1.
Maryland
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The states largest city is Baltimore, and its capital is Annapolis. Among its occasional nicknames are Old Line State, the Free State, the state is named after Henrietta Maria of France, the wife of Charles I of England. George Calvert was the first Lord of Baltimore and the first English proprietor of the colonial grant. Maryland was the state to ratify the United States Constitution. Maryland is one of the smallest U. S. states in terms of area, as well as one of the most densely populated, Maryland has an area of 12,406.68 square miles and is comparable in overall area with Belgium. It is the 42nd largest and 9th smallest state and is closest in size to the state of Hawaii, the next largest state, its neighbor West Virginia, is almost twice the size of Maryland. Maryland possesses a variety of topography within its borders, contributing to its nickname America in Miniature. The mid-portion of this border is interrupted by Washington, D. C. which sits on land that was part of Montgomery and Prince Georges counties and including the town of Georgetown. This land was ceded to the United States Federal Government in 1790 to form the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay nearly bisects the state and the counties east of the bay are known collectively as the Eastern Shore. Close to the town of Hancock, in western Maryland, about two-thirds of the way across the state. This geographical curiosity makes Maryland the narrowest state, bordered by the Mason–Dixon line to the north, portions of Maryland are included in various official and unofficial geographic regions. Much of the Baltimore–Washington corridor lies just south of the Piedmont in the Coastal Plain, earthquakes in Maryland are infrequent and small due to the states distance from seismic/earthquake zones. The M5.8 Virginia earthquake in 2011 was felt moderately throughout Maryland, buildings in the state are not well-designed for earthquakes and can suffer damage easily. The lack of any glacial history accounts for the scarcity of Marylands natural lakes, laurel Oxbow Lake is an over one-hundred-year-old 55-acre natural lake two miles north of Maryland City and adjacent to Russett. Chews Lake is a natural lake two miles south-southeast of Upper Marlboro. There are numerous lakes, the largest of them being the Deep Creek Lake. Maryland has shale formations containing natural gas, where fracking is theoretically possible, as is typical of states on the East Coast, Marylands plant life is abundant and healthy. Middle Atlantic coastal forests, typical of the southeastern Atlantic coastal plain, grow around Chesapeake Bay, moving west, a mixture of Northeastern coastal forests and Southeastern mixed forests cover the central part of the state
2.
Fairfax County, Virginia
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Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,081,726, in 2015, it was estimated at 1,142,234, making it the Commonwealths most populous jurisdiction, with 13. 6% of Virginias population. The county seat is the City of Fairfax, though because it is an independent city under Virginia law, the county is also home to seven Fortune 500 companies, including three with Falls Church addresses. At the time of European encounter, the inhabitants of what would become Fairfax County were an Algonquian-speaking sub-group called the Taux, also known as the Doeg or Dogue. Their villages, as recorded by Captain John Smith in 1608, included Namassingakent, virginian colonists from the Northern Neck region drove the Doeg out of this area and into Maryland by 1670. Fairfax County was formed in 1742 from the part of Prince William County. It was named for Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, the Fairfax family name is derived from the Old English phrase for blond hair – Faeger-feahs. The oldest settlements in Fairfax County were along the Potomac River, George Washington settled in Fairfax County and built his home, Mount Vernon, facing the river. Gunston Hall, the home of George Mason is nearby, modern Fort Belvoir is partly on the estate of Belvoir Manor, built along the Potomac by William Fairfax in 1741. Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, the member of the British nobility ever to reside in the colonies. The Belvoir mansion and several of its outbuildings were destroyed by fire immediately after the Revolutionary War in 1783, in 1757, the northwestern two-thirds of Fairfax County became Loudoun County. In 1789, part of Fairfax County was ceded to the government to form Alexandria County of the District of Columbia. Alexandria County was returned to Virginia in 1846, reduced in size by the secession of the independent city of Alexandria in 1870, the Fairfax County town of Falls Church became an independent city in 1948. The Fairfax County town of Fairfax became an independent city in 1961, Fairfax County was an important region in the Civil War. The Battle of Chantilly or Ox Hill, during the campaign as the second Battle of Bull Run, was fought within the county. Other areas of activity included Minors Hill, Munsons Hill, and Uptons Hill, on the eastern border, overlooking Washington. The federal governments growth during and after World War II spurred rapid growth in the county, other large businesses continued to settle in Fairfax County and the opening of Tysons Corner Center spurred the rise of Tysons Corner. The technology boom and a steady government-driven economy also created rapid growth, the economy has also made Fairfax County one of the nations wealthiest counties
3.
