Landmarks
Throughout history, unique landmarks were used to identify directions
Volcanic Plugs
Once the forces of weathering work on an old volcano, only the erosion-resistant material that once filled the center chamber remains. They stand as columns and create dramatic landforms.
Example: Ilamen, Algeria (8760 feet; 2670 meters); Devil’s Tower, South Dakota
Example Description: In the distance rises an extraordinary tower thousands of feet (meters) tall, starkly silhouetted against the horizon
Example Description: Like a sentinel above the plain, the giant stump-shaped monolith is composed of a cluster of fluted columns jutting from a wooded base.
Arches
Ice, snow, rain, and wind attack the sandstone rock, perforating the softer layers. On some occasions the hole may enlarge so that only the arch-shaped piece remains. These strange formations are usually seen along with other sculptures, such as needles, domes, and towers. The forces that created the arch will continue until they are destroyed. Strange scuptures like these are useful as landmarks to help direct strangers in the region.
Example: Landscape Arch, Utah
Example Description: The stone arch rises in isolation, looking so fragile that one wonders why it has not yet fallen.
Example Description: The late afternoon sun strikes the pinkish sandstone, emboldening the streaks along its length, as if a rainbow had been suddenly turns to stone.
Bridges
Unlike arches, bridges are formed from water erosion and span a river or other body of water. A cave collapse can also result in the remains of a bridge where an entire mountain used to be. Bridges are sturdier than arches and were often used to travel over.
Example: Puente del Inca, Argentina; Pont d’Arc, France
Example Description: The river glides effortlessly beneath the natural bridge that pierces a massive wall of gray limestone at the head of the canyon.
Example Description: Vines and other vegetation soften the angular contours of the huge slab of sandstone that spans the gorge.
Balancing Rocks
A once-solid mass of granite has eroded into a heap of giant boulders, some poised at such angles that a hand can rock them, but they do not dislodge.
Example: The Balancing Rocks of Epworth, Zimbabwe; Valle de la Luna, Argentina
Example Description: Seemingly piled up by playful giants, the massive stones are perched upon one another so precariously it seems that even a light push will send them crashing down.
Example Description: Sharply chiseled boulders are strewn all across the ground, blasted ceaselessly by the sand-laden wind. Just beyond giant fractured stones are piled one atop another in strenge natural sculptures that resemble birds, sphinxes, and other forms.
Massif
A large mountain mass, often alone or in an independent range. It stands out in the surrounding flatlands as a wall sometimes thousands of feet high.
Example: Benbulbin, Ireland
Example Description: In the distance, a dramatic wall of stone rises above the plain. The straight-walled upper portion is corrugated by deep, evenly spaced vertical channels, while the lower section gently slopes away in all directions to meet the lowlands.
Example Description: Snow blankets the valleys and slopes before you, but looming against the horizon are bare somber rock formations resembling needles, spires, castles and fortresses. The daunting vertical walls rise above gentler slopes, hopefully offering easy trails amid the dizzying heights.
Tafoni Rocks
In some deserts, cool night air moisture from nearby water collects on massive boulders and then evaporates during the day, leaving strangely pockmarked rocks with hollowed-out insides that can be up to 10 feet (3 meters) deep.
Example: Rocks of Caldera, Chile
Example Description: Like monsters carved from stone, an array of bizarre contorted rocks create a fantastic sculpture garden in the desert before you.
River/Lake Travel
Lots of characters end up traveling by river at some point; it’s the quickest way to get from point A to point B.
Waterfalls
The falls usually erupt from a high plateau or mountain valley, sometimes thousands of feet higher than the gorge below.
Example: Angel Falls, Venezuela; Niagara Falls, North America
Example Description: Spilling over the edge of the escarpment, the slender plume of glistening white water leaps across the face of a mossy ledge into a tremendous plunge pool below.
Example Description: Dividing into two arms the circle an island, the river plunges in a series of waterfalls, sending up dense clouds of spray.
Gorge
A gorge is often formed by run-off from melting glaciers, eroding a deep narrow chasm through limestone rock. These extremely narrow valleys usually sustain little plant life and very few animals and humans live here. Some places are so narrow that a person can touch both sides of the gorge at once. Other gorges have water-carved sides that make them wider at the base than at the top.
Examples: Aar Gorge. Switzerland; Dadès Gorges, Morocco
Example Description: Golden-hued cliffs, calm blue waters, and narrow chasms fill your view. In many places the rock is undercut, leaving shelflike overhangs and mushroom shaped pedestals capped by trees.
Example Description: The winding chasm before you is so deep you can barely make out the tiny river at the bottom of the abyss. On the other side of the multihued-layered gorge, the land continues uneventfully.
Big Tropical/Temperate Rivers
These monster rivers begin as hundreds of tiny streams high in the mountains and continue to merge to form larger rivers. Finally they unite to form a truly major river as it crosses a low interior basin. Sluggish, the giant river branches to create islands, separated by densely forested islands, until the many mouths meet with the sea. Although there are many sparse settlements along its length, the majority of people stay along the coastline and major conjunctions.
