Mountain Ranges of the USA - A Change of Pace Because We Need It

I was three paragraphs down in a COVID-19 post, and said "Screw it. My friends don't need doom, gloom or facts (although facts are a good thing to have sometimes). My friends need something a bit more uplifting because it's tough times for us all right now." So I'm choosing to be a bit patriotic today and give you some photos of the USA - from Sea to Shining Sea. 

The Appalachian Mountains are the first set of three major mountain
ranges that stripe the nation of the USA. Forming the Easternmost stripe,
these are the oldest of the mountains, but old doesn't mean easy. They're
still a challenging mountain range to cross over. Daniel Boone explored
these mountains as he crossed over to Tennessee, and many people take
on the task of walking the Great Appalachian Trail every year. 

The Appalachian Trail (red line from bottom - Georgia - through into
Maine at the top) defines the mountains, which go by many names. In
the South, they are called The Great Smoky Mountains, moving north
they are renamed into the Cumberland and Allegheny Mountains. In
New York the name is the Catskill Mountains and they're the
Adirondack and Green mountains in New Hampshire and
Vermont. The mountains themselves continue into
Newfoundland, Canada. 

The Rocky Mountains are my mountains. These are the peaks I
saw every morning as I walked to school, that I drove into when
I needed to get away from things, that I hiked in and played in and
lived in for part of every year. The Rocky Mountains are younger
than the Appalachians and are massive, brooding, hulking and
unforgiving. 

The Rocky Mountains extends from Alaska through
New Mexico, bisecting and separating the Great
Plains of the USA from the far western states of
Washington, Oregon, Nevada and California. These
mountains take up 2/3 of Colorado and almost
1/2 of New Mexico, the state of my youth. These
mountains were my playground. I miss them
sometimes. 

The Rocky Mountains are the backbone of the
USA. They are a wall of sheer-faced rock barricading
and bisecting the nation. 

The final mountains in the USA are the newest and sharpest - the Sierra
Nevada range in the Southern portion, and the Cascade mountains in
the Northwest. These are the mountains of Yosemite National Park, as well
as the volcanic peaks of Mount Shasta and the infamous Mount St. Helens. 

The Sierra Nevada range is on the far left, the Cascades aren't even
identified, but they are offshoots from the upper Rocky Mountains mixed
with volcanic peaks built by tectonic forces over millennia. Some of the
most outstanding peaks in the nation are on our far Western shores. 

So, there you have it. Instead of talking about coronavirus, which I suspect will be a part of our lives for a very long time, I decided to share a bit of my country with all of you, because good or bad, I do love it here. 

Stay safe, be well, and I'll be back tomorrow.