Mine is Crater Lake, (National Park), Oregon. Sometime in my Life I must!, -and in one way or another will, -go there!

For those a little less than familiar with this, -This is that several miles wide, deep clear blue, volcanic crater/ caldera lake, -with cone shaped Wizard island off to one of it's sides, -in southwestern Oregon, USA. I recall as a child seeing a picture of this. Wizard island looked little compared to all the rest, -yet I could still see scores of giant pines, -growing up it's sides! I recall some of the same sense of enjoyment and wonder, -at a picture of Grand Canyon, Arizona, -about that same time. Its great, -especially as a child, -seeing such things on the old Viewmasters! I think that I have so seen such, -in addition to also seeing it in ordinary pictures and the like, -as you occassionally come across.

I also recall that when I'd be mixing up some chocolate milk at breakfast, -I'd dump a spoonful or two onto the surface, -watching it float awhile, breaking apart. I pretended it was an island, -Wizard Island in fact, -that was sinking. Such are sweet childhood memories and the like!

Thats where and how my Crater Lake Resolve, Love, and Determination began! Years of often enuff seeing other pictures and photos of it in books, magazines, calendars, etc, -continued to keep this in Mind and Heart, -so carrying it thru!, -in all of these following years. My later and longstanding interest in Geology and Vulcanology, -played it's role and part here, too.

Got to and *Will* someday get to Crater Lake!!! If I can help it, and somehow, someday, -I will! As I see it, -It is something that self evidently, -Calls! And is *not* to be missed !!

Crater Lake is mine! (Along with some top runnerup others). Where in the Great Green Outdoors may be some of your's?! [color:"black"] [/color] [email]ScottRezaLogan[/email]

Ok, there is nothing to see in Arizona. Don't come here. All we have is sand and rattlesnakes. There's nothing to see here, move on.

Ditto what desertrat1 said!

It is too hot and there is nothing here to see. Everything either has stickers, fangs or claws. Just a bunch of rocks and small plants. No big trees or much green to look at. No need to waste your time coming here. California is a good place to go: lots of nice green things to look at! <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Darn, Craig and Desertrat: I'll be in Phoenix in two weeks. I guess that I'll need to stay inside.

Actually I loved Organ Pipe national monument when I was there, granted I was there in the winter <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

And the desert ... it has its beauty too. Episode two of Survivorman was filmed there, I thought it was great!

NAro,

The weather report (5/10/06) for Phoenix is:
[color:"red"] Wed 100
Thu 103
Fri 103
Sat 104
[/color]

It is only getting hotter until mid October! <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Oh No!,-You've got the Grand Canyon and Meteor Crater, -to name just two of many! [color:"black"] [/color] [email]desertrat1[/email]

Mt Graham and the Mogollon Rim have a lot of Forest and Trees along their sides! Places like the Colorado River have more than a few Cottonwoods growing alongside! And what about all those Pinon Pines I've long heard about?! Just take a look thru any back or current issues of Arizona Highways!,...-Need I say more?!

As to California, -Sure you'll find plenty of green on Mts Shasta and Lassen, the Sequoias and Redwoods, the Sierras, and many other places. But you sure aint gonna find too much of it in the Mojave or Death Valley.

The West is among the Best! "Go West Young Man!", and "There's a Feeling I get!, -when I look to the West!"...-the Great American West! I'd just love to be an Arizonan! What kind of Outdoorsmen are you and the earlier guy I replied too, in this thread, -that you pass off and over such a Great Native Place as you have?! I'm Surprised at you! (plural). I think I now know what the phrase "Familiarity breeds Contempt" means!

I realize that you guys may be half kidding. But you may also, -Eeek!, -be entirely serious!!! [color:"black"] [/color] [email]Craig_phx[/email]

Its Good and Great for us to be talking of Arizona, -hopefully in a Positive Light. (But evryone is of course entitled to their own Honest Opinions).

But steering things back to the original strands of this thread, -How are anyone's Thoughts and Feelings on Crater Lake? As well as many other Great American, and World, -Outdoor Locales? [color:"black"] [/color] [email]Craig_phx[/email]

You missed my sarcasim. Yes Arizona has many beautiful places but they are being over run with newcomers and developers. I'm a dying breed, Native Arizonan.

When I used to live in Midwest I was lucky enough to go to Isle Royale National park. One of the wildest places I have ever been to.

The beaver dams were just awe-inspiring! They were well over my height and held water extremely efficiently. Its very impressive how animals can build such grandiose structures with basically dirt and sticks.

The park is also famouse for its moose and wolves that control each other populations.

Lots of wild blueberries, strawberries, mushrooms and mosquitoes <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I only saw a moose but no wolves, though. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

I suspected a tad of it, somewhere in the back of my mind, -but yeah, I mostly missed it.

Of the 14 Western States, (15 if you include Hawaii as nominally Western), -my favorites on down all round rankings would go;- Arizona, NewMexico, Colorado, Alaska, California, Oregon, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Washington, Texas, Oklahoma, and Nevada.

Hawaii would be something like 1 quarter to 3 quarters way down this list, -don't know quite where.

Plains states like Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas are of course substantially Western as well. With places like Scottsbluff and the Black Hills, -and many other things in their all round persona, -they've gotta be!

And finally there is of course the great Canadian West! British Colombia, Alberta, the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Saskatchewan, -in that top on down of an order!

Last but not least, Mexico is a great Western area! It only extends down from our great American Rockies and West.

I salute your remaining a full out native Arizonan, as you essentially said. [color:"black"] [/color] [email]desertrat1[/email]

Oh yeah!, -I've heard of Isle Royale (along with its wolves), -and have been very attractively impressed with the place! [color:"black"] [/color] [email]redflare[/email]

Some other great areas very similar to our American West, (in terrain and climatologically, -if often not culturally), are,-

Persia / Iran (which also works out to be right about the size and shape of our Great American West), the entire Kazahkstan / former Soviet Central Asia area, Spain / Iberia (not forgetting Portugal), the Sahara and North Africa, the entire Arabian Peninsula (mostly Saudi, of course), the Israel to Iraq and northward to (and including) Turkey area, places like Namibia's Kalahari and Chile's Atacama deserts, Argentina's Patagonia complete with its gauchos and Pampas, even the Brazilian Sertao and Cerrado, in a sense. Also the great Sinkiang / Tarim / Turpan areas of Western China, Mongolia and the Gobi, Manchuria somewhat, the Himalayas and Tibet, the South American Andes, places like Kashmir, along with Afghanistan and Pakistan, Australia with its Outback and Great Red Center, and Mexico and Canada, as already mentioned by me.

Now for some other places *culturally* Western, -filled with that great pioneering "Spirit of the West"! (if *not* terrainwise or climatologically always so!). These would include Siberia, -the Great Russian "West", which of course is actually East. And its Caucass and Urals. Also Australia and its Outback, Canada and its North, Brazil and its Amazonian and other interior, and the wilds of Borneo and other Indonesian and Phillipine islands. (a little overlap does occur between these two general lists, -though mostly they do not.).

Theres no place totally like our Great American West! But there are a goodly number of places worldwide, -that are a lot like it! [color:"black"] [/color] [email]ScottrezaLogan[/email]