A Retrospective 50 Year Memory Tour of Western National Parks & Other Sites 1964 & 2014

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1 A Retrospective 50 Year Memory Tour of Western National Parks & Other Sites 1964 & 2014 Introduction: In 1964, Paul & Marilyn Koch took a 10 week camping trip through National Parks and other locations in both Canada & the USA, following the route shown in the map below. The trip covered 3 Canadian Provinces and 33 USA States. In September 2014 armed with photographs from the original trip they took a retrospective journey in the reverse direction through the Western portion of the trip with the intent of photographing a number of locations and sites as closely as possible to the original photos. This document shows the comparative results. Month of the year - July vs. September, weather, and time of day all had an impact on many of the pictures but overall with a few exceptions things looked much the same. 1. Map of the 1964 Trip with USA Western Parks Highlighted The 2014 trip began on September 21st with a flight to Las Vegas, a quick trip to the Hoover Dam followed by an evening in Vegas. The next morning we headed for Death Valley National Park to be followed by visits to National Parks and other sites in California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alberta. The trip ended in Calgary 3,554 winding miles later. 1

2 1964 Pictures on the Left 2014 Pictures on the Right 2. Hoover Dam The major change at the Hoover Dam was the recent construction of the O Callaghan, Tillman Memorial Bridge. The second picture in 2014 was taken from the bridge. 2

3 3. Fremont Street, Old Downtown Las Vegas This location clearly won the prize as the location that had changed the most over the 50 years! In 1964 the Golden Nugget was only a casino with normal traffic flow in front of it and now it is a major hotel and is part of a large multi-block closed and covered gambling mall. The nightly overhead light show called the Fremont Experience is quite entertaining and a zip line runs overhead for those interested in that adventure. We stayed at the Golden Nugget for the night. 4. Artist s Drive in Death Valley National Park We were quite amazed to actually find this rock formation and see that although the roadway had been moved and paved, the rocks and the scenery were still the same. Our red 1964 Chrysler Valiant hardtop and our 2014 Hertz red Ford Mustang convertible complete the pictures. 3

4 5. Old & New Mountains at Lone Pine, California While the pictures are not identical a careful examination of the skyline shows the same profile of the higher mountain but taken from a different angle. These mountains are part of the range that includes Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the contiguous 48 US States. 6. Sequoia National Park Sign We were quite amazed that the sign at the north park entrance had not changed at all! 4

5 7. Sequoia National Park Auto-Log Due to deterioration of the Auto-Log, it is no longer possible to drive the car onto it. It was rather an odd feeling however to walk on the log and put my feet exactly where they would have been when I stepped out of the car in Sequoia Tunnel Log The one-way direction of traffic through the log had changed but the log did look much the same. The 2014 picture was taken into the sun late in the afternoon. The cross section of a tree from 1964 shows Marilyn pointing to the year Christ was born but we were unable to find it on this trip. 5

6 8. The General Sherman Tree The General Sherman Tree, the world s largest tree, is the prime visitor attraction in Giant Forest. 6

7 9. Wawona Drive-through Tree in Yosemite National Park s Mariposa Grove This tree was blown down in a 1969 wind storm. To access the area now one must take a tram. We were told that this is the last year this area will be open to the public for at least ten years. 10. The Grizzly Giant The Giant Sequoia named Grizzly Giant is probably years old: the oldest tree in the grove. In 1932, park officials claimed it as the fifth largest (by volume) tree in the world, but other trees were subsequently found to be larger. We found that it looked a little worse for wear over the 50 years. 7

8 11. Yosemite National Park Views from Glacier Point (1 &2) & Yosemite Falls (3) Notice that the primary differences are the lighting due to time of day in the 1 st view and the lack of water over the falls due to the season (July vs. September) in the 2 nd & 3 rd views. 8

