among some rocks, they had just begun preparing the rope for ascending the icefield when a large collapse of ice from the summit made them switch their objective to Diadem Peak. The party ascended the southeast ridge along loose shale and ice, eventually finding a small rock rib that took them to the summit on August 25. Collie recorded an initial elevation of 11,500 ft using a mercurial barometer. With the use of crampons, the difficulties of the southeast ridge route are reduced by following a shallow snow gully up much of the way.</p><br>
<p>In 1962, William Buckingham and Bill Hooker, ascended Diadem Peak by what is now known as the South Ridge route. This route initially traverses loose rock ledges to reach a snow/ice couloir which is followed until the glacier levels off and is no longer fractured. Traversing left across rock to the glacier, the route follows the glacier up to the Woolley-Diadem col where Diadem&#39;s summit is reached after an easy ascent up the ridge. Jim Elzinga and Jeff Marshall made the first ascent up a mixed route on the North face of Diadem in July 1981. This route is known as "Humble Horse" (IV, 5.7, W4).</p><br>
<h2>Bibliography</h2><br>
<p>The Windward Passage  is a strait in the Caribbean Sea, between the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola. The strait specifically lies between the easternmost region of Cuba and the northwest of Haiti. 80 km wide, the Windward Passage has a threshold depth of 1,700 m.</p><br>
<p>With Navassa Island on its southern approach, it connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean Sea, and is in the direct path of shipping between the Panama Canal and the eastern seaboard of the United States.</p><br>
<p>From either the eastern tip of the Guantánamo Province of Cuba, or the western tip of Haiti&#39;s Nord-Ouest Department, it is possible to see lights on the other side of the Windward Passage.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The Septentrional-Oriente fault zone passes through the Windward Passage from the southern coast of Cuba to the northern coast of Hispaniola. During the Holocene the slip rate between these two islands was 9 +/-/year. The Septentrional Fault extends east at least to the still active Mona Rift in the Mona Passage, where extension occurs between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico.</p><br>
<p>Kvernberget  is a barren mountain formation with a maximum elevation of 205 m. The mountain is located on the island of Nordlandet on the western edge of the town of Kristiansund in Kristiansund Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. Kristiansund Airport, Kvernberget, which sits nearby, takes its name from the mountain.</p><br>
<p>For a number of years, Kvernberget and the surrounding area have been popular for hiking and simple mountaineering activities, and the summit is Kristiansund&#39;s most popular hiking destination. From the summit, much of the Nordmøre district of Møre og Romsdal county may be seen in fair weather. A drinking water reservoir is located inside the mountain.</p><br>
<h2>Navigation</h2><br>
<p>By the early Middle Ages, there was already a need to navigate the ocean north of Nordmøre, a long time before 1742, the year Kristiansund became a town. The most important urban area of Nordmøre in the Middle Ages was the fishing village of Grip, an island in the ocean north of Kristiansund. For the fishermen in the area, it was important to find their regular fishing places, so they observed the land and used mountains such as Kvernberget and other landmarks to find their way.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Løwenørn, a Danish mariner, described this part of the Norwegian coast in 1791&ndash;1803. He tells that Kvernberget was used by the navigators onboard ships just outside Trondheimsleia. He mentions all the mountains on shore: Skarven (on Tustna), Stemshesten, Magnillberget, Freikollen, Quærn-Bierget (an old-fashioned way to spell Kvernberget), and Plak-Myssen.</p><br>
<h2>Name</h2><br>
<p>The name Kvernberget is probably a thousand years old, and refers to the mountain&#39;s resemblance to a medieval Quern-stone of a form which is still used in North Africa today. Fishermen working in the sea off of the island and fishing village of Grip navigated by the mountain, which they named after the tool they had at home, the hand mill for grinding corn to flour.</p><br>
