1.
Summit
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A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a maximum in elevation. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak, and zenith are synonymous, the UIAA definition is that a summit is independent if it has a prominence of 30 metres or more, it is a mountain if it has a prominence of at least 300 metres. This can be summarised as follows, A pyramidal peak is an exaggerated form produced by ice erosion of a mountain top, Summit may also refer to the highest point along a line, trail, or route. In many parts of the western United States, the term refers to the highest point along a road, highway. For example, the highest point along Interstate 80 in California is referred to as Donner Summit while the highest point on Interstate 5 is Siskiyou Mountain Summit, geoid Hill List of highest mountains Maxima and minima Nadir Summit accordance Peak finder
2.
Topographic prominence
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It is a measure of the independence of a summit. A peaks key col is a point on this contour line. By convention, the prominence of Mount Everest, the Earths highest mountain, is taken to equal the elevation of its summit above sea level, if the peaks prominence is P metres, to get from the summit to any higher terrain one must descend at least P metres. Together with the convention for Mount Everest, this implies that the prominence of any island or continental highpoint is equal to its elevation above sea level, for every ridge connecting the peak to higher terrain, find the lowest point on the ridge. The key col is defined as the highest of these cols, the prominence is the difference between the elevation of the peak and the elevation of the key col. The following mental exercise may illustrate the meaning of topographic prominence, imagine you are standing at the top of a peak and imagine that an imaginary sea level rises to your feet. Now slowly lower the sea level and an imaginary island appears beneath your feet. Your island will grow and will merge with other islands that emerge, the parent peak may be either close or far from the subject peak. The summit of Mount Everest is the parent peak of Aconcagua at a distance of 17,755 km, the key col may also be close or far from the subject peak. The key col for Aconcagua is the Bering Strait at a distance of 13,655 km, the key col for the South Summit of Mount Everest is about 100 m distant. Prominence is interesting to many mountaineers because it is a measurement that is strongly correlated with the subjective significance of a summit. Peaks with low prominences are either subsidiary tops of some higher summit or relatively insignificant independent summits, peaks with high prominences tend to be the highest points around and are likely to have extraordinary views. Only summits with a sufficient degree of prominence are regarded as independent mountains, for example, the worlds second-highest mountain is K2. While Mount Everests South Summit is taller than K2, it is not considered an independent mountain because it is a subsummit of the main summit, many lists of mountains take topographic prominence as a criterion for inclusion, or cutoff. John and Anne Nuttalls The Mountains of England and Wales uses a cutoff of 15 m, in the contiguous United States, the famous list of fourteeners uses a cutoff of 300 ft /91 m. Also in the U. S.2000 feet of prominence has become a threshold that signifies that a peak has major stature. This generates lists of peaks ranked by prominence, which are different from lists ranked by elevation. Such lists tend to emphasize isolated high peaks, such as range or island high points, one advantage of a prominence-ranked list is that it needs no cutoff, since a peak with high prominence is automatically an independent peak
3.
Topographic isolation
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The topographic isolation of a summit is the minimum great-circle distance to a point of equal elevation, representing a radius of dominance in which the peak is the highest point. It can be calculated for small hills and islands as well as for major mountain peaks, the following sortable table lists the Earths 40 most topographically isolated summits. The nearest peak to Germanys highest mountain, the 2, 962-metre-high Zugspitze, the distance between the Zugspitze and this contour is 25.8 km, the Zugspitze is thus the highest peak for a radius of 25.8 km around. Its isolation is thus 25.8 km, because there are no higher mountains than Mount Everest, it has no definitive isolation. Many sources list its isolation as the circumference of the earth over the poles or – questionably, after Mount Everest the Aconcagua, highest mountain of the American continents, has the greatest isolation of all mountains. There is no land for 16,534 kilometres when its height is first exceeded by Tirich Mir in the Hindu Kush. Mont Blanc is the highest mountain of the Alps, the geographically nearest higher mountains are all in the Caucasus. The Kukurtlu, which rises near the Elbrus, is the peak for Mont Blanc. com Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia peakbagger. com peaklist. org peakware. com World Mountain Encyclopedia summitpost. org
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
Colorado
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Colorado is a state in the United States encompassing most of the Southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. Colorado is part of the Western United States, the Southwestern United States, Colorado is the 8th most extensive and the 21st most populous of the 50 United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Colorado was 5,540,545 on July 1,2016, the state was named for the Colorado River, which Spanish travelers named the Río Colorado for the ruddy silt the river carried from the mountains. The Territory of Colorado was organized on February 28,1861, Colorado is nicknamed the Centennial State because it became a state in the same year as the centennial of the United States Declaration of Independence. Colorado is noted for its landscape of mountains, forests, high plains, mesas, canyons, plateaus, rivers. Denver is the capital and the most populous city of Colorado, residents of the state are properly known as Coloradans, although the term Coloradoan has been used archaically and lives on in the title of Fort Collins newspaper, the Coloradoan. Colorado, Wyoming and Utah are the states which have boundaries defined solely by lines of latitude and longitude. The summit of Mount Elbert at 14,440 feet elevation in Lake County is the highest point in Colorado, Colorado is the only U. S. state that lies entirely above 1,000 meters elevation. The point where the Arikaree River flows out of Yuma County, Colorado and this point, which holds the distinction of being the highest low elevation point of any state, is higher than the high elevation points of 18 states and the District of Columbia. A little less than one half of the area of Colorado is flat, East of the Rocky Mountains are the Colorado Eastern Plains of the High Plains, the section of the Great Plains within Nebraska at elevations ranging from roughly 3,350 to 7,500 feet. The Colorado plains were mostly prairies, but they have many patches of forests, buttes. Eastern Colorado is presently covered in farmland and rangeland, along with small farming villages. Precipitation is fair, averaging from 15 to 25 inches annually, corn, wheat, hay, soybeans, and oats are all typical crops, and most of the villages and towns in this region boast both a water tower and a grain elevator. Irrigation water is available from the South Platte, the Arkansas River, and a few other streams, however, heavy use of ground water from wells for irrigation has caused underground water reserves to decline. As well as agriculture, eastern Colorado hosts considerable livestock, such as cattle ranches. Roughly 70% of Colorados population resides along the edge of the Rocky Mountains in the Front Range Urban Corridor between Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Pueblo, Colorado. This region is protected from prevailing storms that blow in from the Pacific Ocean region by the high Rockies in the middle of Colorado. The Front Range includes Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, Loveland, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Greeley and other townships, on the other side of the Rockies, the significant population centers in Western Colorado are the cities of Grand Junction, Durango, and Montrose
6.