9 12. The Lone Cypress at Pebble Beach Considered to be about 250 years old, this tree is now protected by not allowing people to access it by the path and steps as seen in Pictures in San Francisco The first picture we retook in San Francisco was a view of Chinatown where, with the exception of some small changes and the older cars, the picture had hardly changed at all. 9

10 The second picture was taken after a trip down the famous and winding Lombard Street. It was a very busy place and difficult to get a picture without a crowd of people in the way. The third San Francisco picture is a scene from Telegraph Hill. We were surprised that this skyline had hardly changed at all, although there appears to be a large new church in the foreground. Not seen to the left of the picture is the main skyline of San Francisco which had changed dramatically although we didn t have a 1964 picture to compare. 10

11 The final picture of San Francisco is the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. Except for the lighting due to weather and time of day, the pictures speak for themselves. 14. Avenue of the Giants We were told at the Humboldt Redwoods State Park museum that the Avenue of the Giants log sign is no more but a green highway sign did its job. There were very few freeways in 1964 however. The foot tall Founders Tree looked amazingly the same! This 2014 picture gives some statistics 11

12 Here are the 1964 & 2014 pictures looking to the top of the tree. 15. Crater Lake National Park, Oregon The North Entrance Sign taken as we left the park was similar but had obviously been rebuilt. The beauty of Crater Lake is magnified by the deep blue water colour when the sky is completely clear as is evident by the pictures on the next page. 12

13 Wizard Island Phantom Ship as tall as a 16 story building! 13

14 16. Jessie M. Honeyman Memorial State Park, Oregon We had camped here and explored the beautiful sand dunes in This time we spent an hour and were told that the sand dunes change quickly over time. We did not take the time to see if we could find the same location but did take several sand dune pictures and one of a tent site in the same section of the camp as we had pitched our tent in 64. Was it the same site? No one knows! 17. Mount Rainier National Park, Washington The major difference in these pictures is the amount of snow in mid-july vs. late September. 14

15 18. Emerald Lake, Yoho National Park, British Columbia 19. Canadian Pacific Railway Spiral Tunnel on the Trans-Canada Highway The signs have changed, the trees have grown, and the trains still run! 15

16 20. Athabasca Glacier and the Columbia Icefields This shocking but not surprising change in the Athabasca Glacier was by far the largest and most meaningful change in natural systems seen on the trip. The first two pictures taken from approximately the same location exaggerate somewhat the distance by which the toe of the glacier has receded, since the toe is now obscured by the large gravel hill that has been exposed. The toe of the glacier in 1964 was at the edge of the lake to the right, close to where a parking lot for glacier access is now located. The following pictures give a more detailed view of the glacier s loss. The bridge in the first picture is at the front of the parking lot as you start to hike to the glacier. About half way up the hill was a marker showing where the toe of the glacier was in In the second picture taken at the top of the hill, you can see that it is still a significant way to the glacier which is partially hidden about as far again as the distance back to the parking lot. The third picture shows the current toe of the glacier to the left and the gravel hill that partially hides the glacier to the right. Wikipedia indicates that the Athabasca Glacier has retreated approximately 1.5 kilometres in the last century and the rate of retreat has accelerated since The big question remains. How much of that is due to the burning of fossil fuels and how much simply to natural causes? No one really knows but it does speak to the need to cut our fossil fuel based energy consumption in every way possible. 16

17 21. Athabasca Falls Athabasca Falls, a few miles downstream from the glacier demonstrates the significantly different water flow from early-mid July to the first of October. 22. Lake Louise, Alberta We were pleasantly surprised that Lake Louise ice & snow looked very similar to This may result from the direction the mountain slopes are facing protecting them from a lot of direct sunlight and the fact that there had been significant snow falls in the week prior to our 2014 visit. 17

18 23. Moraine Lake & the Valley of the Ten Peaks, Alberta 24. Banff Avenue and Mount Cascade, Banff, Alberta 25. The Weary Travellers Relaxing on Our Daughter Susan s Condo Deck in Calgary 18