<p>A lot of mountains along the Norwegian shore are obviously named because they look like something. Bjønnahaugen (the bears hill), on Nordlandet in Kristiansund, looks like a sleeping bear. On Averøya, west of Kristiansund, is a mountain that is called Bremsneshatten, which is thought to look like a hat. Løwenørn calls it Plak-Myssen (a kind of seal), in the Middle Ages it was probably Brimill. The mountain looks like the head of a seal sticking out of the seabed.</p><br>
<p>Mount Cromwell is a mountain located in the Sunwapta River Valley of Jasper National Park, in Alberta, Canada. Cromwell lines two km north of the east summit of Stutfield Peak. The mountain was named in 1972 by J. Monroe Thorington after Oliver Eaton  Cromwell, an American climber who made many first ascents in the Canadian Rockies.</p><br>
<p>The first ascent was made in 1938 by E. Cromwell, E. Cromwell jr., F.S. North, J. Monroe Thorington, guided by Edward Feuz jr.</p><br>
<p>In 2005, Bill Corbett, author of "The 11,000ers of the Canadian Rockies," climbed to the top of Mount Cromwell. At the summit, his GPS registered 11,006 feet. So perhaps Mount Cromwell should be included in the list of the Canadian Rocky Mountains that are over 11,000 feet in elevation.</p><br>
<p>Kolombangara  is an island in the New Georgia Islands group of the Solomon Islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The name is from a local language, a rough translation of its meaning is "Water Lord" with approximately 80 rivers and streams running down its flanks.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Almost perfectly round in shape and about 15 km across, the island is a stratovolcano that reaches an altitude of 1,770 m at Mount Veve. The island forms part of the southern boundary of the New Georgia Sound; to the northwest the Vella Gulf separates it from Vella Lavella and Gizo, while to the southeast New Georgia lies across the Kula Gulf. West-Southwest of Kolombangara is Ghizo Island, upon which the Western provincial capital Gizo is located.</p><br>
<p>Kolombangara is heavily forested, with few inhabitants. Kolombangara has two notable settlements, Ringgi and Mongga, the former being the larger. The most significant industry on the island at this time is logging, with the largest of these based at Poitete.</p><br>
<h2>World War II history</h2><br>
<p>During World War II the island and the waters around it were the scene of much fighting. The Imperial Japanese Army used an airstrip on some flat ground at Vila on the south shore of the island, and in May 1943 based several military units with over ten thousand troops garrisoned on the southeast side of the island under the command of Major General Minoru Sasaki, in an attempt to establish a defense line through the Central Solomons. Naval battles nearby included the Battle of Kula Gulf and Battle of Kolombangara.</p><br>
<p>The most famous and bloody battle was the mission to intercept the "Tokyo Express" supply convoy which resulted in the ramming and explosion of USA torpedo boat PT-109, manned by John F. Kennedy and his crew. Australian coastwatcher, Sub Lieutenant Arthur Reginald Evans, who manned a secret observation post at the top of the island&#39;s Mount Veve volcano, spotted the explosion. After decoding news that the explosion he had witnessed was probably from the lost PT-109 he dispatched Solomon Islanders Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana in a dugout canoe to look for possible survivors. Their courageous efforts led to the subsequent discovery and rescue of John F. Kennedy and the surviving crew.</p><br>
<p>After destroyers succeeded in sinking the supply ships three nights later and isolating the garrison of 12,400 there, US forces were able to "leapfrog" Kolombangara to land on Vella Lavella to the west. The Japanese evacuated Kolombangara between September 23 and October 4, 1943.</p><br>
<p>In January 1944 a detachment of 1 officer and 6 enlisted men from the 350th Engineer General Service Regiment stationed at Munda, established a vegetable farm on the Japanese abandoned airstrip at Vila. The British government furnished 16 male natives to help with the project. With seeds acquired through the International Red Cross, many vegetables were sent back to the base hospital to supplement the dehydrated meals served the recuperating veterans. The main item was watermelons.</p><br>
<p>San Gorgonio Mountain, also known locally as Mount San Gorgonio, or Old Greyback, is the highest peak in Southern California and the Transverse Ranges at 11,503 ft.</p><br>