Clear Creek County, Colorado
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Clear Creek County is one of the 64 counties of the U. S. state of Colorado. As of the 2010 census, the population was 9,088, Clear Creek County is part of the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. It was named after Clear Creek, which runs down from the divide through the county. Idaho Springs was originally designated the county seat, but the county government was moved to Georgetown in 1867. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 396 square miles. In the 2012 election Barack Obama won over Mitt Romney 54% to 42%, as of the census of 2000, there were 9,322 people,4,019 households, and 2,608 families residing in the county. The population density was 24 people per square mile, there were 5,128 housing units at an average density of 13 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 96. 37% White,0. 28% Black or African American,0. 73% Native American,0. 36% Asian,0. 03% Pacific Islander,1. 02% from other races, and 1. 20% from two or more races. 3. 87% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,27. 20% of all households were made up of individuals and 4. 30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the family size was 2.81. In the county, the population was out with 22. 60% under the age of 18,5. 60% from 18 to 24,32. 60% from 25 to 44,32. 20% from 45 to 64. The median age was 40 years, for every 100 females there were 108.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 110.20 males, the median income for a household in the county was $50,997, and the median income for a family was $61,400. Males had an income of $41,667 versus $30,757 for females. The per capita income for the county was $28,160, about 3. 00% of families and 5. 40% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6. 80% of those under age 18 and 5. 60% of those age 65 or over. Idaho Springs Empire Georgetown Silver Plume Downieville-Lawson-Dumont Floyd Hill St
7.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
8.
Mountain range
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A mountain range is a geographic area containing numerous geologically related mountains. A mountain system or system of ranges, sometimes is used to combine several geological features that are geographically related. Mountain ranges are usually segmented by highlands or mountain passes and valleys, individual mountains within the same mountain range do not necessarily have the same geologic structure or petrology. They may be a mix of different orogenic expressions and terranes, for example thrust sheets, uplifted blocks, fold mountains, most geologically young mountain ranges on the Earths land surface are associated with either the Pacific Ring of Fire or the Alpide Belt. The Andes is 7,000 kilometres long and is considered the worlds longest mountain system. The Alpide belt includes Indonesia and southeast Asia, through the Himalaya, the belt also includes other European and Asian mountain ranges. The Himalayas contain the highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest, mountain ranges outside of these two systems include the Arctic Cordillera, the Urals, the Appalachians, the Scandinavian Mountains, the Altai Mountains and the Hijaz Mountains. If the definition of a range is stretched to include underwater mountains. The mountain systems of the earth are characterized by a tree structure, the sub-range relationship is often expressed as a parent-child relationship. For example, the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Blue Ridge Mountains are sub-ranges of the Appalachian Mountains, equivalently, the Appalachians are the parent of the White Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains, and the White Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains are children of the Appalachians. The position of mountains influences climate, such as rain or snow, when air masses move up and over mountains, the air cools producing orographic precipitation. As the air descends on the side, it warms again and is drier. Often, a shadow will affect the leeward side of a range. Mountain ranges are constantly subjected to forces which work to tear them down. Erosion is at work while the mountains are being uplifted and long after until the mountains are reduced to low hills, rivers are traditionally believed to be the principle erosive factor on mountain ranges, with their ability of bedrock incision and sediment transport. The rugged topography of a range is the product of erosion. The basins adjacent to a mountain range are filled with sediments which are buried and turned into sedimentary rock. The early Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado provides an example and this mass of rock was removed as the range was actively undergoing uplift
9.