Example: Amazon, Brazil; Danube, Central Europe
Example Description: The main channel of the river is wider than any you have ever seen. Beyond the river banks are broad swampy flood plains dotted with lakes and covered with partially flooded forests.
Example Description: Flowing towards its outlet on the sea, the boiling mouth of the massive river is hemmed in by steep walls of a gorge only 500 feet (150 meters) apart.
The Lakes
Lakes are formed wherever ground- and rainwater collects. Some lakes are formed from the filling of cirques at the base of mountains. Others are created from the circular remains of craters. Often these giant lakes are located along faults where the rocks sink downwards in huge segments and the mountain borders rise. This creates a giant trough to be filled by melting glacier water. Often known for diversity of life, lakes are productive fishing grounds, important water resources, and natural transportation routes.
Example: Lake Baikal, Siberia
Example Description: Cradled between forested mountain slopes, portions of the white-capped waves reflect the clear blue skies above while others are shrouded in mists.
Example Description: Steep cliffs furrowed by erosion mark the perimeter of this calm, inviting mountain lake.
Mountain Travel
Mountains are many and often a prevalent feature to pass on any adventure.
Mountain Ranges
When the earth’s crust crumples and buckles, the distorted landscape develops into the high mountain ranges. The fertile valleys attract settlers and provide refuge for those seeking freedom.
Example: Alps, Europe; Andes, South America; Himalayas, Asia
Example Description: Above gentle slopes of green the bold limestone summits rise like a jagged spine across the lands.
Example Description: From valley floor to sawtooth peaks, no foothills mask the abrupt ascent of the wall of mountains before you, blocking your view of what lays beyond from left to right.
High Peaks
From a barren crest capped by glaciers, the steep-carved slopes descend in all direction to the foot of the mountain. Often a well-known pass can be found to one side or the other, worn by the thousands of travelers that have gone on before. Several rivers find their start from these giants flowing down to irrigate fertile valleys on their way to the sea.
Example: Aconcagua, Argentina (22,835 feet; 6960 meters above seas level)
Example Description: Looming above all its neighbors, the glacier-adorned peak attempts to pierce the sky. Example Description: Rearing up against the sky, the jagged majestic spires culminate in a massive tower at the center.
Glaciers
These flowing masses of ice begin in the peaks of mountain ranges, joining together to form compacted ice sheets that continue to move off the mountains by gravity. Along the sides of the glacier a line of boulders and rocky debris show the former extent of the ice. In the summer, torrential floes provide plenty of water for lakes and streams that feed the valleys below.
Example: Aletsch Glacier, Switzerland; Columbia Icefield, Canada
Example Description: Grinding relentlessly down the mountainside, the great river of ice is streaked with dark ribbons of rock debris.
Example Description: From between two rugged peaks, a massive imposing lobe of ice spills forth spreading out from the sea of ice beyond.
Crags
As erosion set in, it carved away the folded mountain tops, except where erosion-resistant boulders in the formation protected the sandstone underneath. As a result, large pyramidical shapes formed, creating a series of sandstone towers. Travelers can identify the towers readily as a landmark, and warriors recognize the strategic value of a natural fortress.
Example: Belogradchik Crags, Bulgaria; Tors of Datmoor, England
Example Description: The winding road continues through groves of leafy trees and suddenly approaches a swath of spectacular colorful towers and obelisks angling across the landscape.
Example Description: Towering above the grassy moor beneath a stormy sky, the craggy outcrops of massive boulders are like the ruins of giant castles.
Caves
Along some high limestone cliffs, caves can be found, attracting attention and visitors. Although some caves are nothing more than grottos, others continue into miles of passageways that can be explored.
Example: Grotto of Adonis, Lebanon; Baradla Caves, Czechoslovakia/Hungary
Example Description: The dark mouth of a cave interrupts the face of a high limestone cliff. Water cascades from the opening, flowing across the rocks to the stream at the cliff’s foot. (Beyond the pool inside the entrance more than two miles (3 km) of passagwaeys can be found, some dry and others the beds of underground streams.)
Example Description: A rushing torrent suddenly disappears into the wooded side of the mountain, revealing an opening into an underground world.
Amphitheaters
More or less horseshoe-shaped in form, these cirques, or gaps, in the mountainside are bound by sheer rocky walls that rise above a rubble-strewn floor. Often the site for tremendous waterfalls, these boundaries are key watersheds for the regions below, formed from glacial erosion leaving bowl-like impressions.
Example: Cirque de Gavarnie, France
Example Description: Patched with snow and streaked with slender waterfalls, the rugged walls of the semicircular hollow in the mountainside tower high above its floor.
Example Description: A broad multicolored gap scars the rolling hills of the plateau, creating a steep-walled brown bowl in the middle of the tranquil greenery.
