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Oh yeah, the Wichita Mountains. Perhaps the most interesting because you simply don't expect them to be there, in a place like that. Very unique area.
Yes, we lived not far from there for several years, and used to hike in the Wichita Mountains. Pretty area.
I have a soft spot in my heart for the Ozarks. My grandparents lived on Table Rock Lake on the Missouri/Arkansas border for 25 years, having retired there in the late 1960s. I spent several weeks there every summer as a kid. I have a lot of very fond memories of time spent there.
Last edited by Texas Ag 93; 04-01-2018 at 09:05 PM..
So everybody knows about the Appalachian and Rocky mountain ranges, the two dominant mountain ranges of North America. However, lying in the Midwestern US and part of the western south are a few lesser known low-mountain ranges/hill country.
In the upper Midwest sit the eastern Sawtooths (not to be confused with the much more popular Idaho Sawtooths) in Minnesota and the Michigan UP, as well the Driftless area that escaped glaciation more than once, shared by Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois.
In the lower Midwest and western south sit the Ozarks and Quachita mountains. The Ozarks are admittedly the best known of these four regions, but shockingly they are often forgotten in conversation these days. The Ozarks sit in Missouri, (a tiny bit of) Kansas, Arkansas and Oklahoma, with the neighboring Quachita shared between Arkansas and Oklahoma.
With the Midwest generally being defined as flat, these areas go relatively un-noticed by the general public.
So here's the question; whether you just learned about these places now or knew about them previously (perhaps personally), which do you personally prefer the natural beauty of? Or in general, which region do you feel provides the best hunting/fishing or even home-lifestyle?
I personally believe they are all fairly comparable in both landscape and obscurity, and more or less wished to bring them up.
Didn't know that the UP Michigan mountains were also considered the Sawtooths. I thought the Sawtooths were just in MN.
Does this mean that the Porcupine Mtns. are a range among the Sawtooths or are they separate?
Location: Appalachian New York, Formerly Louisiana
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Originally Posted by Ben Around
Didn't know that the UP Michigan mountains were also considered the Sawtooths. I thought the Sawtooths were just in MN.
Does this mean that the Porcupine Mtns. are a range among the Sawtooths or are they separate?
As far as I know with what little information I could find a while ago, they are all geologically related. Yet another scattered bit of the dramatically disassembled Canadian Shield.
As far as I know with what little information I could find a while ago, they are all geologically related. Yet another scattered bit of the dramatically disassembled Canadian Shield.
Yup, that's what I thought. I'd never seen the small mountains in the UP labeled Sawtooth.
So, Sawtooth = Canadian Shield; Porcupines = Canadian Shield; Sawtooth =/= Porcupines.
This is for the Porcupine Mountains in MI - There is some confusion about if they are the same as the Sawtooths... I'm not sure, but I believe these two wiki articles will show you what the OP was talking about.
The Sawtooths are mostly coniferous forest, which to me isn't as pretty as a coniferous forest. It also seemed to me to be more "scrubby" in places due to wildfires and wind/snow storms and the sandy soil. It's more "wild" than any of the other places, and less populated by humans. I frequently saw bear and wolves and other dangerous critters near my home. I lived up there for 8 years, and actually preferred the beauty of the forest in wintertime to other seasons.
The Driftless is more gently beautiful. The forest is mixed with farmland and valleys. Unfortunately, it has been rapidly getting too much population in recent years. You haven't yet learned what locals know: "Shhhhh! Don't ever mention the Driftless to outsiders!" And I'm serious about this. So, never mind! Nothing to see here! Move away. Outsiders can visit briefly, but not stay.
The Ozarks, to me, are so beautiful because of the dense deciduous forest. However (and I lived in Arkansas for 4 years, so can say this quite truthfully) the humans who live there live up to every negative stereotype. Lack of education, lack of good health care, inbreeding and crazy hard core religiousness have all combined to create a human population which is just gross, to be avoided by normal human beings.
The Ouachita are similarly beautiful, and less populated by humans (although populated by the same kind of humans I described in the above.) It really is an area most Americans don't know about, so there are more huge areas that feel as though they haven't been touched by human hand. The area feels less touristy and more "natural" than the Ozarks.
If I were to pick one of these places to go as a tourist, I'd pick the Ouachitas because of the beauty and fewer tourists. If I were to return to one of these places to live, and if I could pick to remove the existing humans who live there (and that's VERY important) I would pick the Ouachitas. But based on the reality of the human factor, I'd pick the Dri..... (what? there's no such place. It doesn't exist. Never mind.)
The Sawtooths are mostly coniferous forest, which to me isn't as pretty as a coniferous forest. It also seemed to me to be more "scrubby" in places due to wildfires and wind/snow storms and the sandy soil. It's more "wild" than any of the other places, and less populated by humans. I frequently saw bear and wolves and other dangerous critters near my home. I lived up there for 8 years, and actually preferred the beauty of the forest in wintertime to other seasons.
The Driftless is more gently beautiful. The forest is mixed with farmland and valleys. Unfortunately, it has been rapidly getting too much population in recent years. You haven't yet learned what locals know: "Shhhhh! Don't ever mention the Driftless to outsiders!" And I'm serious about this. So, never mind! Nothing to see here! Move away. Outsiders can visit briefly, but not stay.
The Ozarks, to me, are so beautiful because of the dense deciduous forest. However (and I lived in Arkansas for 4 years, so can say this quite truthfully) the humans who live there live up to every negative stereotype. Lack of education, lack of good health care, inbreeding and crazy hard core religiousness have all combined to create a human population which is just gross, to be avoided by normal human beings.
The Ouachita are similarly beautiful, and less populated by humans (although populated by the same kind of humans I described in the above.) It really is an area most Americans don't know about, so there are more huge areas that feel as though they haven't been touched by human hand. The area feels less touristy and more "natural" than the Ozarks.
If I were to pick one of these places to go as a tourist, I'd pick the Ouachitas because of the beauty and fewer tourists. If I were to return to one of these places to live, and if I could pick to remove the existing humans who live there (and that's VERY important) I would pick the Ouachitas. But based on the reality of the human factor, I'd pick the Dri..... (what? there's no such place. It doesn't exist. Never mind.)
Yeah, living in the Ozarks is an uphill battle. I say this as a conservative, fairly religious person.
The Ouachitas are nicer all around. Less trashed out than the cluttered Ozarks, mostly. The "build anything anywhere, every other house has/is it's own junk yard, and abandon and replace all things old but don't tear it down" mentality drastically devalues the scenery of the place. I'm also wary of drinking the local water because of it.
The Driftless, I'll visit but not stay because I'd rather live on a big lake (Sawtooth).
Last edited by sub; 04-04-2018 at 04:49 PM..
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