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- Historic Site
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  - Arch
  - Bog
  - Canyon
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  - Waterfall
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American Byways

September 28, 2018

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On the slow road to El Morro, New Mexico, somewher

On the slow road to El Morro, New Mexico, somewhere between the dusty roads and the clear blue sky, we found Los Gigantes.

This land carries more than stone. The area surrounding Los Gigantes has long been part of the cultural geography of the Diné and their neighbors, the Zuni. Ancient trails pass nearby—footpaths connecting springs, ceremonial sites, and pueblos. Petroglyphs, though harder to find now, record generations of presence. Stories tied to these cliffs speak to origin, migration, and reverence—narratives not always visible to a passing traveler, but deeply embedded in the land.

The site itself sits quietly off a narrow Bureau of Indian Affairs road, unassuming and almost easy to miss if you’re not looking for it. There are no signs, trail markers, or interpretive panels—just sandstone cliffs standing watch over the high desert. The air smells faintly of juniper and dust.

Their bones run deep. The base is Zuni Sandstone, which was laid down by ancient winds and marks the farthest reach of Jurassic rivers and lakes. Above that sits Entrada Sandstone, deposited when this place was a shifting expanse of beaches, tidal flats, and dunes some 180 million years ago. Now it forms soft slopes beneath the cliffs, a quiet record of time layered in stone.

#stayandwander #WildernessCulture #OptOutside #folkscenery #RAW_landscape #RAW_allnature #rawusa_aug25 #VisittheUSA #wanderingusa @visittheusa #NewMexico #NewMexicoTrue #NMTrue #VisitNewMexico #NewMexicoMagazine #NMMagazine

Over the New Year’s holiday, a winter visit to Hoc

Over the New Year’s holiday, a winter visit to Hocking Hills State Park in #Ohio followed an overnight snowfall that left roughly a half inch of fresh powder across the trails, softening sound and edges alike. We hiked at Cantwell Cliffs with my partner and Theo, our cattle dog, moving through long, quiet stretches shaped as much by cold as by terrain. The descent along Buck Run dropped into a narrow valley where rock shelters and tall sandstone walls closed in, the creek partly iced and moving slowly beneath them. From the rim, bare hardwoods opened winter sightlines across the gorge; below, the valley trail emphasized the scale of the cliffs from the cold floor of the hollow. Sparse crowds, kept away by snow and low temperatures, allowed the place to feel inward and deliberate, defined by season rather than momentum.

#WinterWonderland #HockingHills #OhioTheHeartofitAll #OhioStateParks

Just minutes from I-79 in Bridgeport, #WestVirgini

Just minutes from I-79 in Bridgeport, #WestVirginia, the restored Simpson Creek Covered Bridge offers an easy stop into Harrison County history. Built in 1881, rebuilt after a 1899 flood, and later moved to Holen Mill, the bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981 and restored in 2002.

#HistoricPreservation #Appalachia #AlmostHeaven #VisitWV

Rising from the high desert of western New Mexico,

Rising from the high desert of western New Mexico, El Morro National Monument is a sandstone bluff that has served as a landmark for centuries. At its base, a year-round pool of water once drew ancestral Puebloans, Spanish explorers, and pioneers moving west. Each left their mark on the cliff face, where more than 2,000 carvings remain — from petroglyphs to elaborate Spanish inscriptions to simple initials scratched by settlers.

A short trail leads past the shaded pool and beneath the inscriptions, while a longer route climbs to the mesa top and the ruins of Atsinna Pueblo. From here, the view stretches across the Zuni Mountains and the black lava fields of El Malpais, a landscape that has shaped both history and tradition in the region.

El Morro is not only a striking natural formation but also a layered archive of movement and memory. Standing at twilight, when the sandstone glows and the inscriptions come into sharp relief, it is easy to see why travelers across so many centuries paused here — and why it remains a place worth seeking out today.

