Tagged: pictures

Marvel at the Magnificent Marble Caves [35 PICS]

June 28th, 2011 Permalink

In Patagonia, South America, General Carrera Lake is shared by Argentina and Chile. But on the Chilean side of the beautiful emerald-green to turquoise-blue waters, there are breathtakingly beautiful marble caves carved into passageways and caverns. These amazing marble formations were sculpted by erosion into three main marble formations: La Capilla (the Chapel), El Catedral (the Cathedral), and La Cueva (the Cave). The impressive labyrinth of marble caves are large enough for a small boat to glide into. Here are those magnificent marble caves. [35 Photos]

Reserva Nacional Cavernas de Marmol - Lago General Carrera Cavernas de Marmol - Patagonia Chilena

Incredibly beauty to be found at the Marble Caverns on General Carrera Lake in Patagonia, Chile. Photo #1 by © Jorge Leon Cabello

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Amazing Cliffs of Norway: Adrenaline Junkies’ Paradise [33 PICS]

June 6th, 2011 Permalink

Norway has absolutely beautiful landscapes, including crazy cliffs that call to people to climb up them and then BASE jump off the top. Here’s a look at some of those incredible cliffs as well as insanely dangerous switchback roads to get to those amazing cliffs in Norway. Thrillseekers, photographers, hikers and climbers take in these majestic views of nature. And then, there’s BASE jumpers who have a much more extreme need for adrenaline. Charles Lindbergh once said of his adrenaline rush, “It is the greatest shot of adrenaline to be doing what you have wanted to do so badly. You almost feel like you could fly without the plane.” Here in Norway, as if they’ve turned into Superman, some adrenaline junkies do fly without a plane.
[33 Photos]

Preikestolen, Norway

Preikestolen cliff goes by many names. The massive cliff is 604 meters (1982 feet) above Lysefjorden, Norway. Photo #1 by Arjan Veen

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Wreck Diving the Mysterious Ghost Fleet of Truk Lagoon [33 PICS]

June 4th, 2011 Permalink

Truk Lagoon, known as Chuuk – a group of tropical paradise islands in the Federal States of Micronesia – offers adrenaline-junky scuba divers a cool yet creepy underwater adventure in shark-infested Pacific waters while wreck diving the mysterious Ghost Fleet of Truk Lagoon. More than 50 major shipwrecks from WWII litter the seabed, making the undersea wonder of the world the best shipwreck diving destination on the globe. In 1944, Americans launched Operation Hailstone, which has been called the Japanese Pearl Harbor, and the bombardment lasted for three days. The attack wiped out 60 ships and 275 airplanes, sinking them to the bottom of the lagoon, so that now it is the biggest ship graveyard in the world. Most of the wrecks were left untouched for nearly 25 years since people feared setting off the thousands of sunken bombs. Many of the shipwrecks in the scuba diving paradise have full cargo holds full of fighter aircraft, tanks, bulldozers, railroad cars, motorcycles, torpedoes, mines, bombs, boxes of munitions, radios, thousands of various weapons, human remains, and other artifacts. More than 3,000 people were thought to have been killed and some divers swear that the wrecks in Truk Lagoon are haunted. Destination Truth conducted an underwater ghost hunting expedition in Truk Lagoon. While diving at the Hoki Maru, the divers recorded sounds of running engines in the cargo hold full of trucks. Here’s a virtual adventure with wreck divers who explored and photographed the Ghost Fleet of Truk Lagoon. This is underwater awesomeness! We love these pics! [33 Photos]

A light tank on the deck of the San Francisco Maru at about 50m depth in Truk Lagoon

Diver gh0stdot captured amazing underwater images in the ghostly wreckage. This is a light tank on the deck of the San Francisco Maru at about 50m depth in Truk Lagoon. Photo #1 by © gh0stdot

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Creepy, Crusty, Crumbling: Illegal Tour of Abandoned Six Flags New Orleans [75 Pics]

