Beauty in the West in Early March

There are many breath-taking places in Yosemite National Park in Northern California. Half-Dome is one of them. It is so named because it looks as if the volcanic dome has had half of it sheared away. In fact, that is exactly what happened. 

Here is a picture of the spectacular Yosemite Falls in March. As can be seen in the image, the water falls so far almost straight down that it is not much more than thick mist when it reaches the bottom. 

People who were around at the time probably remember when Mount Saint Helens in Washington State erupted in 1982. This is what it looked like on March 9, this year. The depression on the flank of the mountain is still quite noticeable, though it is covered by thick snow. This whole area of the mountain was blown away during the very powerful eruption. 

The mountain is still active, though quiescent, but it looks quite peaceful in the picture. This is now a national monument.

Speaking of snow, this image was taken at an altitude of 5,242 at Olympic National Park. In case you don't know what this is, you are looking at the corner of a roof on a single story structure. That is a lot of snow!

Canyonlands National Park contains stark beauty, amid the desert. There is no snow, but a person gets the feeling that it is cold this time of year. Actually, the temperature when this was taken was nearly 50 F. Perhaps it is a long way from being scorching-hot for a desert, but this is a warm temperature. This is even cooler than it was in the picture of Mount Saint Helens, though.

Finally, here is a picture from Mount Rainier National Park in Washington. It is quite beautiful, and it shows both sunshine and ominous clouds that threatened to drop yet more snow on the landscape. This gives an idea of how jagged the Cascade Mountains are in most locations along the chain. 

This panoramic view of Grand Teton NP captures some of the astounding beauty found there.

The peak that the park is named after can't be seen in this image because of the heavy cloudbank on the horizon. "The" Grand Teton is just to the right of the center of this image. A couple of the smaller Teton's can be seen, though.

The mountains that the park gets its name from were named by an apparently lusty or lonely man who thought that the mountains looked like a woman's breasts. 'Grand Teton' literally means Big Breast or Big Teat. 

This is a different angle in Teton NP. Grand Teton is still hidden by the clouds, but it is a closer picture of some of the other Tetons and the valley. This looks quite peaceful. This picture is taken in Idaho.