In our weekly photo challenge, Amy invites us to visit Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia and shares with us some of the beauty of the naturally layered landscapes in the park. With that, she defines the challenge, “This week, we invite you to explore Layers.  You can include images of buildings, landscapes, seascapes, clouds, etc.” You can read her entire challenge post here. I have taken up the challenge and feature as my opening image a view of the Lavender open pit mine in Bisbee, Arizona. Before all the copper was removed, this mine was active in producing one of Arizona’s more common minerals, copper.Moving west across much of the Pacific Ocean, my next layered landscape is Waimea Canyon. Known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, the lush valley runs about 10 miles (16 km) long and some 1000 feet (304 m) deep at its tallest. Tourists who visit the island of Kauai should travel to the western side of the island and visit at least one of the viewing areas provided to enjoy the views of waterfalls and frequent rainbows. I’m told it’s best to go in the mornings for a sunny view as afternoon clouds often develop. As you can see by the image above, this early afternoon shot featured a building cloud layer rising above the layers of rock in the canyon.

Of course, if I am going to feature the Pacific Grand Canyon, I would be remiss in omitting the original Grand Canyon. This natural work of art was sculpted over the millennia by the Colorado River. At 6,000 feet (1824 m) deep and 277 miles (446 km) long, it clearly is grander in scope than Waimea. The layers exposed by the carving of the river reveal the earth’s geology some billions of years ago.

Moving south to Phoenix, this view of a sunset from South Mountain features both a layered mountain range and a layered sky. It was just at the start of the blue hour and if you click on the image to enlarge it, you can see the lights of residents of the Valley of the Sun starting to illuminate.

For my final challenge response, I include this image captured as we crossed a bridge while riding the White Pass and Yukon Scenic Railway into British Columbia. My thanks to Amy for allowing me to share some of my favorite landscape images. For a closer look at an image select it for an enlarged view (in most browsers.)

John Steiner