May 19th, 2011 Permalink

Like little kids, we all experience a happy rush, a delighted thrill, when going to play at an amusement park. Yet when an amusement park is abandoned and an eerie silence settles over the rusty and crusty decay, the setting seems to twist the atmosphere of enthusiastic excitement into a suffocating blanket of dread. The place takes on creepy vibes and freaks people out. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and ripped the heart of fun and the amusement out of this park. Almost six years later, Six Flags in New Orleans is unnaturally silent, no lines and no laughter. This 140-acre surreal setting has morphed into a nightmarish land of twisted dreams. It seems as if the post-apocalyptic atmosphere might be the perfect place to make a zombie movie. As if lured by a distant echo of scattered screams and the ghost of good times, urban explorers venture out of curiosity and capture the moments and crumbling scenes. They share with us in a virtual urban exploration tour of this creepy abandoned amusement park – Six Flags New Orleans. Most of these photos are very recent, as in taken during 2011, nearly six years after Hurricane Katrina tried to swallow New Orleans and Six Flags. A special thank you to the urban explorers who risked arrest, and possible zombie attack, to go in and shoot these current shots of Six Flags, and then gave us permission to use their copyright photos. This is about twice the size of a normal post here, so we hope you really enjoy this virtual urban exploration tour into the defunct amusement park Six Flags New Orleans. [75 Photos]

Cool Zone - abandoned Six Flags - New Orleans

Eerily silent in the forsaken amusement park, the Cool Zone is creepy; it’s like an ominous omen of what is to come in the forlorn and forgotten abandoned Six Flags in New Orleans. Photo #1 by © lostlosangeles / facebook.com/lostlosangeles

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31 Year Anniversary of Mount St. Helens Eruption (31 Pics)

May 11th, 2011 Permalink

A major disaster happened 31 years ago. On May 18, 1980, at 8:32 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake shook Mount St. Helens. The bulge and surrounding area slid away in a gigantic rockslide and debris avalanche, releasing pressure, and triggering a maassive pumice and ash eruption of the volcano. 1,300 feet (400 meters) of the peak collapsed or blew outwards. As a result, 24 square miles (62 square kilometers) of valley was filled by a debris avalanche, 250 square miles (650 square kilometers) of recreation, timber, and private lands were damaged by a lateral blast, and an estimated 200 million cubic yards (150 million cubic meters) of material was deposited directly by lahars (volcanic mudflows) into the river channels. 61 people were killed or are still missing.
The Mount St. Helens volcano is located in the Cascade Range. It’s a part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, a segment of the Pacific Ring of Fire that includes over 160 active volcanoes. This volcano is well known for its ash explosions and pyroclastic flows. It’s been 31 years ago since the catastrophic eruption of Mount St. Helens, so here’s a look at that blast – the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States – and five more throughout the years. [31 Photos]

Mt St Helens erupting with spirit lake reflection 05-19-82

Mount St. Helens erupting with Spirit Lake reflection 05-19-82. This was just the beginning. Mount St. Helens and the devastated area is now within the 110,000-acre Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, under jurisdiction of the United States Forest Service. Visitor centers, interpretive areas, and trails are being established as thousands of tourists, students, and scientists visit the monument daily. Mount St. Helens is once again considered to be one of the most beautiful and interesting of the Cascade volcanic peaks. Photo #1 by Lyn Topinka

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Beautiful Borobudur: “Pathway to Enlightenment” in 40 Photos

May 9th, 2011 Permalink

On the island of Java, Indonesia, stands a mountain of a thousand statues which is shrouded in mystery and surrounded by volcanoes. Borobudur, an ancient Buddhist stupa and temple complex, was abandoned for centuries, but no one knows why. In fact, it was forgotten for so long that it was hidden beneath volcanic ash and overgrown by thick jungle for hundreds of years. But now beautiful Borobudur is hugely popular Buddhist monument in central Java. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We love these pics of Borobudur! [40 Photos]

