Saltstraumen, Nordland county, Norway

Saltstraumen is a small strait with one of the strongest tidal currents in the world. It is located in the municipality of Bodø in Nordland county, Norway. It is located about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) southeast of the town of Bodø. The narrow channel connects the outer Saltfjorden to the large Skjerstad Fjord between the islands of Straumøya and Knaplundsøya. The Saltstraumen Bridge on Norwegian County Road 17 crosses Saltstraumenith one of the strongest tidal currents in the world. It is located in the municipality of Bodø in Nordland county, Norway. It is located about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) southeast of the town of Bodø. The narrow channel connects the outer Saltfjorden to the large Skjerstad Fjord between the islands of Straumøya and Knaplundsøya. The Saltstraumen Bridge on Norwegian County Road 17 crosses Saltstraumen.

 

Saltstraumen has one of the strongest tidal currents in the world. Up to 400 million cubic meters (110 billion US gallons) of seawater forces its way through a 3-kilometre (1.9 mi) long and 150-metre (490 ft) wide strait every six hours. Vortices known as whirlpools or maelstroms up to 10 metres (33 ft) in diameter and 5 metres (16 ft) in depth are formed when the current is at its strongest. Saltstraumen has existed for about two to three thousand years. Before that, the area was different due to post-glacial rebound. The current is created when the tide tries to fill Skjerstad Fjord. The height difference between the sea level and the fjord inside can be up to 1 meter (3 ft 3 in). When the current turns, there is a period when the strait is navigable.

The above account of the Saltstraumen is rather different than what The Norwegian Pilot reports. The Pilot’s description of the normal current is based on the time of the high tide at Bodø. The greatest southbound current occurs about one and a quarter hours before Bodø high tide, when the inflowing current reaches about seven knots. The speed of the current has a broad maximum being greater than six knots from three hours before Bodø high tide until half an hour after Bodø high tide. The greatest northbound current occurs about four and a half hours after Bodø high tide, when the outflowing current reaches over eight knots. The speed of this current also has a broad maximum being above six knots from two hours and forty minutes after Bodø high tide until five and a half hours before the next Bodø high tide. The behavior of the current may differ from normal due to strong winds or when more fresh water than usual is entering into the fjord from the surrounding mountains. 

Saltstraumen is popular with anglers, due to its abundance of fish such as saithe, cod, wolffish, rose fish, and halibut. Coalfish is a specialty of the area. The largest documented coalfish of 22.7 kilograms (50 lb) was caught in Saltstraumen on a fishing rod.

One of the most thrilling experiences in the Saltstraumen is snorkelling in the strait. Local companies offer dry suits, snorkel masks, and other equipment to experience the speeding away from the whirlpools.

Cave of the Winds, Colorado Springs on U.S. Highway 24, U.S.

Cave of the Winds is a cave in the Pikes Peak region of Colorado. It is located just west of Colorado Springs on U.S. Highway 24, near the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. Tours of the complex of caves are given daily.

By far the most famous section of the Cave of the Winds is the Silent Splendor room. Discovered in 1984, the room contains numerous rare crystalline speleothems including helectites which appear to defy the laws of gravity by growing in strange directions and not being forced down by gravity like many cave formations. . Unfortunately, the room must be sealed off from the general public in order to maintain its delicate environment. Silent Splendor is sealed from public view by an "environmental gate" with a large tube that seals in moisture to maintain the atmosphere necessary for the delicate formations to continue to grow.

In the late 1980s a few new passages were opened inside the cavern. On May 8, 1988, Mother's Day, a chamber called the "Adventure Room" was opened. Left in a more natural state than most of the cave, the Adventure Room has dirt floors, lower numbers of lights (compared to other chambers inside the cave) and gives entry to the Manitou Grand Caverns where Lantern Tours are given.

In 1989, a new passage named "Old Curiosity Shop" was opened, billed as the most narrow passage in the Cave of the Winds. Traversing it gains a look at the "Colorado Rose", a beaded helectite, and "Spider Web Valley", a collection of delicate helectites. This passage was opened to make tour groups moving through "Tall Man's Headache, Fat Man's Misery" a little easier. Other lesser known attractions include a "bottomless pit," often the scene of practical jokes by the guides. The site also features a free-fall amusement ride called the Terror-Dactyl.

