Hey! . geologists are people, too!!! -- j
.

It's pretty cool being half way up and looking down the Big Stone too.

!!!!! We need to "grab the reins" in Washington, our State Capitols, and our Counties.......don't trust the drivers!

I remember a geology field trip from University of New Hampshire to Acadia. We were looking at an unusual variant of granites known as Rapakivi granites. Rapakivi texture is where orthoclase feldspar crystals are rimmed with oligoclase feldspar. This is the potassium rich feldspar rimmed by the sodium-calcium feldspar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapakiv...

On the field trip we camped on the island, got pizza and beer in Bar Harbor, then roamed the streets as the most dangerous Rapakivi gang - a bunch of drunken geologists - watch out!

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Geology happening right in front of you. http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/cams/panorama....

I love standing at the base of El Captian and looking up.

They were constructed between 1913 and 1940. Here is a bit of information.
http://www.acadiamagic.com/carriage-r...

You really cannot see the roads well without enough time to travel the roads, and that is best done from your own horse-drawn carriage. You might do anywhere between 3 or 4 miles an hour at the walk, to 12 at the trot. Bicycles are limited to perhaps 10 or 15 miles per hour, so it was quite a bit of excitement to find a father and son coming downhill at us, at perhaps 50 MPH, only stopping underneath our team of four horses. The horses were good enough to refrain from stepping on them. Our driving trainer, who was the driver at that moment, said, "Going a bit fast, weren't you!"

When driving horses it is incredibly easy to change drivers. You hand the reins to the other person. Alternatively, if you do not trust the driver's ability, you grab the reins out of his hands. This is called "grabbing the reins" and is also used, usually pejoratively, as a figurative expression.

Last time I was in Yosemite was in 1988. Came over from the east side of the Sierra for a day and went back. The traffic was terrible. Since then, we have always called it Yocramite.

How long has Acadia had carriage roads? The last time I was there was in 1985 and I don't remember that at all. Drove up Cadillac Mt.

Indeed politically today, and apparently at worsening stages in the past, it makes no difference. It is just interesting to explore the hypothetical constitutional proceedings should we ever have the chance again.

The States may cede territory to the feds, but the feds can only accept them for the purposes enumerated in the enclave clause - Art 1, Sec 8, cl 17.

States may cede territory to the Federal government with approval of the state legislature but there is no constitutional authority to run National Parks at all. Politically it doesn't make any difference.

Several of my fellow Californians have said that Glacier is their favorite park. The photos of it that I've seen are amazing.

I have lived within 3 hours of the park for about 40 years of my life and I've never been. Hard to believe. I go to the mountains regularly - different spots to kick back and fish, mainly. I hate crowds, so I hope to go to Yosemite in the fall months sometime.

The additional aspect about National Parks is that they are entirely unconstitutional within a State. Not enumerated under Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17.

So does Congress have the power to designate National Parks in a Territory?

If so, this leaves the question of what happens when a Park was created when the area was a Territory - such as Yellowstone when reaching statehood. Should the boundaries of the States of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho have been drawn around the Park? There would have been no "Park County" in Wyoming. Otherwise, since the federal government has no authority to "own" a Park within a State, does it revert to the State to do with as it pleases? The State could retain it as a State Park or open it to private disposal to the people. What a concept!

Of course this is all raising the hypothetical sentiment that the Constitution could have been followed in the past when creating new States, let alone these days when a president can grab land at the "stroke of a pen".

agree, Teri. . I have been to Yosemite 3 times, the first in 1966 when
we camped on the river in the valley and I tried to hear skip radio
from my tent ... scarce! ... and then 1981 with my first wife, and
then 2009 with my second. . the crowds have gotten pretty bad.
unless you head for glacier point at sunset....... -- j

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=g...
.

I got to raft the Ocoee river here in east TN once, and the rapids
were stupendous! . made Disney's and Dollywood's rides fade to insignificance. -- j
.

I don't know what you mean by 'necessary fictions', etc.

The corrupt process leads to nothing good. The National Park Service does not create scenery, it takes over. Corrupt processes are very damaging to real people.

Yosemite and the Smokies are my favorites. Denali should be on the list, but I only had a day there, and didn't get to do any long hikes or flights.

Describing it as "racketeering" is you being polite...not sure I could have exercised that kind of restraint.

Texas has many parks - National and State - each with their own beauty; but I find myself most often on its rivers and streams.

The first step should be to eliminate the NPS police state powers to control people and take private property. Instead we see just the opposite. The viros are trying to expand the National Park System and turn the Land and Water Conservation Fund into a permanent entitlement to acquire land immune from Congressional appropriations and with no restrictions on condemnation. Ken Burns says he wants to double the National Park System.

The National Parks Conservation Association, the private lobby arm of NPS, wants NPS to become an independent agency free of what it calls "political interference" from Congress and the Executive -- a "private" political fiefdom with Federal police state powers and a permanent inflow of taxpayer money with no accountability to anyone. They also want to allow NPS to accept money from the non-profit foundations immune from Congressional appropriations -- buying government power. That is their idea of "privatization": a private government with unlimited powers.

They also want the power to control private property and industry outside of the National Parks in what they call "buffer zones" and the "viewshed" -- that has at different times passed the Senate or House but not yet both. In the late 1970s a national land control bill nearly passed Congres, after a big fight, that would have given NPS the power to impose greenline controls over private property as your friendly national "zoning" board.

The idea of privately run parks as private property, not a private government, is a long, long way from political trends.

Yes, sorry. Substitute Wyoming for Montana. Yellowstone is in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. Grand Teton is next to Yellowstone to the south and the Interior Dept wanted to expand down there. It's Wyoming, not Montana, that is safe from Presidential National Monument decrees now. Thanks for correcting it.

I would like to see more of the parks privately managed, if not privately owned. I see no reason at all why places as beautiful as Yellowstone lose money. A sensible private manager (given the concessions plus the power to charge entry fees) would make money.

A private owner would do that and also keep the place in better shape (because he stands to lose if the park becomes less attractive to tourists). In addition, a private owner would find ways to exploit resources like oil and timber without messing up the landscape.

Why would Montana care? The GTs are in Wyoming!

Yes, they do!!

and they sure do serve a great buffalo burger at the saloon, there!!! -- j
.

Of course I understand the root of cognitive dissonance and at my age, 72, I allow myself those necessary fictions that keep me from murdering some a**holes. I also allow myself a lot more slack on crap that 5, 10, 40 years ago burdened me. Nevertheless, the "process," regardless of how corrupt, yielded a "product" (Jackson Hole, that valley) that is a joy to behold.