Audio
Alcove Spring - A Swale Vantage Point Exhibit Audio Description
Transcript
A Swale Vantage Point. 449 words.
This panel sits on a hilltop underneath a covered wooden lean-to. A metal bench is to the left. The view beyond the panel looks down the hill to a meadow below that slopes to the left with a tree line on the far side. On the left side of the meadow swales or ruts can be seen going down the slope.
The background of this panel has a color photograph of the view below during the summer with a bright green meadows and green trees beyond. Several small figures of people move across the meadows. On the left side ghosted images of ox-drawn wagons move down the slope following the ruts still visible. Text at top left reads, "From this vantage point, one can envision what the emigrant travelers saw on the route west to Oregon and California more than 150 years ago. The hilly terrain made travel difficult. Thousands of people, heavily loaded wagons, and livestock carved ruts into the ground. Wagon wheels cut deep into the earth softened and muddy from spring rains. When the emigrant wagon trains stopped using the trails, grasses and other plants slowly covered over the ruts, turning them into smooth depressions in the landscape called swales."
At upper right on the panel are two smaller images. The top one is a map of the surrounding area oriented to your view with north to the right and the Big Blue River in the distance in front of you. The Oregon and California Trails are marked with a red and yellow dotted line coming up from the bottom on your right, curving to pass in front of you, then curving back to cross the river and moving off the top of the map.
The lower image is a 3D Lidar image of your position and the hillside you’re viewing. It clearly shows the grooves of the wagon swales going from right to left on the hillside in front of you. The caption reads, "Topographic remote sensing has identified numerous traces of wagon swales in the surrounding landscape. Light Detection and Ranging, or Lidar, is an aerial laser scanning method that produces precise, 3D maps of the terrain, like the one pictured here."
Across the top of the panel is a black bar. At the left end text reads "Alcove Spring." At the right end are the logos and text for the Oregon National Historic Trail and California National Historic Trail. Other text reads, "National Park Service, Alcove Spring Preservation Association Oregon-California Trails Association."
At bottom right is a QR code and the Audio Description symbol. Text reads, "For audio description of this wayside visit go.nps.gov/SwaleVantagePoint. Photo by Tom Parker."
End of Description.
Description
Listen to the audio description Alcove Spring - A Swale Vantage Point Exhibit.
Date Created
04/26/2023
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