 

It is believed that both Apache and Ute Native Americans knew about the cave. The name, Cave of the Winds, relates to a legend involving the Apache, who were said to believe the cave was the home of a Great Spirit of the Wind. The first documented mention of the cave came in 1880 when two brothers, John and George Pickett, discovered the cave during a hike in Williams Canyon led by the Rev. Roselle T. Cross, pastor of the Congregational Church in Colorado Springs. The boys noticed that their candles flickered in a small shelter cave they had found and wind was seen to be blowing from a nearby crevice. Crawling through the opening they emerged into a large chamber. Within a few days Cross wrote about the discovery of the cave in his church newsletter and his story was immediately reprinted in the Colorado Springs Gazette of July 2, 1880. The Colorado Encyclopedia relates: "Although Cross exaggerated the heights and depths of vertical elements, as do most inexperienced cavers, his account is remarkably free of the florid Victorian hyperbole typical of most cave descriptions of that time. Cross and his Boys’ Exploring Association explored most of the horizontal passages accessible from the original entrance, a distance of about 200 feet a respectable distance for schoolboys using candles.

In 1880, the same year that the cave was discovered, George Washington Snider, a stonecutter from Ohio who had traveled to Colorado seeking his fortune visited the cave. Snider excavated passages from the Williams Canyon caves, as they were then called, and discovered "Canopy Hall" a large room nearly 200 feet long containing thousands of stalactites and stalagmites.. Snider wrote, “It was as though Aladdin with his wonderful lamp had effected the magic result." Unfortunately Snider spoke of his discovery in town and the next day the cave was mobbed by townspeople who stripped the cavern of many of the stalactites. Snider continued to excavate and began preparations for guided tours. The Cave of the Winds quickly became one of the established attractions of the young Manitou resort area. Cave of the Winds has been in continuous operation since 1881 making it one of Colorado’s oldest visitor attractions. Electrical lights were added in 1907, and visitors began traveling to the cave in even greater numbers – first by carriage and railroad, and later by car.

About 500 million years ago during the Ordovician period warm shallow seas covered the Pikes Peak region of Colorado. The seas were home to abundant shell creatures that accumulated on the sea floor when they died. The layers built up for millions of years and were eventually compacted and hardened into the rock known as limestone. The geological name for the limestone layer found in the cave is Manitou Limestone. About 70 million years ago the shallow seas receded and the area was lifted forming the Rocky Mountain region. About 4 to 7 million years ago the limestone fell below the water table Rainwater mixed with carbon dioxide, forming a weak carbonic acid that slowly ate away at the limestone, forming pockets. The pockets slowly enlarged forming passageways and caverns.
In the short steep drive up Williams Canyon to the cave entrance one can view several different depositions of limestone. During the Devonian period the Williams Canyon Limestone was laid down and during the Mississippian period the Leadville Limestone layer was deposited. 

As the water table dropped within the cave system air began to fill the passageways and caverns. Stalactites formed on the cave's ceilings as calcium carbonate-rich water dripped leaving thin calcite rings that grew into icicle-like shapes over thousands of years. Through the same process stalagmites grew from the cave floors. A third type of structure is called flowstone. Flowstone formations are curtain-like formations that flow along the sides of caverns or passages. They are the most common formation found in "solution caves" in limestone, such as Cave of the Winds. Sometimes called draperies or curtains, they are formed over thousands of years as the mineral-rich water flows over surfaces leaving calcite behind.

The rarest and most delicate formations are called helictites. Helictite forms have been described in several shapes: "hands", ribbon helictites, saws, rods, butterflies, curly-fries, and "clumps of worms". They can be easily broken by the slightest touch and consequently are set away from tour groups. As helictites grow, they change their axis from the vertical at one or more stages of growth, hence the "clumps of worms" description for one type. Several theories as to how and why they defy gravity have been suggested but no theory has yet been proven to be correct. The cave is a setting for a 2006 episode of the animated television series South Park, entitled "ManBearPig".