Front Range
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It is the first mountain range encountered moving west along the 40th parallel north across the Great Plains of North America. The Front Range runs north-south between Casper, Wyoming and Pueblo, Colorado and rises nearly 10,000 feet above the Great Plains, Longs Peak, Mount Evans, and Pikes Peak are its most prominent peaks, visible from the Interstate 25 corridor. The area is a destination for mountain biking, hiking, climbing. Millions of years ago the present-day Front Range was home to ancient mountain ranges, deserts, beaches and this urban corridor benefits from the weather-moderating effect of the Front Range mountains, which help block prevailing storms. About 1 billion years ago, the earth was producing massive amounts of rock that would one day amalgamate, drift together and combine. In the Colorado region, this molten rock spewed and cooled, over the next 500 million years, little is known about changes in the sedimentation after the granite was produced. However, at about 500 –300 million years ago, the region began to sink, eroded granite produced sand particles that began to form strata, layers of sediment, in the sinking basin. Sedimentation would continue to place until about 300 million years ago. Around 300 million years ago, the sinking suddenly reversed, over the next 150 million years, during uplift the mountains would continue to erode and cover themselves in their own sediment. Wind, gravity, rainwater, snow, and ice-melt supplied rivers that ultimately carved through the granite mountains, the sediment from these mountains lies in the Fountain Formation today. Red Rocks Amphitheater outside of Denver, Colorado, is set into the Fountain Formation. At 280 million years ago, sea levels were low and present-day Colorado was part of the super-continent Pangaea, sand deserts covered most of the area spreading as dunes seen in the rock record, known today as the Lyons Sandstone. These dunes appear to be cross-bedded and show various fossil footprints,30 million years later, the sediment deposition was still taking place with the introduction of the Lykins Formation. This formation can be best attributed to its layers of muddy limestone. 250 million years ago, the Ancestral Rockies were burying themselves while the shoreline was present during the break-up of Pangaea and this formation began right after Earth’s largest extinction 251 million years ago at the Permian-Triassic Boundary. Ninety percent of the marine life was destroyed and a great deal on land as well. After 100 million years of deposition, a new environment brought rise to a new formation, the Morrison Formation contains some of the best fossils of the Late Jurassic. It is especially known for its tracks and sauropod bones among other dinosaur fossils
10.
Topographic map
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Traditional definitions require a topographic map to show both natural and man-made features. A topographic map is published as a map series, made up of two or more map sheets that combine to form the whole map. A contour line is a line connecting places of equal elevation, however, in the vernacular and day to day world, the representation of relief is popularly held to define the genre, such that even small-scale maps showing relief are commonly called topographic. The study or discipline of topography is a broader field of study. Topographic maps are based on topographical surveys, performed at large scales, these surveys are called topographical in the old sense of topography, showing a variety of elevations and landforms. This is in contrast to older cadastral surveys, which primarily show property, the first multi-sheet topographic map series of an entire country, the Carte géométrique de la France, was completed in 1789. Topographic surveys were prepared by the military to assist in planning for battle, as such, elevation information was of vital importance. As they evolved, topographic map series became a resource in modern nations in planning infrastructure. Excluding borders, each sheet was 44 cm high and up to 66 cm wide, although the project eventually foundered, it left an indexing system that remains in use. TIGER was developed in the 1980s and used in the 1990, digital elevation models were also compiled, initially from topographic maps and stereographic interpretation of aerial photographs and then from satellite photography and radar data. Since all these were government projects funded with taxes and not classified for security reasons. Initial applications were mostly professionalized forms such as innovative surveying instruments, by the mid-1990s, increasingly user-friendly resources such as online mapping in two and three dimensions, integration of GPS with mobile phones and automotive navigation systems appeared. As of 2011, the future of standardized, centrally printed topographical maps is left somewhat in doubt, the various features shown on the map are represented by conventional signs or symbols. For example, colors can be used to indicate a classification of roads and these signs are usually explained in the margin of the map, or on a separately published characteristic sheet. Topographic maps are commonly called contour maps or topo maps. In the United States, where the national series is organized by a strict 7. 5-minute grid. Topographic maps conventionally show topography, or land contours, by means of contour lines, contour lines are curves that connect contiguous points of the same altitude. In other words, every point on the line of 100 m elevation is 100 m above mean sea level
11.
United States Geological Survey
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The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its resources. The organization has four science disciplines, concerning biology, geography, geology. The USGS is a research organization with no regulatory responsibility. The USGS is a bureau of the United States Department of the Interior, the USGS employs approximately 8,670 people and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia. The USGS also has major offices near Lakewood, Colorado, at the Denver Federal Center, the current motto of the USGS, in use since August 1997, is science for a changing world. The agencys previous slogan, adopted on the occasion of its anniversary, was Earth Science in the Public Service. Prompted by a report from the National Academy of Sciences, the USGS was created, by a last-minute amendment and it was charged with the classification of the public lands, and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain. This task was driven by the need to inventory the vast lands added to the United States by the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the legislation also provided that the Hayden, Powell, and Wheeler surveys be discontinued as of June 30,1879. Clarence King, the first director of USGS, assembled the new organization from disparate regional survey agencies, after a short tenure, King was succeeded in the directors chair by John Wesley Powell. Administratively, it is divided into a Headquarters unit and six Regional Units, Other specific programs include, Earthquake Hazards Program monitors earthquake activity worldwide. The National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado on the campus of the Colorado School of Mines detects the location, the USGS also runs or supports several regional monitoring networks in the United States under the umbrella of the Advanced National Seismic System. The USGS informs authorities, emergency responders, the media, and it also maintains long-term archives of earthquake data for scientific and engineering research. It also conducts and supports research on long-term seismic hazards, USGS has released the UCERF California earthquake forecast. The USGS National Geomagnetism Program monitors the magnetic field at magnetic observatories and distributes magnetometer data in real time, the USGS operates the streamgaging network for the United States, with over 7400 streamgages. Real-time streamflow data are available online, since 1962, the Astrogeology Research Program has been involved in global, lunar, and planetary exploration and mapping. USGS operates a number of related programs, notably the National Streamflow Information Program. USGS Water data is available from their National Water Information System database
12.