📸 Key:
1 - Inscription Rock
2 - Cuesta Top
3 - Cuesta Top
4 - Inscription Rock
5 - Mesa Top Trail Loop
6 - Tulip prickly pear (Opuntia phaeacantha)

#stayandwander #WildernessCulture #OptOutside #folkscenery #RAW_landscape #RAW_seasons #RAW_allnature #rawusa_aug25 #VisittheUSA #wanderingusa @visittheusa #NewMexico #NewMexicoTrue #NMTrue #VisitNewMexico #NewMexicoMagazine #NMMagazine

The National Road brought a more deliberate form o

The National Road brought a more deliberate form of overland travel across eastern #Ohio, carrying stagecoaches, wagons, livestock, and westbound settlers along the first highway built entirely with federal funds. As the road crossed the rolling streams of Muskingum and Guernsey counties, its builders used stone arch bridges that were practical, durable, and suited to the terrain. Among the most distinctive survivors are Ohio’s S bridges, whose curved approaches gave each crossing its name.

The S-shaped plan was not simply ornamental. By curving the roadway on either side of the arch, builders could set the stone span more nearly perpendicular to the stream, reducing the length and complexity of the arch while easing the grade of the approaches. The result was an unusual but efficient crossing: a masonry arch set squarely over the water, with the road bending into and out of it in a graceful, practical line. The form also helped protect the embankment and backfill from erosion, an important concern on a road expected to carry heavy traffic through all seasons.

📸 Key:
1 & 2: Fox Creek S Bridge
3 & 4: Peters Creek S Bridge
5: Salt Fork S Bridge

#historicpreservation #OhioTheHeartofitAll@cambridgeohio

Tucked along a quiet rural road north of Cambridge

Tucked along a quiet rural road north of Cambridge, #Ohio, the Indian Camp Covered Bridge is one of Guernsey County’s surviving historic covered bridges. Built in 1855, the restored multiple Kingpost truss still carries local traffic over Indian Camp Creek, offering a worthwhile stop for travelers exploring Ohio’s covered bridges and backroad history.

#OhioTheHeartofitAll #historicpreservation @cambridgeohio

Cambridge City Park in Cambridge, #Ohio, is home t

Cambridge City Park in Cambridge, #Ohio, is home to the Armstrong Covered Bridge, also known as the Clio Covered Bridge, a restored 1849 multiple Kingpost truss that originally crossed Salt Creek near Clio. The historic covered bridge survived Morgan’s Raid during the Civil War and was moved to the park in 1966 during the development of Salt Fork State Park.

#HistoricPreservation #OhioTheHeartofitAll @cambridgeohio

Travelers following the National Road through east

Travelers following the National Road through eastern Ohio should make time for a stop at the Y Bridge in downtown Zanesville. Few crossings in the country are as distinctive, and fewer are tied so closely to the early movement of people, goods, and roads across the interior. At the meeting of the Licking and Muskingum rivers, the bridge remains both a landmark and an active part of U.S. Route 40.

The site had been important to travel since at least 1798, when Zane’s Trace passed through here. When the National Road reached Zanesville in 1826, it also used this crossing. Before dams and locks regulated the Muskingum, floods repeatedly damaged bridges at the mouth of the Licking, making the location difficult to maintain. The first Y-shaped bridge, built in 1813 by Rufus Scott to replace a ferry, collapsed just five years later. A second wooden bridge opened in 1819 but was later condemned after heavy use and flood damage.

A third bridge, a covered Buckingham through-truss, was completed in 1832 and served the city for decades. Operated at first as a toll bridge, its National Road branch was later purchased so tolls could be removed. By 1900, however, the structure had been judged unsound. Its replacement, completed in 1902, was a pioneering concrete-and-steel Y Bridge that was then the only bridge of its kind in the United States.

