Category: Terrain
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Another Day with John Day
Twelve Mile Circle feeds my on-the-ground experiences and then those experiences loop-back and feed 12MC. It’s a great circle of productivity, although I mention that with apologies for the analogy. A reader comment brought John Day to my attention, which resulted in an article, which resulted in some fascinating places to visit during my Oregon…
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Washington State Adventures
I’m finally in the Pacific Northwest of the United States after several months of talking about it. Actually, I’ve been out here for awhile and auto-posting articles to Twelve Mile Circle that I wrote in advance. Could you tell I wasn’t writing in real-time? The next few articles will relate to my travels through various…
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Northernmost Romans in Britain
Romans occupied and controlled a large southern swath of the island of Great Britain as they expanded their empire. How far north, I wondered, did they extend their empire there before it began to contract? What was their high-water mark? Hadrian’s Wall The Romans arrived on Britain in the year 43 and would remain as…
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Longest Natural Straight Line
I once featured a stretch of completely straight railroad track across the Nullarbor Plain. It ran an amazing 478 kilometres (297 miles), in Australia’s Longest Straight Line. I’ve also focused considerable attention on the Canada-United States border. That one hugs the 49th degree of latitude north for something like 2,000 km (1,250 mi) — although…
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Natural Bridges
A natural bridge or natural arch appears as advertised. These geological formations erode in such a way as to leave behind an opening beneath stone that continues to stand. Water seems to be the most common denominator. Before today I never realized that a Natural Arch and Bridge Society existed “to support the interests of…
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Hazy Hedge Maze Memories
I poked around that place where Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands share a common border, better known as the BEDENL tripoint, using Google Maps satellite view the other day. I noticed an interesting topiary feature. Labyrint Drielandenpunt I found a hedge maze! I’ve seen them called garden mazes, labyrinths and various other terms, too. They…
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John Day’s Day
Bill Williams’ Fingerprints appeared on the Twelve Mile Circle about a year ago. Mr. Williams was “one of the classic mountain men of the old west”. His name carried forward to various geographic features throughout Arizona, as I noted at the time. This inspired longtime reader Pfly to comment, “This post makes me think about…
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Loudoun Wine Adventure
Fair warning. This article is going to resemble a travelogue more than a discussion of geo-oddities. I figure I can change the rules occasionally for self-indulgent reasons so I hope you don’t mind. Come back in a couple of days if you’re more a fan of the usual content on Twelve Mile Circle. The in-laws…
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Natural Forces: Nuclear
My series on Natural Forces seems to be a dud based on the (lack of) comments. Usually they are rather robust in terms of both quantity and quality on Twelve Mile Circle. It goes to show that I have no idea which articles will resonate with an audience. And that probably explains why 12MC readership…
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Deepest Lakes
It often seems to start with the simplest of questions before turning hopelessly complex. What’s the deepest lake? That doesn’t sound too difficult. It’s straight-forward. It seems to beg an easy answer, and it even provides one. Sort-of. Maximum depth or mean depth? Does it have to poke above the surface? What if it’s covered…