<p>It is in the San Bernardino Mountains, 27 mi east of the city of San Bernardino and 12 mi north-northeast of San Gorgonio Pass. It lies within the San Gorgonio Wilderness, part of the Sand to Snow National Monument managed by the San Bernardino National Forest.</p><br>
<p>Spanish missionaries in the area during the early 17th century named the peak after Saint Gorgonius.</p><br>
<p>Since it is the highest point in a region which is separated from higher peaks (e.g. in the Sierra Nevada) by relatively low terrain, San Gorgonio Mountain is one of the most topographically prominent peaks in the United States. It is ranked 7th among peaks in the 48 contiguous states and 18th among overall.</p><br>
<p>Like other high peaks in the Transverse Ranges, the mountain has a pyramid shape, with a steep north face and a slightly shallower south face. The mountain is large and broad; the summit plateau itself is one square-mile in area (2 km).</p><br>
<p>In contrast to its spectacular but lower neighbor, San Jacinto Peak, San Gorgonio is not particularly craggy, and from a distance, it only appears to be an extremely high hill, earning it the name of greyback. Despite not being particularly striking in appearance during the summer, it is the only mountain in Southern California with a summit a significant distance above the tree line. As such its bright white winter snow cap, unobstructed by vegetation, makes the mountain noticeable from many miles away. The mountain hosts the longest recorded line of sight in the contiguous United States; it is plainly visible from the summit of Mount Whitney, 190 miles away.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>San Gorgonio Mountain lies at the easternmost extremity of the Transverse Ranges. The mountain is a heavily eroded, partially dissected plateau.</p><br>
<p>Big Bear Lake, California is the largest city near San Gorgonio, and hosts two major ski resorts, as well as a popular summer get away for many southern Californians that utilize the lake for boating swimming, and fishing.</p><br>
<h3>Geology</h3><br>
<p>The shape of the mountain is influenced by a series of steeply dipping thrust faults on the north face of the mountain. The south side of the mountain contains river canyons typical of a dissected plateau.</p><br>
<p>The mountain is a massive block of quartz monzonite, which sits on an ancient platform of Precambrian gneissic rocks. Glacial and fluvial deposits dominate the surface of the lowest part of the mountain.</p><br>
<h3>Hydrology</h3><br>
<p>Three major Southern California rivers have their source on San Gorgonio Mountain: the Santa Ana River, the Whitewater River, and the San Gorgonio River.</p><br>
<p>Jenks Lake, on the north slope of the mountain, is one of the few perennial lakes in Southern California.</p><br>
<p>San Gorgonio Mountain sits on the Great Basin Divide, which separates steams that flow into the basins of the Basin and Range Province from rivers that flow into the Pacific Ocean.</p><br>
<h3>Climate</h3><br>
<p>The climate on most of the mountain is Csb (Warm-summer Mediterranean) under the Köppen climate classification. The summit of San Gorgonio has an Alpine climate (ET), as no month in that area has an average temperature greater than 10 &deg;C.</p><br>
<h2>Hiking</h2><br>
<p>Like most other peaks in the Transverse Ranges, the summit is a technically easy class 1 hike. Several trails lead to the broad summit of San Gorgonio Mountain, which rises a few hundred feet (100 m) above the tree line. Most routes are very strenuous and require well over 4,000 ft of elevation gain.</p><br>
<p>The trail leading from the Fish Creek Trailhead to San Gorgonio Mountain has about 3,400 ft of gain, less than the routes from the South Fork and Vivian Creek trailheads. Hikers should always take caution because some junctions on this trail are not well marked.</p><br>
<h2>Aircraft wreckage</h2><br>
<p>On December 1, 1952, a Douglas C-47 Dakota, serial number 45-1124, crashed at the 11,000 ft level on the eastern face of the mountain. The C-47 was en route from Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska to March Air Force Base near Riverside, California when it struck the mountain at night in the middle of a storm. "The aircraft was last heard from at 9:51 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, Monday." Thirteen people died.</p><br>
