Unit 3 Text 1 Enjoy the Great Outdoors

As for the landscape, it is enormously varied and spectacular. In the west there are the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, with their snow-capped peaks, and in the east the wild, forest-covered Appalachians, whose highest summit is nearly 7000 feet. There is an abundance of waterfalls, gentle rivers, lakes that are small and intimate or vast like the Great Lakes. Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world and the waves which break on its shores are like the waves of the sea. In winter and in spring, campers are tempted by the clear skies and dazzling multi-colored rocks of Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. Even the bleak splendor of Death Valley attracts many winter visitors.

Everything worth seeing in the USA is accessible to campers, picnickers and vacationers. Freeways, highways, unpaved secondary roads lead you to places from where you can push off into the wilderness. Once in the wilderness, your chief worry will be, not how to avoid other hikers, but how not to get lost

The unique contributions of the United States to those who love the great outdoors are the National Parks and State Parks. They are beautifully organized and give particular thought to campers. There are also campsites by the sea, which are hidden from the beach by a line of sand dunes, or a thick belt of trees. Wherever you go, you can nearly always find picnic places complete with wooden tables and benches, garbage cans

and restrooms

Many Americans, young and old, prefer camping in vehicles called campers. There are many different kinds, from the extremely luxurious to the convertible pick-up truck. There are monster campers with every imaginable luxury, from deep freezes and microwave ovens, to plush carpets and color television sets. They can accommodate four people comfortably, and they do not necessarily belong to rich people.

Some retired couples put a large part of their savings into these “homes on wheels” and spend half the year roaming the country. It satisfies a craving for the great open spaces that some of them still have in their advanced years, and it is at the same time a cheap way to live. If the price of gas goes up any further, they will simply roam less far.

Even the smallest camper cannot negotiate the steeper and more tortuous roads which lead far into the wilderness. So the adventurous often strap bicycles or motorbikes to the front of their campers. Then they are free to follow the smallest tracks up the mountains, across the deserts or into the forests.

Others travel the country in four-wheel-drive vehicles. They may carry with them canoes or rafts, in which they travel down rivers controlled by the National Park Service. These rivers flow through wildernesses. The adventurers can camp on the riverbanks, but they are forbidden to go inland. They cannot hunt but they are allowed to fish. Some of these rivers twist and rush down narrow canyons, or deep rocky valleys thick with forests. Rangers patrol the waters from time to time, but you travel the rivers at your own risk.

Horseback riding is a favorite but more expensive sport, and there are dude ranches in Texas and other border states where you can stay— at a price —and live the life of a cowboy or cowgirl. Other outdoor adventures can be snowshoeing through the flat forests of Michigan, snow-mobiling

anywhere, skiing in the Rockies and in Alaska, surfing, water-skiing and hunting. And there are many other things besides, that you can do in the American “great outdoors.”