Hiking
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Hiking is the preferred term, in Canada and the United States, for a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails, in the countryside, while the word walking is used for shorter, particularly urban walks. On the other hand, in the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, the word hiking is also often used in the UK, along with rambling, hillwalking, and fell walking. The term bushwalking is endemic to Australia, having been adopted by the Sydney Bush Walkers club in 1927, in New Zealand a long, vigorous walk or hike is called tramping. It is an activity with numerous hiking organizations worldwide. In the United States, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, a day hike refers to a hike that can be completed in a single day. However, in the United Kingdom, the walking is also used, as well as rambling. In Northern England, Including the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales, fellwalking describes hill or mountain walks, hiking sometimes involves bushwhacking and is sometimes referred to as such. This specifically refers to walking through dense forest, undergrowth, or bushes. In extreme cases of bushwhacking, where the vegetation is so dense that human passage is impeded, the Australian term bushwalking refers to both on and off-trail hiking. Common terms for hiking used by New Zealanders are tramping, walking or bushwalking, trekking is the preferred word used to describe multi-day hiking in the mountainous regions of India, Pakistan, Nepal, North America, South America, Iran and in the highlands of East Africa. Hiking a long-distance trail from end-to-end is also referred to as trekking, in North America, multi-day hikes, usually with camping, are referred to as backpacking. The idea of taking a walk in the countryside for pleasure developed in the 18th-century, in earlier times walking generally indicated poverty and was also associated with vagrancy. Thomas West, an English priest, popularized the idea of walking for pleasure in his guide to the Lake District of 1778. To this end he included various stations or viewpoints around the lakes, published in 1778 the book was a major success. Another famous early exponent of walking for pleasure, was the English poet William Wordsworth, in 1790 he embarked on an extended tour of France, Switzerland, and Germany, a journey subsequently recorded in his long autobiographical poem The Prelude. His famous poem Tintern Abbey was inspired by a visit to the Wye Valley made during a tour of Wales in 1798 with his sister Dorothy Wordsworth. Wordsworths friend Coleridge was another keen walker and in the autumn of 1799, he and Wordsworth undertook a three weeks tour of the Lake District. John Keats, who belonged to the generation of Romantic poets began, in June 1818, a walking tour of Scotland, Ireland
13.
Elevation
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GIS or geographic information system is a computer system that allows for visualizing, manipulating, capturing, and storage of data with associated attributes. GIS offers better understanding of patterns and relationships of the landscape at different scales, tools inside the GIS allow for manipulation of data for spatial analysis or cartography. A topographical map is the type of map used to depict elevation. In a Geographic Information System, digital models are commonly used to represent the surface of a place. Digital terrain models are another way to represent terrain in GIS, USGS is developing a 3D Elevation Program to keep up with growing needs for high quality topographic data. 3DEP is a collection of enhanced elevation data in the form of high quality LiDAR data over the conterminous United States, Hawaii, there are three bare earth DEM layers in 3DEP which are nationally seamless at the resolution of 1/3,1, and 2 arcseconds. This map is derived from GTOPO30 data that describes the elevation of Earths terrain at intervals of 30 arcseconds and it uses color and shading instead of contour lines to indicate elevation. Hypsography is the study of the distribution of elevations on the surface of the Earth, the term originates from the Greek word ὕψος hypsos meaning height. Most often it is used only in reference to elevation of land, related to the term hypsometry, the measurement of these elevations of a planets solid surface are taken relative to mean datum, except for Earth which is taken relative to the sea level. In the troposphere, temperatures decrease with altitude and this lapse rate is approximately 6.5 °C/km. S
14.