The Badami Cave Temples, Badami, Bagalkot District, Karnataka, India

The Badami cave temples are a complex of Hindu and Jain cave temples located in Badami, a town in the Bagalkot district in northern part of Karnataka, India. The caves are considered an example of Indian rock-cut architecture, especially Badami Chalukya architecture, which dates from the 6th century. Badami was previously known as Vataapi Badami, the capital of the early Chalukya dynasty, which ruled much of Karnataka from the 6th to the 8th century. Badami is situated on the west bank of a man-made lake ringed by an earthen wall with stone steps; it is surrounded on the north and south by forts built in later times.The Badami cave temples represent some of the earliest known examples of Hindu temples in the Deccan region. They along with the temples in Aihole transformed the Malaprabha River valley into a cradle of temple architecture that influenced the components of later Hindu temples elsewhere in India.

Caves 1 to 4 are in the escarpment of the hill in soft Badami sandstone formation, to the south-east of the town. In Cave 1, among various sculptures of Hindu divinities and themes, a prominent carving is of the Tandava-dancing Shiva as Nataraja. Cave 2 is mostly similar to Cave 1 in terms of its layout and dimensions, featuring Hindu subjects of which the relief of Vishnu as Trivikrama is the largest. The largest cave is Cave 3, featuring Vishnu-relate, and it is also the most intricately carved cave in the complex. Cave 4 is dedicated to revered figures of Jainism. Around the lake, Badami has additional caves of which one may be a Buddhist cave. Another cave was discovered in 2015, about 500 metres (1,600 ft) from the four main caves, with 27 Hindu carvings.

The Badami cave temples are located in the town of Badami in the north-central part of Karnataka, India. The temples are about 88 miles (142 km) east of Belagavi (IATA Code: IXT), and 87 miles (140 km) northwest of Hampi. The Malaprabha River is 3 miles (4.8 km) away. The cave temples are 14 miles (23 km) from the UNESCO world heritage site Pattadakal and 22 miles (35 km) from Aihole – another site with over a hundred ancient and early medieval era Hindu, Jain and Buddhist monuments.

Badami, also referred to as Vatapi, Vatapipura, Vatapinagari and Agastya Tirtha in historical texts, the capital of Chalukya dynasty in the 6th century, is at the exit point of a ravine between two steep mountain cliffs. Four cave temples in the escarpment of the hill to the south-east of the town were carved into the cliff's monolithic stone face. The escarpment is above a man-made lake called Agastya Teertha, created by an earthen dam faced with stone steps. To the west end of this cliff, at its lowest point, is the first cave temple. The largest and highest cave is Cave 3, which is further to the east on the northern face of the hill. The fourth cave, Cave 4, is a few steps down further east.

 

 

The cave temples, numbered 1 to 4 in the order of their creation, in the town of Badami the capital city of the Chalukya kingdom (also known as Early Chalukyas) are dated from the late 6th century onwards. The exact dating is known only for Cave 3, which is a temple dedicated to Vishnu. An inscription found here records the dedication of the shrine by Mangalesha in Saka 500 (lunar calendar, 578/579 CE). The inscription, written in the old Kannada language, has enabled the dating of these rock cave temples to the 6th century. This makes the cave the oldest firmly-dated Hindu cave temple in India.

The Badami Caves complex is part of a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site candidate under the title "Evolution of Temple Architecture – Aihole-Badami-Pattadakal" in the Malaprabha river valley, considered a cradle of temple architecture that formed the model for later Hindu temples in the region. The artwork in Caves 1 and 2 exhibit the northern Deccan style of the 6th and 7th centuries, while those in Cave 3 simultaneously represent two ancient Indian artistic traditions; the northern Nagara and the southern Dravida styles. Cave 3 also shows icons and reliefs in the so-called Vesara style, a fusion of ideas from the two styles, as well as some of the earliest surviving historical examples in Karnataka of yantra-chakra motifs (geometric symbolism) and colored fresco paintings. The first three caves feature sculptures of Hindu icons and legends focusing on Shiva and Vishnu, while Cave 4 features Jain icons and themes.