Mt. Merapi erupts from Borobudur horizon

On the island of Java, Indonesia, stands a mountain of a thousand statues. Borobudur is surrounded by volcanoes such as in this photo of Mt. Merapi erupting from the Borobudur horizon. Borobudur shrouded in mystery. In 1814, 200 men set out to search for this legendary mountain near the small village of Boro. For six weeks, they slashed through wickedly thick vegetation and then cleared away tons of volcanic ash. Hidden beneath the debris, they uncovered strange figures carved in stone and they discovered thousands of them! This is beautiful Borobudur. Photo #1 by ctsnow

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Wadi Rum: Spectacular Scenic Desert Valley of Lawrence of Arabia (41 Pics)

May 5th, 2011 Permalink

When people visit Petra – the rose red city half as old as time – they often trek through the stunning desert of Wadi Rum. This spectacularly scenic desert valley in the Kingdom of Jordan is where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed. Other movies shot here were Red Planet and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Some of the beautiful highlights in Wadi Rum include Red Sand Dunes, the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and huge mountains. People say the best way to see Wadi Rum is by riding a camel or by way of hiring a four-wheel drive. While there are Lawrence of Arabia historical areas, experiencing nature is the biggest attraction of Wadi Rum. People come to camp under the stars, to ride Arab horses, to hike and for rock-climbing on the massive rock formations. We love these pics! [41 Pictures]

Jordan - Wadi Rum - Seven Pillars of Wisdom

Jordan – Wadi Rum – Seven Pillars of Wisdom. The photographer wrote, “Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph is the autobiographical account of the experiences of British soldier T. E. Lawrence while serving as a liaison officer with rebel forces during the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Turks of 1916 to 1918.”
“The title comes from the Book of Proverbs, 9:1: ‘Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars’ (KJV). Prior to the First World War, Lawrence had begun work on a scholarly book about seven great cities of the Middle East, to be titled Seven Pillars of Wisdom. When war broke out, it was still incomplete and Lawrence stated that he ultimately destroyed the manuscript. Later, during the Arab Revolt of 1917–18, Lawrence based his operations in Wadi Rum (now a part of Jordan), and one of the more impressive rock formations in the area was named by Lawrence “The Seven Pillars of Wisdom”. In the end, Lawrence decided to use this evocative title for the memoirs he penned in the aftermath.” Photo #1 by Salim Al-Harthy

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Moon Valley & Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park in Beautiful Brazil (43 Pics)

May 3rd, 2011 Permalink

Chapada dos Veadeiros in Brazil is one of the oldest, most beautifully diverse and unusual tropical ecosystems in South America. The National Park has over 161,891 acres (65,515 hectares) of gorgeous landscape full of exotic flora and fauna, lots of spectacular waterfalls, bizarre rock formations, caves and grottoes. According to NASA, when observed from outer space, the Chapada’s high plateaus are the most luminous point visible on Earth; this bright glowing is caused by the reflection between the sun and the abundance of quartz crystal in the region. On private property close to Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park is an amazing and ancient place much like a water park created by nature with pools, natural water slides and cascades. It’s called Vale da Lua or Valley of the Moon due to the smooth rocks formed by river and ancient lava flows. Still others call it Moon Valley. These rocks are very weird and some consider them to be like lunar rocks, but the place is a treasure. This Moon Valley is not well-known, not even among the people of Brazil. Here are 43 photos of beautiful Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park and the unique Vale da Lua or Moon Valley in the Brazilian Highlands. [43 Photos]

in harmony with nature at Chapada dos Veadeiros

In harmony with nature at beautiful Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park which is full of spectacular swimming holes like this. Photo #1 by Ana_Cotta

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Heaven aka Navajo Nation – Canyon de Chelly National Monument

April 27th, 2011 Permalink

Canyon de Chelly National Monument is located on the Navajo Nation and is about 84,000 acres of gorgeous land which has more than 4,000 years of human occupation. That makes this land one of the longest continuously inhabited landscapes of North America. Canyon de Chelly has thousands of years of perserved culture like cliff dwelling architecture, artifacts, and rock art. The National Park Service and the Navajo Nation share resources and continue to work in partnership to manage this breathtakingly beautiful national monument. Canyon de Chelly National Monument is part one of Heaven aka the Navajo Nation. [50 Photos]
Magnificent Monument Valley is part two in the tribute to the Navajo Nation. Awe-inspiring Antelope Canyon (30 PICS) Navajo Nation Tribute Part 3