That bridge survived the great flood of March 1913 even after railroad cars from an upstream bridge struck it and destroyed its parapets, while every other Muskingum River bridge in Zanesville collapsed. But by 1980, deterioration had become too severe. The old bridge was closed and demolished in 1983, and a new steel-girder Y Bridge, reusing historic piers and echoing earlier designs, opened later that year and still carries National Road traffic through the heart of Zanesville.

#Appalachia #appalachian_explorers #Ohio #OhioTheHeartofitAll #RAWbridges

The Milroy Covered Bridge has been carefully resto

The Milroy Covered Bridge has been carefully restored and now stands within the Lake County Fairgrounds in Crown Point, #Indiana. Originally built near Milroy in 1878 by A.M. Kennedy, it was relocated to the fairgrounds in 1933, helping ensure its survival into the present day.

#HistoricPreservation #RAWbridges #VisitIndiana #IndianaDNR

The sun dropped low over White Domes Road, casting

The sun dropped low over White Domes Road, casting long shadows through Nevada’s Valley of Fire.

Out here, light moves differently, cutting across sandstone in hard angles and soft glows. The road winds through a maze of red rock and pale domes, the oldest state park in Nevada, stretching out in ridges and washes. At dusk, the cliffs flare up—pink, orange, gold—before falling into quiet hues.

#RAW_landscape #RAW_seasons #RAW_allnature #rawusa_aug25 #VisittheUSA #wanderingusa @visittheusa #roadgeek #Nevada #TravelNevada #VisitNevada #ExploreNevada #NVstateparks @travelnevada

Heavy rains had just passed through St. Clairsvill

Heavy rains had just passed through St. Clairsville, #Ohio, leaving deeply overcast skies around the Shaeffer Campbell Covered Bridge.

Built in 1891, the Kingpost truss originally crossed Clear Creek in Fairfield County. Its working life ended after a tractor fell through the floor in 1973, leading to its condemnation. Rather than being lost, the bridge was moved to the Ohio University Eastern Campus, where it now spans a small pond.

It no longer carries traffic, but it still holds a quiet place in Ohio’s covered bridge history.

#HistoricPreservation #Appalachia #OhioTheHeartofitAll @ohioeastern_studentlife

Presque Isle Lighthouse occupies a wooded rise alo

Presque Isle Lighthouse occupies a wooded rise along Lake Huron north of Alpena, #Michigan, overlooking one of the lake’s most reliable harbors of refuge. The name derives from the French presque île—“almost an island”—a reference to the narrow peninsula that sheltered vessels and once served as a portage for Native Americans and early voyageurs. Today, the site reflects successive phases of Great Lakes navigation, with three distinct lights marking the evolution of maritime commerce along Michigan’s northeastern coast.

Congress first appropriated $5,000 in 1838 for a harbor light, and Jeremiah Moors completed the original stone-and-brick tower in 1840. Modest in height, it guided vessels into Presque Isle Harbor but proved increasingly inadequate as traffic expanded. In 1869, Congress funded range lights to better define the channel; plans by engineer Orlando Metcalfe Poe were implemented in 1870, allowing mariners to align the front and rear lights for safe entry.

A larger coastal beacon followed. Authorized in 1870 and placed in service in 1871, the New Presque Isle Light rose 113 feet, making it the tallest lighthouse on the Great Lakes. The double-walled brick tower, connected to a two-story keeper’s dwelling, housed a third-order Fresnel lens visible for more than 10 miles. Keeper Patrick Garrity, appointed during the Lincoln administration, and members of his family maintained the station for decades.

Automation in the late twentieth century ended resident keeper operations, though the light remains active under the U.S. Coast Guard. Both the 1840 and 1871 towers are preserved as museums, and the relocated front range light, once tended by Anna Garraty, one of the few women keepers in the service, stands nearby as part of the larger complex. Together, the structures trace a continuous line from early harbor refuge to modern navigational aid.

#GreatLakesLighthouses #LighthousePhotography #PureMichigan #HistoricPreservation

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