Virginia
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Virginia is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, as well as in the historic Southeast. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, the capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond, Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealths estimated population as of 2014 is over 8.3 million, the areas history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony, slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colonys early politics and plantation economy. Although the Commonwealth was under one-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. The state government was ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States in both 2005 and 2008 and it is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginias economy changed from agricultural to industrial during the 1960s and 1970s. Virginia has an area of 42,774.2 square miles, including 3,180.13 square miles of water. Virginias boundary with Maryland and Washington, D. C. extends to the mark of the south shore of the Potomac River. The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, the border with Tennessee was not settled until 1893, when their dispute was brought to the U. S. Supreme Court. The Chesapeake Bay separates the portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginias Eastern Shore. The bay was formed from the river valleys of the Susquehanna River. Many of Virginias rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, the Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay, the Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic era. The region, known for its clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains around Charlottesville. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a province of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state. The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains and includes the Great Appalachian Valley, the region is carbonate rock based and includes Massanutten Mountain. The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, in this region, rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin
4.
Waterfall
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A waterfall is a place where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of drops in the course of a stream or river. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of an iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls are commonly formed in the course of a river. At these times the channel is narrow and deep. When the river courses over resistant bedrock, erosion happens slowly, as the watercourse increases its velocity at the edge of the waterfall, it plucks material from the riverbed. Whirlpools created in the turbulence as well as sand and stones carried by the increase the erosion capacity. This causes the waterfall to carve deeper into the bed and to recede upstream, often over time, the waterfall will recede back to form a canyon or gorge downstream as it recedes upstream, and it will carve deeper into the ridge above it. The rate of retreat for a waterfall can be as high as one, eventually, the outcropping, more resistant cap rock will collapse under pressure to add blocks of rock to the base of the waterfall. Waterfalls normally form in an area due to erosion. After a long period of being formed, the water falling off the ledge will retreat. Eventually, as the pit grows deeper, the waterfall collapses to be replaced by a steeply sloping stretch of river bed, a river sometimes flows over a large step in the rocks that may have been formed by a fault line. Waterfalls can occur along the edge of a trough, where a stream or river flowing into a glacier continues to flow into a valley after the glacier has receded or melted. The large waterfalls in Yosemite Valley are examples of this phenomenon, another reason hanging valleys may form is where two rivers join and one is flowing faster than the other. Waterfalls can be grouped into ten classes based on the average volume of water present on the fall using a logarithmic scale. Class 10 waterfalls include Niagara Falls, Paulo Afonso Falls and Khone Falls, young Wrote Waterfalls, form and process this work made waterfalls a much more serious topic for research for modern Geoscientists. Ledge waterfall, Water descends vertically over a cliff, maintaining partial contact with the bedrock. Block/Sheet. Classical, Ledge waterfalls where fall height is equal to stream width. Curtain, Ledge waterfalls which descend over a larger than the width of falling water stream
5.
