Soft pre-dawn light bathes Crater Bluff with Tonduron Spire just a distant peak in the background. Taken from the Grand High Tops of the Warrumbungles after night hike to reach this spot. The first European to sight and explore the area was John Oxley in 1818 who named the range the Arbuthnot Range. The Aboriginal name 'Warrumbungles' from the Gamilaroi tribe meaning 'crooked mountains', soon took over as the most frequently used name. Lieben, on Crater Bluff, was the most difficult rock climb in Australia for many years after its first ascent by Bryden Allen and Ted Batty in 1962. Warrumbungle National Park, New South Wales, Australia
One of the pinnacles or hoodoos in Pinnacles Provincial Park at the peak of Autumn about 4 weeks ago. The pinnacles, which were once part of an ancient lava flow, have been formed since the end of the last ice age when soft basalt layers eroded away to leave a more resistant ash layers behind. Quesnel, Northern British Columbia, Canada.
Sunset in South Georgia at Providence Canyon. The canyon formation, made up of a kaleidoscope of coloured sands and clays, owes its existence to destructive early farming practices in the 19th century as is was unknown at the time that the undulating hills were made up of deep sand deposits below a very thin crust of clayey topsoil. Once the topsoil had been disturbed the natural elements did the rest with the canyon progressively deepening over the subsequent 150 years. The dramatic pinnacles which remain are sections of clay which the sand has eroded around. The erosion gullies reach depths of 150 feet (or 46m) and are referred to by the locals as Georgia's "Little Grand Canyon". Providence Canyon State Park, Georgia, United States of America.