<p>Nearly one month after the C-47 accident a Marine Corps HRS-2 helicopter, bureau number 129037, crashed on the mountain in coordination of the efforts of recovering the victims. The three crewmen of the helicopter survived the impact. Most of the wreckage of the two aircraft remain on the mountain and are accessible via the Fish Creek Trailhead or the South Fork Trailhead.</p><br>
<p>In more recent years, the mountain claimed the lives of Frank Sinatra&#39;s mother (January 16, 1977) and Dean Paul Martin (March 21, 1987), son of Dean Martin, in unrelated plane crashes. Martin was an Air National Guard pilot and the McDonnell Douglas F-4C he was flying disappeared in a snowstorm and the wreckage was found on the mountain several days later.</p><br>
<p>The River Wandle is a river in south-east England. The names of the river and of Wandsworth are thought to have derived from the Old English "Wendlesworth" meaning "Wendle&#39;s Settlement". The river runs through southwest London and is about 9 mi long. It passes through the London Boroughs of Croydon, Sutton, Merton, and Wandsworth to join the River Thames on the Tideway at Wandsworth. Much of the River is accessible using the Wandle Trail.</p><br>
<p>Rain falls on the North Downs, filters through the chalk and emerges on the spring line. At the top of the catchment the river is mostly culverted. The river is first visible at Wandle Park in Croydon where it flows in an open channel before returning to a culverted section between the New South Quarter development and Waddon Ponds beside Mill Lane. A second main source, also at about 115 ft AOD is formed at Carshalton Ponds, which merges underneath Watermill House in the northern area of Carshalton, The Wrythe.</p><br>
<p>Other sources include the Norbury Brook/River Graveney tributary which rises near the Lower Addiscombe Road in Croydon and flows through the London Boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth and Merton. Two seasonal streams, the Coulsdon Bourne and the Caterham Bourne, run in wet winters. They join together at Purley, run in a culvert north along the Brighton Road and join the River Wandle at the site of the, now defunct, Swan and Sugarloaf pub in South Croydon.</p><br>
<h2>Flow</h2><br>
<p>In the late pleistocene, the river probably sprang from the north of the Vale of Holmesdale across the North Downs through the Merstham Gap, a wind gap. In more recent times, rainwater falling on the Down percolates through the chalk and reappears as springs in central Croydon, Beddington, and Carshalton. The occasional stream, known as the Bourne, which runs through the Caterham valley (and Smitham Bottom in Coulsdon) is a source of the River Wandle but only surfaces after heavy rainfall. A series of ditches and culverts channels the water from Purley to Croydon.</p><br>
<p>For many centuries the River Wandle rose from a spring near the Swan and Sugarloaf public house on Brighton Road (now closed, but the building remains as a supermarket) flowing through the Haling neighbourhood of Croydon. It ran northwards along Southbridge Road and upon reaching Old Town it was 20 ft across and began to divide into smaller channels. The grounds of the Old Palace and Scarbrook Hill had several springs, ponds, streams and canals where fish swam, especially trout. However, as Croydon&#39;s population grew and use of the water closet increased, the Old Town streams became little more than open sewers and were filled in or culverted from 1840 after outbreaks of typhoid and cholera.</p><br>
<p>The river then flowed through Pitlake and on through two marshy fields — Froggs Mead and Stubbs Mead — drained to form Wandle Park in 1890. Local springs were used to form a boating lake in the park, but frequent drying up problems led to the lake being filled in and the river was culverted in 1967. In 2012, the Wandle was restored to the surface in Wandle Park. From there, the river continues underground, through where the gas works used to stand, under the Purley Way road past Waddon Ponds and appears on the surface at the road Richmond Green where a small green buffer to its south acts as the green after the footpath at the end of Mill Lane in Waddon, Croydon.</p><br>
<p>A tributary starts in Thornton Heath as the Norbury Brook. This flows north then west to become the River Graveney and joins the Wandle near Summerstown.</p><br>
<p>For part of its length, the Wandle forms the boundary between the London Boroughs of Croydon and Lambeth and, further downstream, the border between Merton and Wandsworth – from 1900 to 1963 the official boundary between Surrey and London. Shortly before reaching the Thames the navigable Bell Lane Creek splits from the river, rejoining close to the confluence.</p><br>