Potomac River
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The Potomac River /pəˈtoʊmək/ is located along the mid-Atlantic Ocean coast of the United States and flows into the Chesapeake Bay. The river is approximately 405 miles long, with an area of about 14,700 square miles. In terms of area, this makes the Potomac River the fourth largest river along the Atlantic coast of the United States, over 5 million people live within the Potomac watershed. The river forms part of the borders between Maryland and Washington, D. C. on the left descending bank and West Virginia and Virginia on the right descending bank. The majority of the lower Potomac River is part of the State of Maryland, exceptions include a small tidal portion within the District of Columbia, and the border with Virginia being delineated from point to point. Except for a portion of its headwaters in West Virginia. The South Branch Potomac River lies completely within the state of West Virginia except for its headwaters, the Potomac River runs 405 miles from the Fairfax Stone in West Virginia on the Allegheny Plateau to Point Lookout, Maryland, and drains 14,679 square miles. The length of the river from the junction of its North and South Branches to Point Lookout is 302 miles, the average flow is 10,800 ft³/s. The largest flow recorded on the Potomac at Washington, D. C. was in March 1936 when it reached 425,000 ft³/s. The lowest flow recorded at the same location was 600 ft³/s in September,1966. The source of the North Branch is at the Fairfax Stone located at the junction of Grant, Tucker, the source of the South Branch is located near Hightown in northern Highland County, Virginia. The rivers two branches converge just east of Green Spring in Hampshire County, West Virginia, to form the Potomac. Once the Potomac drops from the Piedmont to the Coastal Plain at Little Falls, tides further influence the river as it passes through Washington, D. C. salinity in the Potomac River Estuary increases thereafter with distance downstream. The estuary also widens, reaching 11 statute miles wide at its mouth, Potomac is a European spelling of Patowmeck, the Algonquian name of a Native American village, perhaps meaning something brought. Native Americans had different names for different parts of the river, calling the river above Great Falls Cohongarooton, meaning honking geese and Patawomke below the fall, meaning river of swans. The spelling of the name has many forms over the years from Patawomeke to Patawomeck, Patowmack. The rivers name was decided upon as Potomac by the Board on Geographic Names in 1931. The river itself is at least two years old, likely extending back ten to twenty million years before present when the Atlantic Ocean lowered and exposed coastal sediments along the fall line
6.
Great Falls Park
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Great Falls Park is a small National Park Service site in Virginia, United States. Situated on 800 acres along the banks of the Potomac River in northern Fairfax County, native American petroglyphs have been discovered within the park on cliffs overlooking Difficult Run. The park visitor center has the bottom portions of two wooden canal lock gates excavated in the 1980s from the canal, the gates survived from at least the 1830s and were found during restoration projects on stonework which were erected for the canal locks. Stonemason marks found on the stones are unique to each artisan and are identical to some found in stones of the White House. During the construction of the canal, blasting powder, which at the time was essentially gunpowder, was used to blast through solid rocks and this is one of the first known examples of blasting powder being used for engineering purposes anywhere in the world. The canal was never a profitable enterprise, with the completion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal on the opposite side of the river, and the oncoming age of railroads, the project was abandoned in 1830. The canal is a Civil Engineering Landmark as well as a Virginia Historic Landmark, along the trails, the ruins of the small town of Matildaville, Virginia can also be found. Between 1906 and 1932, the Great Falls and Old Dominion Railroad and its successor, located at the end of an electric trolley line that began in Georgetown, Washington, D. C. the park contained picnic grounds, a dance pavilion, and a carousel. In the evenings, a searchlight illuminated the falls, the park continues to provide picnic grounds and a visitors center but the carousel that operated between 1954 and 1972 was destroyed by a flood caused by Hurricane Agnes. The George Washington Memorial Parkway was developed to ensure the linkage of George Washingtons most visited places. Great Falls Park was a part of the Northern Virginia Parks system and was transferred to the NPS in 1966, access the park by exiting Interstate 495 at Georgetown Pike and head west 3 miles to Old Dominion Drive. From there follow the signs north 1 mile to the park entrance, there is a $10 entrance fee per car for visitors who drive into the park. The park is only during daylight hours. The park has several viewing platforms that provide visitors with vantage points overlooking the falls, the NPS operates a visitor center near the falls. Fifteen miles of hiking trails encompass the park and follow a small stream known as Difficult Run, rock climbers frequent the cliffs in Mather Gorge above the Potomac. The park contains a picnic area and sufficient parking for 600 vehicles. On busy weekends all the parking may fill up by early in the morning, creating delays, the NPS does not permit camping in the park. The falls total 76 feet over a series of major cascades, the Great Falls are rated Class 5-6 Whitewater according to the International Scale of River Difficulty
7.