Mountain
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A mountain is a large landform that stretches above the surrounding land in a limited area, usually in the form of a peak. A mountain is steeper than a hill. Mountains are formed through tectonic forces or volcanism and these forces can locally raise the surface of the earth. Mountains erode slowly through the action of rivers, weather conditions, a few mountains are isolated summits, but most occur in huge mountain ranges. High elevations on mountains produce colder climates than at sea level and these colder climates strongly affect the ecosystems of mountains, different elevations have different plants and animals. Because of the less hospitable terrain and climate, mountains tend to be used less for agriculture and more for resource extraction and recreation, the highest mountain on Earth is Mount Everest in the Himalayas of Asia, whose summit is 8,850 m above mean sea level. The highest known mountain on any planet in the Solar System is Olympus Mons on Mars at 21,171 m, there is no universally accepted definition of a mountain. Elevation, volume, relief, steepness, spacing and continuity have been used as criteria for defining a mountain, whether a landform is called a mountain may depend on local usage. The highest point in San Francisco, California, is called Mount Davidson, notwithstanding its height of 300 m, similarly, Mount Scott outside Lawton, Oklahoma is only 251 m from its base to its highest point. Whittows Dictionary of Physical Geography states Some authorities regard eminences above 600 metres as mountains, in addition, some definitions also include a topographical prominence requirement, typically 100 or 500 feet. For a while, the US defined a mountain as being 1,000 feet or taller, any similar landform lower than this height was considered a hill. However, today, the United States Geological Survey concludes that these terms do not have technical definitions in the US, using these definitions, mountains cover 33% of Eurasia, 19% of South America, 24% of North America, and 14% of Africa. As a whole, 24% of the Earths land mass is mountainous, there are three main types of mountains, volcanic, fold, and block. All three types are formed from plate tectonics, when portions of the Earths crust move, crumple, compressional forces, isostatic uplift and intrusion of igneous matter forces surface rock upward, creating a landform higher than the surrounding features. The height of the feature makes it either a hill or, if higher and steeper, major mountains tend to occur in long linear arcs, indicating tectonic plate boundaries and activity. Volcanoes are formed when a plate is pushed below another plate, at a depth of around 100 km, melting occurs in rock above the slab, and forms magma that reaches the surface. When the magma reaches the surface, it builds a volcanic mountain. Examples of volcanoes include Mount Fuji in Japan and Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, the magma does not have to reach the surface in order to create a mountain, magma that solidifies below ground can still form dome mountains, such as Navajo Mountain in the US
15.
Rocky Mountains
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The Rocky Mountains, commonly known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than 3,000 miles from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the Southwestern United States. Within the North American Cordillera, the Rockies are somewhat distinct from the Pacific Coast Ranges, the Rocky Mountains were initially formed from 80 million to 55 million years ago during the Laramide orogeny, in which a number of plates began to slide underneath the North American plate. The angle of subduction was shallow, resulting in a belt of mountains running down western North America. Since then, further tectonic activity and erosion by glaciers have sculpted the Rockies into dramatic peaks, at the end of the last ice age, humans started to inhabit the mountain range. The first mention of their present name by a European was in the journal of Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre in 1752, the Rocky Mountains are commonly defined as stretching from the Liard River in British Columbia south to the Rio Grande in New Mexico. The United States definition of the Rockies includes the Cabinet and Salish Mountains of Idaho and their counterparts north of the Kootenai River, the Columbia Mountains, are considered a separate system in Canada, lying to the west of the huge Rocky Mountain Trench. This runs the length of British Columbia from its beginnings in the middle Flathead River valley in western Montana to the bank of the Liard River. The Rockies vary in width from 70 to 300 miles, also west of the Rocky Mountain Trench, farther north and facing the Muskwa Range across the trench, are the Stikine Ranges and Omineca Mountains of the Interior Mountains system of British Columbia. A small area east of Prince George, British Columbia on the side of the Trench. In Canada geographers define three main groups of ranges, the Continental Ranges, Hart Ranges and Muskwa Ranges, the Muskwa and Hart Ranges together comprise what is known as the Northern Rockies. The western edge of the Rockies includes ranges such as the Wasatch near Salt Lake City, the Great Basin and Columbia River Plateau separate these sub-ranges from distinct ranges further to the west, most prominent among which are the Sierra Nevada, Cascade Range and Coast Mountains. The Rocky Mountain System within the United States is a United States physiographic region, the Rocky Mountains are notable for containing the highest peaks in central North America. The ranges highest peak is Mount Elbert located in Colorado at 14,440 feet above sea level, Mount Robson in British Columbia, at 12,972 feet, is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. The Continental Divide of the Americas is located in the Rocky Mountains, triple Divide Peak in Glacier National Park is so named because water that falls on the mountain reaches not only the Atlantic and Pacific, but Hudson Bay as well. Farther north in Alberta, the Athabasca and other rivers feed the basin of the Mackenzie River, see Rivers of the Rocky Mountains for a list of rivers. Human population is not very dense in the Rocky Mountains, with an average of four people per square kilometer, however, the human population grew rapidly in the Rocky Mountain states between 1950 and 1990. The 40-year statewide increases in range from 35% in Montana to about 150% in Utah
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North America
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North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers, about 16. 5% of the land area. North America is the third largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 565 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7. 5% of the worlds population, North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period, via crossing the Bering land bridge. The so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago, the Classic stage spans roughly the 6th to 13th centuries. The Pre-Columbian era ended with the migrations and the arrival of European settlers during the Age of Discovery. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect different kind of interactions between European colonists, indigenous peoples, African slaves and their descendants, European influences are strongest in the northern parts of the continent while indigenous and African influences are relatively stronger in the south. Because of the history of colonialism, most North Americans speak English, Spanish or French, the Americas are usually accepted as having been named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. Vespucci, who explored South America between 1497 and 1502, was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a different landmass previously unknown by Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller produced a map, in which he placed the word America on the continent of South America. He explained the rationale for the name in the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio, for Waldseemüller, no one should object to the naming of the land after its discoverer. He used the Latinized version of Vespuccis name, but in its feminine form America, following the examples of Europa, Asia and Africa. Later, other mapmakers extended the name America to the continent, In 1538. Some argue that the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries except in the case of royalty, a minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of Amairick. Another is that the name is rooted in a Native American language, the term North America maintains various definitions in accordance with location and context. In Canadian English, North America may be used to refer to the United States, alternatively, usage sometimes includes Greenland and Mexico, as well as offshore islands
17.