<p>Village names in the Wandle basin include: Croydon, Waddon, Beddington, Wallington, Carshalton, The Wrythe, Hackbridge, Mitcham, Ravensbury, St Helier, Morden, Merton Abbey, Colliers Wood, South Wimbledon, Summerstown, and Wandsworth. Carshalton Village is home to Honeywood Museum, which includes displays and an interactive map about the River Wandle and its influence on the life of the area.</p><br>
<h2>Use of river</h2><br>
<p>The Liberty print works and Merton Board Mills once dominated the riverscape in what is now the London Borough of Merton. The concentration of heavy industry in this area resulted in the stretch of the river running between Windsor Avenue and Colliers Wood High Street being diverted during the 18th century. The original course of the river still runs underground beneath Liberty Avenue, surfacing at Runnymede as the Pickle Ditch and rejoining the modern river outside Sainsburys, while the stretch of the river running past Merton Abbey Mills craft village and in front of Sainsburys is man-made.</p><br>
<p>Subsequent cleanups of the Wandle have improved the water quality dramatically, leading to a return of the river&#39;s brown trout. This improvement in water quality has also seen other fish thrive with stocks of Chub, Roach and Perch all flourishing once again with the most popular angling spots situated on the river at Colliers Wood.</p><br>
<h2>Local Nature Reserves</h2><br>
<p>In 2017, a new nature reserve was created in Bell Lane Creek in the Wandle Delta, by removing a half-tide weir that had been installed in the 1980s at the junction of the Wandle and the River Thames. This had been built as the first part of a project to create a marina, however it had ceased to work some years previously. Restoring it would allow the tide to clear out silt and restore a natural tidal river. In addition, a section of the Thames river wall was lowered as part of the Wandsworth Riverside Quarter residential development, to allow reeds and vegetation to develop and provide a more natural sloping embankment. As part of the project layers of contaminated sediment were dredged from the site, to restore a gravel bed and restore a wildlife habitat measuring roughly a hectare in size.</p><br>
<h2>Incidents</h2><br>
<p>On 17 September 2007, Sodium hypochlorite was accidentally flushed into the Wandle from Thames Water&#39;s Beddington sewage works. The chemical was being used to clean its tertiary treatment screens, but instead of being circulated back through the treatment works, it was accidentally discharged into the river. This resulted in over 2,000 fish of various species being killed. The company failed to notify the Environment Agency of the discharge, as the site manager thought it was minor. However, the company assumed responsibility for the mistake, and said they were "mortified" by the incident. The company immediately offered to meet local angling clubs and the to discuss restocking and long term support for the work of the Trust.</p><br>
<p>The company was fined £125,000 for the incident on 26 January 2009, with costs of £21,335. At the time, it was the greatest ever penalty for a single offence of polluting controlled waters. However, in February 2010, on appeal, the fine was found to be "manifestly excessive" and was reduced to £50,000, partly because Thames Water had made a £500,000 donation to clean up the river.</p><br>
<h2>Makeup</h2><br>
<p>The river is heavily managed with artificial channels, runoff ditches and a few underground stretches.</p><br>
<h2>Namesakes</h2><br>
<p>The Wandle River in South Island, New Zealand is named after the River Wandle.</p><br>
<p>There have been at least four steamships named SS Wandle, three of which were built for the local Wandsworth, Wimbledon and Epsom District Gas Company.</p><br>
<p>In the 1980s, Wandle was the name of one of the districts into which the operation of London&#39;s buses was divided, and named after the river. Its logo was a water wheel above the London Transport roundel.</p><br>
<h2>Landmarks</h2><br>
<p>Wimbledon Stadium and the Ram Brewery are both situated on the banks of the Wandle, as was the now-defunct Plough Lane stadium. A bridge crosses the river at today&#39;s Wandsworth High Street.</p><br>