National Park Service
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It was created on August 25,1916, by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act and is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior. As of 2014, the NPS employs 21,651 employees who oversee 417 units, the National Park Service celebrated its centennial in 2016. National parks and national monuments in the United States were originally individually managed under the auspices of the Department of the Interior, the movement for an independent agency to oversee these federal lands was spearheaded by business magnate and conservationist Stephen Mather, as well as J. Horace McFarland. With the help of journalist Robert Sterling Yard, Mather ran a publicity campaign for the Department of the Interior and they wrote numerous articles that praised the scenic and historic qualities of the parks and their possibilities for educational, inspirational, and recreational benefits. This campaign resulted in the creation of a National Park Service, Mather became the first director of the newly formed NPS. On March 3,1933, President Herbert Hoover signed the Reorganization Act of 1933, the act would allow the President to reorganize the executive branch of the United States government. It wasnt until later that summer when the new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Roosevelt agreed and issued two Executive orders to make it happen. In 1951, Conrad Wirth became director of the National Park Service, the demand for parks after the end of the World War II had left the parks overburdened with demands that could not be met. In 1952, with the support of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, he began Mission 66, New parks were added to preserve unique resources and existing park facilities were upgraded and expanded. In 1966, as the Park Service turned 50 years old, emphasis began to turn from just saving great and wonderful scenery, Director George Hartzog began the process with the creation of the National Lakeshores and then National Recreation Areas. Since its inception in 1916, the National Park Service has managed each of the United States national parks, Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the United States. In 1872, there was no government to manage it. Yosemite National Park began as a park, the land for the park was donated by the federal government to the state of California in 1864 for perpetual conservation. Yosemite was later returned to federal ownership, at first, each national park was managed independently, with varying degrees of success. In Yellowstone, the staff was replaced by the U. S. Army in 1886. Due to the irregularities in managing these national treasures, Stephen Mather petitioned the government to improve the situation. In response, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane challenged him to lobby for creating a new agency, Mather was successful with the ratification of the National Park Service Organic Act in 1916. Later, the agency was given authority over other protected areas, the National Park System includes all properties managed by the National Park Service
8.
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
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The canals principal cargo was coal from the Allegheny Mountains. Construction on the 184. 5-mile canal began in 1828 and ended in 1850 with the completion of a 50-mile stretch to Cumberland, a planned section to the Ohio River at Pittsburgh was never built. The canal way is now maintained as the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, after the American Revolutionary War, George Washington was the chief advocate of using waterways to connect the Eastern Seaboard to the Great Lakes and the Ohio River. In 1785, Washington founded the Potowmack Company to improve the navigability of the Potomac River and his company built five skirting canals around the major falls, Little Falls, Great Falls in Virginia, Seneca Falls, Paynes Falls of the Shenendoah, and Houses Falls near Harpers Ferry. These canals allowed an easy downstream float, upstream journeys, propelled by pole, were harder, several kinds of watercraft were used on the Patowmack Canal and in the Potomac River. Gondolas were 60-by-10-foot log rafts usually sold at journeys end for their wood by their owners, sharpers were flat-bottomed boats,60 by 7 feet, usable only on high-water days, about 45 days per year. As early as 1820, plans were being laid for a canal to link the Ohio River, in early March 1825, President James Monroe signed the bill chartering the construction of the C&O Canal as one of the last acts of his presidency. Free from taxation, the company was required to have 100 miles in use in five years. The canal was engineered to have a 2 mph water current, supplying the canal, the eastern section was the only part to be completed In October 23,1826, the engineers submitted the study, presenting the proposed canal route in three sections. The total estimated price tag, more than $22 million, dampened the enthusiasm of many supporters, who were expecting more like $4 million to $5 million. At a convention in December 1826, they attempted to discredit the engineers report, geddes and Roberts were hired to make another report, which they gave in 1828, $4,479,346.93 for Georgetown to Cumberland. With those numbers to them, the stockholders formally organized the Chesapeake. In the end, the construction cost to Cumberland in 1850 was $11,071,075.21. The cost overrun of the proposal was about 51% thus showing that the original engineers estimate was good. In 1824, the holdings of the Patowmack Company were ceded to the Chesapeake, according to historians, those financial resources were expended until the State had prostrated itself on its own credit. The C&Os first chief engineer was Benjamin Wright, formerly chief engineer of the Erie Canal, a groundbreaking ceremony was held on July 4,1828, attended by U. S. president John Quincy Adams. The ceremony was held near Georgetown, at the canals eventual 5. 64-mile mark near Lock 6, the end of the Little Falls skirting canal. At the groundbreaking, there was argument over the eastern end of the canal
9.
