Spectacular Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks
Spectacular Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks Mar 31, 2008 This stunning new collection of expansive, mind-opening photographs and illuminating essays richly conveys the wild wonders -- and complex challenges -- of two renowned national parks.Yellowstone and Grand Teton. For the casual traveler, these words evoke the wild grandeur of the Old West - the wide-open West of shark-tooth peaks, skyscraping geysers, snaking rivers, plunging waterfalls and lush pristine valleys, and of course free-roaming bison and wolf, elk and bear. For the better informed traveler, these words also evoke a complicated interconnection of wilderness and civilization, conservation and cultivation, preservation and exploitation, resource and reward: an iconic exemplar of the potentials and problems of sustaining wilderness in the 21st century.An extraordinarily beautiful and informative new book, "Spectacular Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks" poignantly portrays the exhilarating splendors of these two national parks and the daunting array of challenges confronting them.The book begins with an excellent essay, by Charles R. Preston, which cogently reviews the history of the region and introduces the notion of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, then succinctly summarizes the key issues that have shaped its evolution. Five succeeding chapters by Susan Kraft and Letitia Burns O'Connor focus on individual areas and attractions of Yellowstone National Park: Mammoth Hot Springs, the Geyser Basins, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Lamar Valley, and Yellowstone Lake. O'Conner then describes the history and highlights of Grand Teton National Park. The edifying final chapter, "Elements of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem," by Jim Robbins, uses the four elements -- fire, water, air and earth - to delineate the lessons of the region.While these texts are all enlightening, the real glory of this book is the more than 275 photographs, many of them stunning, which brilliantly portray the diversity of the region's natural features and wild creatures. Prime among the book's visual treasures are 36 pages of three-foot-wide foldout photographs that exquisitely illustrate the region's expansive glories.The pictures and essays in "Spectacular Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks" are gifts to cherish - as are the national treasures they celebrate.[Spectacular Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks; text and photographs by various contributors; published by Universe Publishing, a division of Rizzoli International Publications, Inc; copyright 2007 Dana Levy and Letitia Burns O'Conner; hardcover, 132 pages; $45.]The following Adventure Collection members offer trips to the Yellowstone and Grand Teton region: Backroads, Natural Habitat Adventures, NOLS, OARS, and Off the Beaten Path. --written by Don George for Adventure Collection, donsplace.adventurecollection.com/bookshelf.php