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Cyclone Bar is a gravel bar formed by the Clark's Fork River. It is nearly a half mile long with the main river channel flowing down the center of the bar and a secondary channel on the east side of the bar. This panorama has several interesting features. The panorama opens looking at a large talus slope on the west side of the canyon. The talus is filled with wind-blown sand which makes its surface look smooth as the sand and cured yellow grass cover its slopes. The large boulders strewn across the gravel bar at the bottom of the slope have tumbled down from the cliffs and crags above the talus slope. Nearly every year the Clark's Fork River floods across the gravel bar cleansing sand and soil from the rocks. There was a massive flood down the canyon in June 2022 but the large boulders remained in place where they have lain for many years. When the flood waters spread out across the wide gravel bar they also slow down significantly which reduces the force behind the waters to displace the heavy boulders. Zoom into the boundary between the gravel bar and the bottom of the talus slope and you will see hundreds of large logs which have been deposited by the high flood waters. Rotate your view towards the sun, which is up-river. The Clark's Fork River descends down the canyon from between the high granite sides of the valley. You can see a wisp of the river in white as it is iced over during this mid-winter scene. Now, if you rotate the panorama 180 degrees, downstream, you can view the high limestone massif at the exit of the canyon. The lighter gray, banded cliffs at the top are sedimentary (mostly limestone). At the bottom the brown, jagged cliffs are granitic basement rocks. Finally, zoom out while looking downstream and you can clearly see the classic U-shaped valley so common among glaciated valleys. Although not seen in this panorama, there are two terminal glacier moraines as well as glacial lateral moraines and large glacial erratics a couple miles past the exit of the canyon. The terminal moraines can be seen in the ESE view of the panorama at this link: https://www.360cities.net/image/mouth-of-the-clark-s-fork-canyon
The United States is one of the most diverse countries on earth, jam packed full of amazing sights from St. Patrick's cathedral in New York to Mount Hollywood California.The Northeast region is where it all started. Thirteen British colonies fought the American Revolution from here and won their independence in the first successful colonial rebellion in history. Take a look at these rolling hills carpeted with foliage along the Hudson river here, north of New York City.The American south is known for its polite people and slow pace of life. Probably they move slowly because it's so hot. Southerners tend not to trust people from "up north" because they talk too fast. Here's a cemetery in Georgia where you can find graves of soldiers from the Civil War.The West Coast is sort of like another country that exists to make the east coast jealous. California is full of nothing but grizzly old miners digging for gold, a few gangster rappers, and then actors. That is to say, the West Coast functions as the imagination of the US, like a weird little brother who teases everybody then gets famous for making freaky art.The central part of the country is flat farmland all the way over to the Rocky Mountains. Up in the northwest corner you can find creative people in places like Portland and Seattle, along with awesome snowboarding and good beer. Text by Steve Smith.