Thirteener
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In mountaineering in the United States, a thirteener is a mountain that exceeds 13,000 feet above mean sea level, similar to the more familiar fourteeners, which exceed 14,000 feet. In most instances, thirteeners refers only to those peaks between 13,000 and 13,999 feet in elevation, the importance of thirteeners is greatest in Colorado, which has the majority of such peaks in North America with over 600 of them. Despite the large number of peaks, over 20 peak baggers have reported climbing all of Colorados thirteeners, thirteeners are also significant in states whose highpoints fall between 13,000 and 13,999 feet. Not all summits over 13,000 feet qualify as thirteeners, objective standards for independence include topographic prominence and isolation, or a combination. However thirteener lists do not always consistently use such objective rules, a rule commonly used by mountaineers in the contiguous United States is that a peak must have at least 300 feet of prominence to qualify. According to the Mountaineering Club of Alaska, it is standard in Alaska to use a 500 ft prominence rule rather than a 300-foot rule and these are the standards applied for the lists below. Thirteeners are found in nine U. S. states, different sources list varying numbers of 13, 000+ ft peaks in the state, mainly because many of the peaks are unnamed and have no spot elevations given on the USGS topographical maps. The following list may miss a few peaks that should be included, Wyoming has 34 thirteeners with at least 300 ft of prominence,30 of the 34 are located in the rugged and remote Wind River Range. The highest of them are, Other notable Wyoming thirteeners include, Utah has 17 thirteeners with at least 300 ft of prominence, all of them are located in the remote Uinta Mountains near the Wyoming border. The highest of the thirteeners are, New Mexico has 3 thirteeners, Hawaii has two thirteeners, the great shield volcanoes which comprise the bulk of the Big Island of Hawaii. Nevada has only a single thirteener that meets the threshold for inclusion, however, the highest point in the state is Boundary Peak, which is a sub-peak of Californias Montgomery Peak with only 240 feet of prominence
18.
Arapaho National Forest
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Arapaho National Forest is a National Forest located in north-central Colorado, United States. The facility is managed jointly with the Roosevelt National Forest and the Pawnee National Grassland from the United States Forest Service office in Fort Collins and it has a wildlife refuge which manages a protection for all birds and mammals. The combined facility of 1,730,603 acres is denoted as ARP by the Forest Service, separately, Arapaho National Forest consists of 723,744 acres. The forest is located in the Rocky Mountains, straddling the divide in the Front Range west of Denver. It was established on July 1,1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt, the forest includes part of the high Rockies and river valleys in the upper watershed of the Colorado River and South Platte River. The forest is largely in Grand and Clear Creek counties, but spills over into neighboring Gilpin, Park, Routt, Jackson, there are local ranger district offices located in Granby and Idaho Springs. The ponds also produce many insects and other invertebrates needed by most female waterfowl for successful egg laying and these insects also serve as an essential food item for the growth of ducklings and goslings during the summer months. The first waterfowl arrive in the spring when the ice vanishes in April, the peak migration occurs in late May when 5,000 or more ducks may be present. Canada geese have been reestablished in North Park and begin nesting during April, duck nesting usually starts in early June and peaks in late June. The forest produces about 9,000 ducklings and 150 to 200 goslings each year, the Fish and Wildlife Service expects that when refuge lands are fully acquired and developed, waterfowl production should increase significantly. There have been 198 bird species recorded in the forest, primary upland nesting species include the mallard, pintail, gadwall, and American wigeon. A number of diving ducks, including the lesser scaup and redhead, nest on the larger ponds, most species may be observed during the entire summer season. Fall migration reaches its height in late September or early October when up to 8,000 waterfowl may be present, the wetlands also attract numerous marsh, shore, and water birds. Sora and Virginia rails are numerous but seldom seen, if they are present, Wilsons phalarope, American avocet, willet, sandpipers, Greater yellowlegs, and dowitchers will be easy to observe. Other less common species include great blue heron, black-crowned night heron, American bittern, the upland hills harbor sage grouse year around with a winter population of more than 200 birds. Golden eagles, several species of hawks, and a prairie falcon circle the skies above in search of food. Their prey includes Richardsons ground squirrel, white-tailed prairie dog, badger, muskrat, beaver, coyote, and pronghorn are commonly observed. It is also possible to see a raccoon, red fox, mink, long-tailed weasel, as many as 400 mule deer have wintered here and up to 200 elk are frequently seen during the winter months
19.
