OCR Text |
Show 1 - l rr8 re i A 4r, A ri -1 ' ' f ' ! " ' .;: , .-.. f - r SCENIC WONDERLAND . . . Typical of the ragged and awe-inspiring beauty of the four national parks in the Bockles is this scene In Rocky Mountain National park in Colorado. THE MAJESTIC ROCKIES Chain of Parks Incorporates Spectacular Mountain Scenery WNU Features!' Towering peaks, deep, forest-clad canyons and lake-studded gorges combine to provide a spectacular and awe-inspiring wonderland in the Rocky mountains. Here, where the majesty maj-esty of the mountains reaches its supreme heights, congress has established a chain of national parks, beginning with Yellowstone Yel-lowstone in 1872. These parks exemplify the many forms and faces of the Rockies, with each pos- miles northwest of Denver, Is more than a mile anil a half above sea level before he enters it. The park's ' lowest elevation is around 8,000 feet; its highest, the summit of Long's peak, is 14.255. Within the park are some 65 named peaks of more than 10,000 feet elevation, and scores of lakes, small and large. Here again lakes and peaks have been carved by the slow and inexorable inex-orable movement of glacial ice. Rocky Mountain is a great hiker's and mountain climber's park, as are Grand Teton and Glacier, but it also offers the motorist one of the greatest thrills to be found in any national park. This is the Trail Ridge road, of which more than four miles are above 12,000 feet elevation ele-vation and 11 miles are above the 11,000-foot timber line. From few places in the world Is there offered such a far-flung panorama of spectacular spec-tacular mountain scenery. Although the National Park service serv-ice encourages mountain climbing in these and other parks of the system, sys-tem, its ranger force is called on year after year to go to the rescue of climbers who venture among the peaks alone or under unskilled guidance; guid-ance; and it ii seldom that a season passes without one or more fatal accidents to those who disregard the safety rules which the service enjoins on all climbers. The fundamental funda-mental piece of advice to the venturesome ven-turesome Is: "If ypu want to climb, consult a ranger. Get his advice; and once you have it, abide by it. It may mean the difference between life and death." e IN GLACIER National park, there is almost every type of public accommodation. Concession operations opera-tions in Rocky Mountain under contract con-tract with the government are limited, lim-ited, but at Estes park, , on the east side, and Grand lake, on the west side, there are numerous hotels and camps just outside of the national park. At Grand Teton, thereare no hotel, lodge or camp concessions, but there are" varied accommodations accommoda-tions in the town of Jackson and at many places in Jackson Hole. sessing a distictive character of its own. Three of the parks Glacier, Yellowstone Yel-lowstone and Rocky Mountain best be-st r i d e the n Continental National Parks Divide so . that the wa- SeCOnd ters from In a Series ih s"w- fields, lakes and streams drain into both the Atlantic and the Pacific. The fourth, Grand Teton, embracing the highest portion of the Tetons, drains into Snake river, a major tributary of the Columbia. GLACIER PARK, lying up against the Canadian border, and forming a part jf Waterton-Glacier International Peace park, contains nearly a.ibillion acres of land and water. Although there are still some 60 glaciers, many of which the summer sum-mer visitor can reach without great difficulty, it is the work of much greater glaciers of thousands of yean ago which carved the many valleys of the park that are chiefly responsible for Its name. In the valleys val-leys nd basins so formed lie more thanO lakes; these, reflecting the sheer peaks which rise from 3,000 to 5,000 feet above them, provide much of the spectacular beauty of the park that makes it one of the most photographed in the whole park system. A highway crosses the park, by way of Logan pass on the Continental Continen-tal Divide, and short spur roads extend ex-tend to several of the finest of the lakes. However, Glacier is primarily prima-rily and most enjoyably a horseback horse-back park. The National Park service serv-ice calls it the foremost trail park as it contains about 1,000 miles of trails. The trails, rangers , insist, provide the best means., of really getting acquainted with the park. Glacier also stands next to Yellowstone Yellow-stone in quantity and variety of Big game, of which the mountain goat is probably the most famous species. spe-cies. GRAND TETON, only few miles south of Yellowstone, and flanked on the north and east by Jackson Hole National monument, is extraordinary both because of the jagged, rugged grandeur of Its mountains and because of the fact' that these rise abruptly from what geologists call the fault Mock trough of Jackson. Hole. In other words, on their eastern i side they have no foothills. The tip of Grand Teton, with an elevation of 13,766 feet, is more than 7,000 feet above Jackson Hole and the lovely series of lakes Jenny, String, Leigh, Jackson and others that nestle against the base of the range. These mountains, too, owe much of their sculpture to glaciers, of which a few remain in the higher basins. Packed with the 150-square mile area of alpine park are 22 peaks of mere than 10,000-foot elevation as well as numerous lakes, glaciers, gnowflelds and extensive forests, i No highway crosses the range except ex-cept at Teton Pass, where the Teton range joins T the ! Snake ""river "TarigeT Only foot and bridle trails penetrate the backcountry. Much of the area, particularly the upper Teton country, coun-try, is virgin mountain-forest. a e THE VISITOR to Rocky Mountain Moun-tain National park, lying about 75 |