Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes is a valley within Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska which is filled with ash flow from the eruption of Novarupta on June 6–8, 1912. Following the eruption, thousands of fumaroles vented steam from the ash. Robert F. Griggs, who explored the volcano's aftermath for the National Geographic Society in 1916, gave the valley its name, saying that "the whole valley as far as the eye could reach was full of hundreds, no thousands—literally, tens of thousands—of smokes curling up from its fissured floor." Prior to the eruption,
Minnesota Valley State Recreation Area Minnesota Valley State Recreation Area Minnesota Valley State Recreation Area is a unit of the Minnesota state park system. The park is not continuous but is composed of waysides, four of which are strung along the Minnesota River between Shakopee and Belle Plaine. The various waysides are interspersed with units of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. Although the state recreation area is managed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the national wildlife refuge by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, both agencies share a consistent signage to simplify visitation. The lower Minnesota River valley had been