Loveland Pass
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Loveland Pass is a high mountain pass in the western United States, at an elevation of 11,990 feet above sea level in the Rocky Mountains of north-central Colorado. It is located on the Continental Divide in the Front Range west of Denver on U. S. Highway 6, the twisty road is considered to be especially treacherous during the winter months. A steep, steady 6. 7% grade, along with numerous hairpin turns on either side, Loveland is the highest mountain pass in the world that regularly stays open during a snowy winter season. When the Eisenhower Tunnel opened in March 1973, it allowed motorists on Interstate 70 to avoid crossing the pass directly, trucks that cannot pass through the tunnel must still take US6 across Loveland Pass,800 vertical feet above the tunnel. The same is true for bicyclists, pedestrians, and those drivers who wish to stop along the road to admire the scenery, Loveland Ski Area is located at the east side of the pass, and Arapahoe Basin is on the west side. The pass itself is a destination for backcountry skiers. Occasionally during the winter, the road may be closed by a blizzard and all traffic must use the tunnel. In the event of less serious winter storms, chain restrictions are often imposed, at the Loveland Pass parking lot, visitors can access trails to the summits of Mount Sniktau and other nearby mountain peaks. The pass is named for William A. H. Loveland, the president of the Colorado Central Railroad, the city of Loveland, in Larimer County near Fort Collins, is also named after him. On a clear Friday in early October 1970, a crash occurred about two miles north of the summit, and only nine of the forty on board survived. The plane carried members of the Wichita State University football team, as well as coaches, administrators, the cause was attributed to several pilot errors. On April 20,2013, an avalanche at Loveland Pass killed five snowboarders in the deadliest avalanche in Colorado since 1962, a sixth snowboarder involved in the incident survived, extracted himself, and flagged down a truck from the states Transportation Department. List of Colorado mountain passes List of Colorado mountain ranges List of Colorado mountain summits Colorado Road Conditions and Closings Loveland Pass Backcountry Skier Information
20.
Edgar Allan Poe
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Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and he is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and American literature as a whole, and he was one of the countrys earliest practitioners of the short story. Poe is generally considered the inventor of the fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a difficult life. Poe was born in Boston, the child of two actors. His father abandoned the family in 1810, and his mother died the following year, thus orphaned, the child was taken in by John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia. They never formally adopted him, but Poe was with them well into young adulthood, tension developed later as John Allan and Edgar repeatedly clashed over debts, including those incurred by gambling, and the cost of secondary education for the young man. Poe attended the University of Virginia for one semester but left due to lack of money, Poe quarreled with Allan over the funds for his education and enlisted in the Army in 1827 under an assumed name. It was at time that his publishing career began, albeit humbly, with the anonymous collection of poems Tamerlane and Other Poems. With the death of Frances Allan in 1829, Poe and Allan reached a temporary rapprochement, however, Poe later failed as an officer cadet at West Point, declaring a firm wish to be a poet and writer, and he ultimately parted ways with John Allan. Poe switched his focus to prose and spent the several years working for literary journals and periodicals. His work forced him to move among several cities, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, in Richmond in 1836, he married Virginia Clemm, his 13-year-old cousin. In January 1845, Poe published his poem The Raven to instant success and his wife died of tuberculosis two years after its publication. For years, he had been planning to produce his own journal The Penn, Poe and his works influenced literature in the United States and around the world, as well as in specialized fields such as cosmology and cryptography. Poe and his work appear throughout popular culture in literature, music, films, a number of his homes are dedicated museums today. The Mystery Writers of America present an award known as the Edgar Award for distinguished work in the mystery genre. He was born Edgar Poe in Boston on January 19,1809 and he had an elder brother William Henry Leonard Poe, and a younger sister Rosalie Poe. Their grandfather David Poe Sr. had emigrated from Cavan, Ireland to America around the year 1750, Edgar may have been named after a character in William Shakespeares King Lear, a play that the couple were performing in 1809
21.
Native Americans in the United States
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In the United States, Native Americans are people descended from the Pre-Columbian indigenous population of the land within the countrys modern boundaries. These peoples were composed of distinct tribes, bands, and ethnic groups. Most Native American groups had historically preserved their histories by oral traditions and artwork, at the time of first contact, the indigenous cultures were quite different from those of the proto-industrial and mostly Christian immigrants. Some of the Northeastern and Southwestern cultures in particular were matrilineal, the majority of Indigenous American tribes maintained their hunting grounds and agricultural lands for use of the entire tribe. Europeans at that time had patriarchal cultures and had developed concepts of property rights with respect to land that were extremely different. Assimilation became a consistent policy through American administrations, during the 19th century, the ideology of manifest destiny became integral to the American nationalist movement. Expansion of European-American populations to the west after the American Revolution resulted in increasing pressure on Native American lands and this resulted in the ethnic cleansing of many tribes, with the brutal, forced marches coming to be known as The Trail of Tears. As American expansion reached into the West, settler and miner migrants came into increasing conflict with the Great Basin, Great Plains and these were complex nomadic cultures based on horse culture and seasonal bison hunting. Over time, the United States forced a series of treaties and land cessions by the tribes, in 1924, Native Americans who were not already U. S. citizens were granted citizenship by Congress. Contemporary Native Americans have a relationship with the United States because they may be members of nations, tribes. The terms used to refer to Native Americans have at times been controversial, by comparison, the indigenous peoples of Canada are generally known as First Nations. It is not definitively known how or when the Native Americans first settled the Americas and these early inhabitants, called Paleoamericans, soon diversified into many hundreds of culturally distinct nations and tribes. The archaeological periods used are the classifications of archaeological periods and cultures established in Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips 1958 book Method and they divided the archaeological record in the Americas into five phases, see Archaeology of the Americas. The Clovis culture, a hunting culture, is primarily identified by use of fluted spear points. Artifacts from this culture were first excavated in 1932 near Clovis, the Clovis culture ranged over much of North America and also appeared in South America. The culture is identified by the distinctive Clovis point, a flaked flint spear-point with a notched flute, dating of Clovis materials has been by association with animal bones and by the use of carbon dating methods. Recent reexaminations of Clovis materials using improved carbon-dating methods produced results of 11,050 and 10,800 radiocarbon years B. P, other tribes have stories that recount migrations across long tracts of land and a great river, believed to be the Mississippi River. Genetic and linguistic data connect the people of this continent with ancient northeast Asians
22.