<p>Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill is a 182 m volcanic peak in Auckland, New Zealand. It is an important memorial place for both Māori and other New Zealanders. The suburb around the base of the hill is also called One Tree Hill. It is surrounded by the suburbs of Royal Oak to the west, and clockwise, Epsom, Greenlane, Oranga, and Onehunga. The summit provides views across the Auckland area, and allows visitors to see both of Auckland&#39;s harbours.</p><br>
<p>The hill&#39;s scoria cones were erupted from three craters – one is intact and two have been breached by lava flows that rafted away part of the side of the scoria cone. Lava flows went in all directions, many towards Onehunga, covering an area of 20 km&sup2, making it the second largest (in area covered) of the Auckland volcanic field, behind Rangitoto Island. The age of eruption is currently unknown, but it is older than 28,500 years as it has a mantling of volcanic ash erupted at that time from Te Tātua-a-Riukiuta volcano.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Māori pā (fort)</h3><br>
<p>The Māori name Maungakiekie means "mountain of the kiekie vine". Māori also knew it as "tōtara that stands alone". The mountain and its surrounds were home to the Te Wai ō Hua tribe from the early 1700s and probably before that time. Other Māori tribes in the Auckland area can also trace their ancestry to the mountain.</p><br>
<p>Maungakiekie was the largest and most important Māori pā in pre-European times. The cone and its surroundings are estimated to have been home to a population of up to 5,000. At this time, the Nga Marama chief Kiwi Tamaki held the pa and used its strategic placement to exact tribute from travellers passing from Northland to the rest of the North Island through the rich isthmus. Its position between the Waitematā Harbour to the east (opening upon the Pacific Ocean) and the Manukau Harbour to the west (opening onto the Tasman Sea) offered a wide variety of seafood from the two harbours. The volcanic soil on the scoria cone was highly fertile, and the inhabitants terraced the slopes extensively. The hill was relatively easy to defend from raiding parties from other tribes due to its steep sides and imposing palisades. Waiohua occupation of the Māori pā ended around 1740-1750 AD when they were defeated in a war against the invading Ngati Whatua-o-Kaipara The pā was abandoned around 1795 AD with the death of Te Taou leader Tuperiri.</p><br>
<p>In 1845 the Ngati Whatua, with the concurrence of representatives of the Waiohua people, sold a block of land which included Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill to a merchant, Thomas Henry. The Government under its preemptive rights excluded 115 acres of the hill itself from the sale and this was vested in the Crown. This is now One Tree Hill Domain. In 1853 Brown & Campbell purchased Henry&#39;s land surrounding the recently protected One Tree Hill Domain. This land ultimately became Cornwall Park in 1901.</p><br>
<p>In 1964 the government led an initiative to restore the mountain. After two years the initiative was cancelled and the mountain left alone.</p><br>
<h3>One Tree Hill Domain</h3><br>
<p>One Tree Hill Domain, a 118 acre park, is owned by Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau Collective and administered by Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau Authority. One Tree Hill Domain adjoins Cornwall Park&#39;s 425 acre, creating a total of 540 acre of public green space.</p><br>
<p>The hilltop is always accessible by foot, but because it became a nightly party stop for boy racers and other (often drunk) groups of youths, after-dark road access to the summit was closed in 2008.</p><br>
<p>The area contains two parks, One Tree Hill Domain and Cornwall Park, which are next to each other and thus often perceived as one. One Tree Hill Domain is open to the public and was formerly administered by Auckland City Council but since 2012 has been owned and administered by Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau Collective. All decisions are made by the owners, who have delegated minor day-to-day operations to Cornwall Park Trust. Cornwall Park is a private park, also open to the public, administered by the Cornwall Park Trust Board. The Trusts endowment includes income from leasehold properties adjoining the parks borders.</p><br>
<p>Because One Tree Hill Domain is high and relatively central, the city has long used it for its potable water reservoirs. The first of these was constructed in 1900 atop the western peak; though it is no longer in service, the small structure remains in place. Five further reservoirs were subsequently built underground, with the latest completed in 1977. They are currently used to maintain supply to the Onehunga area and to the reservoirs atop Maungawhau / Mount Eden.</p><br>