Canyon de Chelly, Navajo by Edward S. Curtis

Canyon de Chelly — Navajo. This awesome photo was taken in 1904. Seven riders on horseback and dog trek against background of canyon cliffs. It wasn’t until 1931 when President Hoover authorized the area as a national monument to preserve the important archeological resources that span more than 4,000 years of human occupation. The monument encompasses approximately 84,000 acres of lands located entirely on the Navajo Nation with roughly 40 families residing within the park boundaries. Photo #1 by Edward S. Curtis

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Power of the Storm: 44 Ferocious Waves Attacking Lighthouses

April 25th, 2011 Permalink

When you don’t live close to a coastline or a major body of water, seeing the waves when you visit is exciting. But there are times when the waves turn into churning monsters of nature that attack man-made objects like lighthouses. Those exciting huge waves are then terrifyingly ferocious. Yet some people are held spellbound by nature’s fury. And some are amazingly brave and talented photographers who capture that perfect split second to share with us. Lighthouses are found worldwide, marking dangerous coastlines and lighting the way to safe harbor. Can you imagine being inside a lighthouse while nature is doing her stormy best to chew it up and destroy it with punishing waves? In this collection of fantastic photos, it’s nature vs man-made lighthouses and landmarks. It’s a struggle; the power of the storm’s ferocious waves are attacking the architecture of man. Which do you think will win? We love these pics! [44 Photos]

Stormy weather and rough seas at Roker Lighthouse © Gail Johnson

The photographer described this awesome shot as, “Stormy weather and rough seas at Roker Lighthouse.” Photo #1 by © Gail Johnson

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Christ the Redeemer Statue – 1 of 7 New Wonders of the World (45 Inspiring Pics)

April 20th, 2011 Permalink

Christ the Redeemer is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. As such, the Cristo Redentor statue in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, is photographed by thousands each year. Christ the Redeemer statue speaks a bit differently to each photographer who captures the image as seen in their magnificent mind’s eye. Their talent, a blessing to be sure, has been collected here to celebrate Easter and Christ. We love these pics! [45 Pictures]

From Back - Christ the Redeemer overlooking Rio De Janeiro

It’s been said of Christo Redentor: “The statue of Christ the Redeemer, though majestic, is not the main attraction. What impresses most visitors is the breathtaking panoramic view. Almost every major city attractions can be enjoyed away from the top. The Sugar Loaf, the Guanabara Bay, the Lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean are the points that stand out in the landscape” ~ Andre Sampaio. This photo is an example of that. Taken from the back – Christ the Redeemer overlooking a beautiful and panoramic Rio De Janeiro. Photo #1 by Artyominc

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Global Art Project Can Be Seen From Space! (21 Pics)

April 18th, 2011 Permalink

350 Earth is the world’s first art exhibit large enough to be seen from space! 350 EARTH is a global project to put art and creativity at the center of the growing movement to stop the climate crisis. 350.org launched the 350 EARTH project in November 2010 in the lead up to the UN Climate Meetings in Cancun, Mexico, coordinating over a dozen major public art pieces large enough to be seen from space. 350.org is building a global movement to solve the climate crisis. We love these pics and this project! [21 Pics]

Solar Scarab -- Cairo, Egypt

“Solar Scarab” by Sarah Rifaat — Cairo, Egypt. In Cairo, Egypt, hundreds of students formed the image of a traditional Scarab beetle, a traditional symbol of rebirth and regeneration that was often depicted on temple walls pushing the ball of the sun across the sky. Using the scarab and the sun in this art piece is both a reminder of the integral part the sun has always played in Egyptian history, and a call for re-examining our modern relationship to this most abundant source of clean energy. Photo #1 by Ahmed Hayman

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