The Badami cave temples are carved out of soft Badami sandstone on a hill cliff. The plan of each of the four caves (1 to 4) includes an entrance with a verandah (mukha mantapa) supported by stone columns and brackets, a distinctive feature of these caves, leading to a columned mantapa, or main hall (also maha mantapa), and then to the small, square shrine (sanctum sanctorum, garbha ghriya) cut deep inside the cave. The cave temples are linked by a stepped path with intermediate terraces overlooking the town and lake. The cave temples are labelled 1–4 in their ascending series; this numbering does not reflect the sequence of excavation. The architecture includes structures built in the Nagara and Dravidian styles, which is the first and most persistent architectural idiom to be adopted by the early chalukyas.

 

For more information - Badami Cave Temples

Hanging Lake, Glenwood Canyon, U.S. State of Colorado

Hanging Lake is a lake in the U.S. State of Colorado. It is located in Glenwood Canyon, about 7 miles (11 km) east of Glenwood Springs, Colorado and is a popular tourist destination. When open, the lake is reached via a trailhead located along the Glenwood Canyon Bike and Pedestrian Path that runs along the north side of I-70 in the bottom of the canyon. The trail follows Dead Horse Creek, a tributary of the Colorado River and ascends some 1,000 feet (300 m) in elevation for 1.6 miles (2.6 km) from the trailhead to the lake.

Early tales of the discovery of the lake tell of a man searching for gold in the canyon. The man found a dead horse at the opening of a gulch (the possible origin of the name of Dead Horse Gulch). When he followed the gulch up through the steep hillside through the canyon he came around the back side of the lake. This is how he first saw the small bowl-like basin hanging onto the cliffs below.

In the years following, the area served as a homestead and a private family retreat until it was purchased by Glenwood Springs after the Taylor Bill was passed by Congress in 1910. Following the purchase it began its long history as a public tourist stop, and later during the 1940s hosted a resort and cafe until the construction of Interstate-70 began in 1968.

In 1972, the trail and the lake were returned to the protection of the Forest Service as part of the White River National Forest, and has been an increasingly popular tourist destination since. In 2011, the lake was named a National Natural Landmark by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

 

 

The fragile shoreline of Hanging Lake is composed of travertine, created when dissolved limestone from the Mississippian Period Leadville Formation (through which Dead Horse Creek flows) is deposited on rocks and logs, creating travertine layers. Hanging Lake is located on a fault line and was formed when roughly an acre and a half of the valley floor sheared off from the fault and dropped to what is now the shallow bed of the lake. The turquoise colors of the lake are produced by carbonate minerals that have dissolved in the water.

Hanging Lake is one of the most popular hiking destinations in Colorado. Beginning May 1, 2019, a paid permit is required to access the trailhead to Hanging Lake. Access fees vary by season. On February 22, 2019, The Forest Service and the City of Glenwood Springs announced that H2O Ventures (Glenwood Springs, Colorado) was awarded the contract for the Hanging Lake Shuttle service, set to launch on May 1, 2019.

The Hanging Lake parking area in Glenwood Canyon will be closed to personal vehicles during the peak season, May 1 to October 31, when the shuttle service is in operation. Those wishing to bike to the trailhead and hike to Hanging Lake still need to secure a reservation in advance. The entire hike is approximately 3.2 miles round trip, and 2 hours of hiking time. Behind the lake, hikers will discover Spouting Rock, a much larger waterfall that flows from a set of holes in the limestone cliffs of Dead Horse Canyon.

Hanging Lake receives over 131,000 visitors per year.

The Broadmoor Pikes Peak Cog Railway, Colorado, United States

The Broadmoor Pikes Peak Cog Railway (also known as the Pikes Peak Cog Railway) is an Abt rack systemcog railway with 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge track in Colorado, United States, climbing the well-known mountain Pikes Peak. The base station is in Manitou Springs, Colorado, near Colorado Springs. The railway is the highest in North America by a considerable margin. It was built and operated for the tourist trade following its use by people who lived above the town below. As of February 2019, the railway will remain closed until 2021, when it will be reopened with new equipment.

The Abt rack system will be replaced with the Strub rack system. The railway was started by Zalmon G. Simmons, inventor and founder of the Simmons Beautyrest Mattress Company. The company was founded in 1889 and limited service to the Halfway House Hotel was started in 1890. On June 30, 1891, the first train reached the summit.

 

A number of steam locomotives were built for the line by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, all rack-only locomotives with steeply inclined boilers to keep them level on the average 16% grades. Operating steam locomotives on such a line was back-breaking work and expensive, so when more modern forms of traction became available, the railway was eager to modernize.