<h4>Cornwall Park</h4><br>
<p>Cornwall Park, which adjoins the domain, was given by Sir John Logan Campbell to a private trust he had established to hold the land for the use of the public.</p><br>
<h3>Treaty settlement</h3><br>
<p>In the 2014 Treaty of Waitangi settlement with the Tamaki Makaurau Collective of 13 Auckland iwi, the volcano was officially named Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill and ownership was vested to the collective. It is now co-governed by the collective and Auckland Council in common benefit of the iwi "and all other people of Auckland".</p><br>
<h2>Features</h2><br>
<h3>Obelisk</h3><br>
<p>On the summit of the hill is an obelisk, a memorial to Māori. Before the obelisk stands a bronze statue of a Māori warrior. The stone obelisk was designed by Richard Atkinson Abbot and completed in 1940, but the unveiling of the obelisk was delayed until after World War II on 24 April 1948. This was in keeping with Māori custom of not holding such ceremonies during a time of bloodshed.</p><br>
<p>Beneath it is the grave of Sir John Logan Campbell who bequeathed £5,000 for the obelisk. His grave is a plain granite slab, ornamented only by a bronze wreath. It lies in the middle of the viewing platform, on axis with the main memorial plaques on the Obelisk base and the bronze Warrior Statue.</p><br>
<p>Campbell, like many European New Zealanders of his generation, had expected that Māori would gradually die out and that an impressive memorial would be a most fitting symbol to perpetuate their memory. By the 1930s this had obviously not happened, and some considered the term "memorial" was inappropriate with many Māori objecting to its use. During construction of the obelisk, a suggestion was made that it should be described as a centennial tower to mark the centennial year of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and not a memorial.</p><br>
<h3>Stardome Observatory</h3><br>
<p>The Stardome Observatory (previously known as Auckland Observatory), is located within One Tree Hill Domain, and contains two telescopes and a planetarium. The observatory has, amongst other research, discovered and named the asteroid 19620 Auckland. Its current functions combine entertainment and education (via the planetarium and via public access to the older telescope) as well as ongoing research with both telescopes. It is operated by a charitable trust.</p><br>
<h2>New trees</h2><br>
<p>A well-attended dawn ceremony conducted by Tupuna Maunga Authority took place upon Maungakiekie on 11 June 2016 planting nine young tōtara and pōhutukawa grown from parent trees on the hill. A kiekie will be added later.</p><br>
<p>When Auckland was founded as a colonial town a tree stood near the summit which gave the hill its English name. Two accounts identify it as a pōhutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa). This tree was cut down by a white settler in 1852, in an act of vandalism in one account, or for firewood in another. It seems likely this was a different tree from the tōtara (Podocarpus totara) which, as a sacred tree, had given the hill one of its Maori names. A radiata pine was planted in the 1870s to replace the previous tōtara. John Logan Campbell repeatedly tried to grow native trees on the hill&#39;s summit, but the trees failed to survive - with only two pines, originally part of a shelter belt for the native trees, surviving for long. However, in 1960, one of the two was felled in another attack, possibly for firewood.</p><br>
<p>The remaining tree was later attacked twice with chainsaws by Māori activists to draw attention to injustices they believed the New Zealand government had inflicted upon Māori (as the tree was not a native New Zealand species, they considered it an appropriate target). The first attack happened on 28 October 1994, the anniversary of the 1835 Declaration of Independence. A second attack on 5 October 2000 left the tree unable to recover even though substantial efforts were made, and so it was removed on 26 October due to the risk of it collapsing. but later withdrawn by the website after complaints and a poll of users. It was later listed on eBay.</p><br>
<h2>In popular culture</h2><br>
