Geography Div (Interactive fun subsection)

 Have you ever wondered what the area around your hometown was like during the Cretaceous period, when the Tyrannosaurus rex roamed? How about before then, when Earth had just one supercontinent?

Now you can find out.  

https://dinosaurpictures.org/ancient-earth#240

Geography Div (Drift subsection)

How's that 6,000 year calendar workin' out for ya ??



via GIPHY

Geography Div (Really Yuge subsection)

On this day in 1556 a devastating earthquake in Shannxi Province,  China killed an estimated
830,000 people ...... that's about the entire population of South Dakota.

Geography Div (rockin' and a rollin' subsection)

While on our cruise this winter, we visited two of the places affected by the recent earthquake in Ecuador, Manta and Guayaquil. We found the Ecuadoran people to be so very friendly and polite and hope that the pull through this disaster,

Geography Div (What's in a name subsection)

Here in the Black Hills, there's lots of history - much of it concerned with their takeover by the white man even though guaranteed to the Native Americans by the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868.
Harney Peak is the highest point in South Dakota and the highest point in the US between the Rocky Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. It's named for General William S. Harney of the US Army.

The Peak's name has lately been the source of controversy due to the General's leading a battle against the Lakota in Nebraska at the beginning of the Indian Wars where he earned the nickname "Woman Killer."

There has been a push to change the name (Black Elk Peak being one of the more mentioned choices) to something less offensive to Native Americans.
Last week, the South Dakota Board of Geographic Names recommended the name be changed to Hinhan Kaga - the original Lakota name for the feature which translates  to "Making of Owls" in English.

I'm sure there will be many on both sides of the debate that won't be happy (though apparently, no one has asked the owls).

Geography Div (National Parks subsection)

A couple of weeks ago my sweetie and I took a road trip and Arches NP near Moab, UT was one of the stops. I haven't been to Arches since late 1981 and on my two previous hikes into Delicate Arch, I've seen maybe a total of six people (and in 1979 I was, eerily, alone).

The hike is a mile and a half and the result is spectacular.

I was amazed at the crowds of people (and wondered if some would make it up). One person told me that the day before (a Sunday) the line on the trail reminded him of photos of the miners trekking up Klondike Pass during the Yukon Gold Rush.

Geography Div (Drifting along subsection)

A wonderful reconstruction of the breakup of Pangea. The heads of the 6000 year-old earth brigade are probably starting to explode.