Billy Goat Trail
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Section A of the trail, by far the most popular, is on Bear Island and traverses rough and rocky terrain, including a steep climb along a cliff face along the Potomac Rivers Mather Gorge. At another point in the trail, hikers are required to scramble over, sections B and C are less strenuous, section B requires only one brief scramble, and section C has none. Most of the trail is marked with light blue trail blazes. Section A is best accessed from the Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center, Section B and Section C are best accessed from Carderock, Maryland. All sections of the trail are free, although a fee is charged when entering and parking near the Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center. No fee is charged when parking near Carderock, dogs are not allowed on Section A, nor on Olmsted Island, but are permitted on a leash at all times everywhere else in the park. It takes about 2 1/2 hours to do the Section A loop from the parking lot, the three sections of the trail do not connect directly with each other, but are connected to each other by the towpath along the C&O Canal. The end point of section C is about 2.75 miles southeast along the towpath from the point of section A. Pictures are approximately upstream to downstream on the trail, Great Falls Trail Descriptions from the National Park Service website Great Falls Trail Map, Page 1 and Page 2 from the National Park Service website The Washington Post
10.
Kayaking
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Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving across water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the position of the paddler. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits facing forward, legs in front, using a paddle to pull front-to-back on one side. Most kayaks have closed decks, although sit-on-top and inflatable kayaks are growing in popularity as well, kayaks were created thousands of years ago by the Inuit, formerly known as Eskimos, of the northern Arctic regions. They used driftwood and sometimes the skeleton of whale, to construct the frame of the kayak, the main purpose for creating the kayak, which literally translates to hunters boat was for hunting and fishing. The kayaks stealth capabilities, allowed for the hunter to sneak up behind animals on the shoreline, by the mid-1800s the kayak became increasingly popular and the Europeans became interested. German and French men began kayaking for sport, in 1931, a man named Adolf Anderle became the first person to kayak down the Salzachofen Gorge, this is where the birthplace of modern-day white-water kayaking is believed to have begun. Kayak races were introduced in the Berlin Olympic Games in 1936, in the 1950s fiberglass kayaks were developed and commonly used, until 1980s when polyethylene plastic kayaks came about. Kayaking progressed as a sport in the U. S. until the 1970s. Now, more than 10 white water kayaking events are featured in the Olympics, kayaks can also be classified by their design and the materials from which they are made. Each design has its specific advantage, including performance, manoeuvrability, stability, kayaks can be made of metal, fibreglass, wood, plastic, fabrics, and inflatable fabrics such as PVC or rubber, and more recently expensive but feather light carbon fiber. Each material also has its specific advantage, including strength, durability, portability, flexibility, resistance to ultraviolet, for example, wooden kayaks can be created from kits or built by hand. Stitch and glue, plywood kayaks can be lighter than any other material except skin-on frame, inflatable kayaks, made from lightweight fabric, can be deflated and easily transported and stored, and considered to be remarkably tough and durable compared to some hard-sided boats. There are many types of kayaks used in water and white water kayaking. The sizes and shapes vary drastically depending on type of water to be paddled on. The second set of essentials for kayaking is an off-set paddle where the blades are tilted to help reduce wind resistance while the other blade is being used in the water. These vary in length and also depending on the intended use, height of the paddler and often. Proper clothing such as a dry suit, wet suit or spray top also help protect kayakers from cold water or air temperatures, sit on top kayaks place the paddler in an open, shallowly-concave deck above the water level
11.