<p>Irish rock band U2 wrote a song about the hill, "One Tree Hill", which appeared on their album The Joshua Tree. It was written to honour New Zealander Greg Carroll, an employee of the band who died in a motorcycle accident in Dublin on 3 July 1986.</p><br>
<p>The naming of the teen television drama, One Tree Hill and the show&#39;s final episode, was inspired in turn by the U2 song. In the series Andy Hargrove hails from New Zealand. His mother moved the family to Tree Hill, North Carolina because of the common name.</p><br>
<p>Asteroid 23988 Maungakiekie was named after the hill by Ian P. Griffin, a British astronomer. The asteroid was discovered at the Auckland Observatory which is located in the One Tree Hill Domain, a kilometre southwest of the peak.</p><br>
<p>Mozilla Firefox 0.9 was named One Tree Hill by Auckland resident and (at that time) Firefox lead engineer Ben Goodger.</p><br>
<p>Snoqualmie Falls is a 268 ft waterfall in the northwest United States, located east of Seattle on the Snoqualmie River between Snoqualmie and Fall City, Washington. It is one of Washington&#39;s most popular scenic attractions, but is perhaps best known internationally for its appearance in the cult television series Twin Peaks. More than 1.5 million visitors come to the Falls every year, where there is a two-acre  park, an observation deck, and a gift shop.</p><br>
<p>Most of the river is diverted into the power plants, but at times the river is high enough to flow across the entire precipice, which creates an almost blinding spray. High water occurs following a period of heavy rains or snow followed by warm rainy weather. This can occur during the rainy season which lasts from November through March. During high water, the falls take on a curtain form.</p><br>
<p>For the Snoqualmie People, who have lived for centuries in the Snoqualmie Valley in western Washington, Snoqualmie Falls is central to their culture, beliefs, and spirituality. A traditional burial site, to the Snoqualmie, the falls are "the place where First Woman and First Man were created by Moon the Transformer" and "where prayers were carried up to the Creator by great mists that rise from the powerful flow." The mists rising from the base of the waterfall are said to serve to connect Heaven and Earth.</p><br>
<p>The falls were first nominated for the National Register of Historic Places in 1992 as a Traditional Cultural Property for its association with the beliefs of the Snoqualmie people. However, the property owner, Puget Sound Energy, objected to the listing. The falls were subsequently determined eligible for listing in the National Register. The owners rescinded their objection and on September 2, 2009, the falls were formally listed in the National Register.</p><br>
<h2>Power plants</h2><br>
<p>The Snoqualmie Falls Hydroelectric Plant is at Snoqualmie Falls, currently operated by Puget Sound Energy. It is made of two power houses, Plant 1 and Plant 2. Plant 1 was built in 1899 and operates at the base of the falls embedded in the rock 270 ft below the surface. It was the world&#39;s first completely underground power plant.</p><br>
<p>Plant 2 was built in 1910 and further expanded in 1957, and is located a short distance downstream of the falls. Approximately 1% of Puget Sound Energy sales comes from the plant.</p><br>
<p>The 1899 generating system was designated an ASCE Civil Engineering Landmark in 1981.</p><br>
<h2>Namesake town</h2><br>
<p>The town of Snoqualmie Falls was located near the waterfall. It was associated with the Weyerhaeuser mill there. It had many structures, including a hospital, a school, community center, and many homes. When the town disbanded, many houses were moved to the nearby town of Snoqualmie. The 1940s and &#39;50s film actress Ella Raines was born in Snoqualmie Falls.</p><br>
<h2>Hiking</h2><br>
<p>The top of the waterfall is less than 100 yd from the parking lot, which has a gift shop, espresso stand, and bathrooms. The main views are from the side of the falls, with a fence separating visitors from the edge of a cliff. This area has picnic tables and benches, and a small grassy meadow called the Centennial Green, where weddings are performed through the summer.</p><br>
<p>Here, the river trail descends 300 ft in half a mile (800 m), passing though temperate rain forest with moss covered Bigleaf Maple, Douglas-fir, Sword Fern and Salal and places to step off the trail and rest or enjoy the scenery. Heavy use makes wildlife sightings uncommon. The park does allow pets. At the bottom of the trail is the 1910 powerhouse, not open to visitors, and a view of the falls.</p><br>