A gasoline-powered railcar #7 was constructed in 1938. It was designed to be a cheaper alternative to the steam locomotives enabling economic service during quieter times of the year. Proving a huge success, the railway soon bought more internal combustion engined trains. This car is still on property having been re-engined with a more modern Cummins diesel.

The next were five 'streamlined' diesel locomotives from General Electric, which were equipped with matching passenger cars, acquired from 1939 onward. These slowly supplanted the steam locomotives, though some steam operations persisted until the 1960s as backup power and to operate the snow-clearing train (where their greater weight meant they were less likely to derail). A number of the steam locomotives are now on static display, in Manitou and elsewhere, and the Railway still has an operational steam locomotive (#4) and an original coach. The steam locomotive was put out of service for many years before being retrieved from a museum and brought back to service in 1980.

In 1964 the railway needed more equipment, but General Electric was not interested in the business.The railway went abroad, to Switzerland, home of most of the world's cog railways. In 1964, the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works in Winterthur provided two bright red railcars, very similar to equipment used on many Swiss railways. Unit 14 was delivered in 1964 with a pair of air-cooled, 8-cylinder diesel engines that proved to be less than satisfactory on the railroad above treeline. Unit 14 was returned to Switzerland and redesigned to have facilities for water cooling. Unit 14's twin, Unit 15, was also rebuilt to house a pair of water-cooled Cummins 724's. Two more (Units 16 and 17) were built in 1968 to increase the railroads capacity. All four of these units eventually received new Cummins 855 diesels. As of 2017 all four original Swiss trains are still in operation at the Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway.

As tourism increased in the 1970s the railway needed more capacity. In 1976 M&PPRy took delivery of two larger two-car articulated railcars from the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works of Winterthur, designated Train 18 and Train 19. Passing sidings were built in several places at about the same time, allowing trains to pass at various points on the mountainside. Trains could previously pass only at the Mountain View siding, permitting only three trains a day up the mountain. Eight trains per day became possible with the new equipment and sidings (two additional larger railcars were delivered from SLM; Unit 24 in 1984 and the last, Unit 25, in 1989).

Rolling stock on the M&PPRy consists of four 214-passenger articulated Swiss-built railcars, four 78-passenger Swiss-built railcars, four GE built locomotives (one being rebuilt in 2017 to modern specifications), one snowplow (#22 - built upon the frame of a GE locomotive), one 23-passenger diesel railcar (#7), one steam locomotive (#4 - built by Baldwin), a Winter-Weiss "streamliner" coach, and an original Wasson wooden coach (#104). Only the Swiss-built railcars carry regular passengers. The steam locomotive and passenger coaches are used on rare special occasions, but can no longer make it to the summit due to the demolition of most water towers on the line.

As of 2017 the railway owns enough equipment (railcars and snow plows) to run six to eight trains per day from mid-May through mid-September. During "off-peak" months (mid-September through mid-December and mid-March through mid-May), from one to five trains are run per day, with additional trains added if there is sufficient demand.The railway was usually closed from mid-December through mid-March unless the snow plows were able to clear the line, but in 2006 the railway began year-round service. The winter service varies according to demand: in January, for example, trains run once a day on weekends and holidays. These Winter operations were suspended on October 29, 2017, for maintenance to the railway. In March 2018 it was announced that the railway would remain closed indefinitely while feasibility studies are completed.

On June 13, 2018, the Manitou Springs City Council approved a pair of tax incentives to fund repairs of the railway. On November 29, 2018, it was announced that the tax incentives had been approved, and that reconstruction would begin in Spring 2019 for a projected 2021 reopening; the project will see all track replaced, the Manitou Springs depot remodeled, and Cars 14, 16, and 17 retired (Car 15 will be retained for maintenance-of-way duties) in favor of three trainsets manufactured by Stadler Rail; the Stadler order consists of three locomotives and nine passenger cars, marking a return to locomotive-hauled trains; Cars 18-19 and 24-25 will be refurbished and remain in service.

On November 19, 2020, it was reported that the new Stadler rolling stock is ready for commissioning. 

^{For more information - www.cograilway.com}