Rafting
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Rafting and white water rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water, dealing with risk and the need for teamwork is often a part of the experience. It is considered a sport, and can be fatal. The International Rafting Federation, often referred to as the IRF, is the body which oversees all aspects of the sport. Otherwise known as the International Scale of River Difficulty, below are the six grades of difficulty in white water rafting and they range from simple to very dangerous and potential death or serious injuries. Class 1, Very small rough areas, might require slight maneuvering, Class 2, Some rough water, maybe some rocks, might require some maneuvering. Class 3, Small waves, maybe a small drop, Class 6, Class 6 rapids are considered to be so dangerous that they are effectively unnavigable on a reliably safe basis. Traversing a Class 6 rapid has an increased likelihood of ending in serious injury or death compared to lesser classes. Rafts in white water are very different vehicles than canoes or kayaks and have their own techniques to maneuver through whitewater obstacles. Punching – Rafts carry great momentum, and on rivers hydraulics that are dodged by canoes and this involves the rafting crew paddling the raft to give it enough speed to push through the hydraulic without getting stopped. High siding – If a raft is caught in a hydraulic it will quickly go sideways. In this position the rafters may be able to use the draw stroke to pull the raft out of the head, low siding- more of a professional maneuver sometimes used at LOW water to slide through a channel less than the size of your craft. Dump truck – Rafts are inherently stable craft because of their size and low center of mass, in the industry, if a raft dumps some or all of its passengers but remains upright, it is said to have dump-trucked. Left over right or right over left – Rafts almost always flip side over side, If the left tube rises over the right tube, the raft is said to have flipped left over right and vice versa. Taco – If a raft is soft, or under-inflated, it may taco, Rafts are said to have tacoed if the middle of the raft buckles and the front of the raft touches or nearly touches the back of the raft. This is often a result of surfing in a hydraulic, a reverse taco is when the nose or stern of the raft is pulled down under water and buckles to touch the middle, back or nose of the raft. End over end – Occasionally rafts will flip end over end and this is usually after the raft has dump-trucked to lighten the load, allowing the water to overcome the weight of the boat, flipping it vertically before it lands upside down. Rafts will more often taco and turn sideways, making an end-over-end flip very rare in most rafts, downstream flip – A raft capsizes after encountering an obstacle, such as a rock, a feature like a hydraulic, or even another raft
12.
Rock climbing
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Rock climbing is an activity in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Due to the length and extended endurance required and because accidents are likely to happen on descent than ascent. It is very rare for a climber to downclimb, especially on the larger multiple pitches, professional Rock climbing competitions have the objectives of either completing the route in the quickest possible time or attaining the farthest point on an increasingly difficult route. Scrambling, another activity involving the scaling of hills and similar formations, is similar to rock climbing, however, rock climbing is generally differentiated by its sustained use of hands to support the climbers weight as well as to provide balance. Rock climbing is a physically and mentally demanding sport, one that often tests a climbers strength, endurance, agility and it can be a dangerous activity and knowledge of proper climbing techniques and usage of specialized climbing equipment is crucial for the safe completion of routes. Because of the range and variety of rock formations around the world. Paintings dating from 200 BC show Chinese men rock climbing China woop woop, in early America, the cliff-dwelling Anasazi in the 12th century were thought to be excellent climbers. Early European climbers used rock climbing techniques as a required to reach the summit in their mountaineering exploits. In the 1880s, European rock climbing become an independent pursuit outside of mountain climbing, Rock climbing evolved gradually from an alpine necessity to a distinct athletic activity. However, climbing techniques, equipment and ethical considerations have evolved steadily, today, free climbing, climbing using holds made entirely of natural rock while using gear solely for protection and not for upward movement, is the most popular form of the sport. Free climbing has since divided into several sub-styles of climbing dependent on belay configuration. Over time, grading systems have also created in order to compare more accurately the relative difficulties of the rock climbs. In How to Rock Climb, John Long notes that for moderately skilled climbers simply getting to the top of a route is not enough, in rock climbing, style refers to the method of ascending the cliff. There are three styles of climbing, on-sight, flash, and redpoint. To on-sight a route is to ascend the wall without aid or any foreknowledge and it is considered the way to climb with the most style. Flashing is similar to on-sighting, except that the climber has previous information about the route including talking about the beta with other climbers, redpointing means to make a free ascent of the route after having first tried it. Free climbing is typically divided into styles that differ from one another depending on the choice of equipment used
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