The Planet Earth Online
We Live on a big, beautiful planet stocked with a great variety of scenery and landscape. It is a planet made for humans to live on, but most of it is covered by fields and mountains and deserts and oceans. It is a real planet full of living plants and animals, and a few billion people, each of which are unique and interesting. People have shaped the world in many ways, building houses and cities and farms. Roads, a man-made feature, criss-cross the whole earth, tying together its endless variety into one common network.
Since 1999, UntraveledRoad has been capturing the scenery of modern highways, mountain roads, city streets and trails, visiting places both exotic and familiar to create a photographic virtual world, where you can stop to look at wildflowers, lakes, mountain vistas, and read historic markers, all from the comfort of your computer chair. With 396,883 hand-held camera photographs, UntraveledRoad preserves a repository of beautiful scenery which you can explore at your leisure. If you want to see the beauty of National Parks, the serenity of an alpine wilderness, the solitude of the desert, or wander randomly along highways, it is waiting for you now at a mouseclick.
These virtual tours consist of stops along roads, streets and trails, where four pictures are taken, one in each direction. Each page shows an ahead-facing picture along with two side view thumbnails. You can turn in any direction, and proceed to the next stop. Where appropriate, extra pictures show high-resolution views of scenery, or historic and interpretative markers. Some complicated intersections include pictures for diagonal directions. To skip uneventful sections of roadway, a jump feature takes you to the next important town or intersection. See the legend at the bottom of this page for more information.
This page highlights only a few samples of the many explorations you can make on UntraveledRoad.
Imagine a rural valley that almost no one has ever heard of, full of grassland and waving fields of grain, and surrounded by beautiful forested mountains. A small paved road runs through the middle of it, passing by scattered farmhouses, abandoned cabins, and a tiny school. This is Arbon Valley.
Arbon Valley is nestled between the Deep Creek Mountains and the Pleasantview Hills in southern Idaho. It is presided over by Deep Creek Peak at 8,748 feet, which is roughly 3,500 feet above the valley floor. There is nothing spectacular about it except for these three things: 1: Its beautiful scenery, 2: It is a showcase of what's right with America, and 3: You can visit it now in this online tour.
Looking into the Grand Canyon from South Rim is one of the most breathtaking scenes in the world. The Colorado River, a mile lower in elevation, is not even visible, being lost in the depths. But layer on layer of cliffs and colored rock stretch from horizon to horizon on the canyon walls, punctuated by fantastic formations with fanciful names like "The Battleship" and "Zoroaster Temple."
For some a visit to the Grand Canyon is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. For those who have the opportunity to return frequently, there is no end to the opportunities for exploration. An easy day at the Grand Canyon would involve a stroll along the rim next to Grand Canyon Village, with stops at gift shops and eateries. For a seasoned Grand Canyon explorer, it would involve grueling overnight hikes on trails like the Kaibab or Bright Angel trails.
Don't forget the North Rim, especially if you prefer to avoid crowds. But allow time for the five-hour drive to get there from South Rim. Fabled view like Point Imperial and Bright Angel Point await you there.
Delintment Lake is a jewel in the mountains of the Ochoco National Forest in Central Oregon. It is a small lake, just half a mile across, surrounded by forest that include one of the largest stands of Ponderosa Pine in America. It is a quiet place where the local folks go fishing, canoeing and picnicing. The Forest Service operates a campground on the south shore.
The elevation is 5,562 feet at Delintment Lake, and the surrounding mountains are an island of green in the notorious sagebrush-filled deserts of central Oregon. So next time you are traveling U.S. Highway 20, turn aside at Hines and see what the scenery is really like.
A paved road leads all the way from Hines to Delintment Lake, a distance of about 40 miles. Oddly, much of the road, although paved, is a single lane, with occasional pullouts
Legend
A tree icon indicates high resolution scenic views.
A magnifying glass icon indicates a historic or interpretive marker that can be read.
Side arrows indicate intersecting routes which can be followed.
A flash icon indicates a jump ahead to the next town, intersection or point of interest.