Oquawka, Illinois
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Oquawka is a village in Henderson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,371 at the 2010 census and it is the county seat of Henderson County. Oquawka is part of the Burlington, IA–IL Micropolitan Statistical Area, Oquawka is located at 40°56′20″N 90°56′57″W. According to the 2010 census, Oquawka has an area of 1.859 square miles. As of the census of 2010, there were 1,371 people,627 households, the population density was 933.9 people per square mile. There were 721 housing units at a density of 491.1 per square mile. The racial makeup of the village was 98. 61% White,0. 07% African American,0. 36% Native American,0. 14% Asian, hispanic or Latino of any race were 1. 46% of the population. 34. 3% of all households were made up of individuals and 36. 5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.19 and the average family size was 2.79. In the village, the population was out with 21. 1% under the age of 18,3. 4% from 18 to 24,21. 2% from 25 to 44,29. 7% from 45 to 64. The median age was 46 years, for every 100 males there were 98.4 females. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.3 males, the median income for a household in the village was $28,750, and the median income for a family was $50,938. Males had an income of $40,729 versus $25,500 for females. The per capita income for the village was $17,703, about 12. 6% of families and 19. 4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 32. 4% of those under age 18 and 15. 6% of those age 65 or over. As of the census of 2000, there were 1,539 people,656 households, the population density was 1,051.8 people per square mile. There were 736 housing units at a density of 503.0 per square mile. The racial makeup of the village was 98. 38% White,0. 06% African American,0. 13% Native American,0. 13% Asian, hispanic or Latino of any race were 0. 71% of the population. 31. 6% of all households were made up of individuals and 16. 2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.87. In the village, the population was out with 22. 4% under the age of 18,8. 2% from 18 to 24,27. 0% from 25 to 44,23. 7% from 45 to 64
23.
Georgetown, Colorado
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The historic Town of Georgetown is the Territorial Charter Municipality that is the county seat of Clear Creek County, Colorado, United States. The former silver mining camp along Clear Creek in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains was established in 1859 during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush, the town population was 1,034 at the 2010 census. The Georgetown Post Office has the ZIP code 80444, the town sits at an elevation of 8,530 feet above sea level, nestled in the mountains near the upper end of the valley of Clear Creek in the mountains west of Denver along Interstate 70. Although a small town today, the town was a center of the mining industry in Colorado during the late 19th century. It has evolved into a lively historical summer tourist center today with many preserved structures from the heyday of the Colorado Silver Boom, the town was founded in 1859 during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush by George and David Griffith, two prospectors from Kentucky. It was named Georgetown in honor of the older of the two brothers, in the following years, thousands of mines were dug in the mountains surrounding the town and the town quickly grew into a center for prospectors and mine workers in the surrounding mountains. Located in the floor, the town itself was not a mining camp but a center of commerce. Georgetown was incorporated on January 10,1868, and a few months later it wrested the county seat from nearby Idaho Springs, the historic courthouse dates from this year. Georgetown is the only Colorado municipality that still operates under a charter from the Territory of Colorado, the building of the narrow gauge Colorado Central Railroad up the canyon from Golden in the 1870s further increased the central position of the town. Although most of the railroad was removed, a portion remained between the town and Silver Plume and is operated today as a tourist railroad called the Georgetown Loop. The town experienced its greatest growth and prosperity during the Colorado silver boom of the 1880s when it rivaled Leadville to the west as the capital of Colorado. At one time, before the collapse of the boom in 1893, the town population exceeded 10,000. The frontier gambler, Poker Alice, lived for a time in Georgetown, following the collapse of the Silver Boom, the town population dwindled. Small craft shops began to set up businesses in the once decrepit 19th century storefronts, the historic downtown was used as the location for the filming of a scene from the 1978 movie Every Which Way But Loose starring Clint Eastwood. The scene features the climactic showdown between Philo Beddoe and the Black Widows motorcycle gang, the town was also used in the 1998 film Phantoms which included the historic Hotel de Paris, as well as the colonial-style post office. The made-for-TV movie The Christmas Gift, starring John Denver, was filmed in Georgetown in 1986, the film is about a widower and his daughter who go to Georgetown for vacation and business and find the true meaning of Christmas. In addition, it has been the site for various the filming of various commercials, the Sonic Bloom Music Festival takes place every June in Georgetown. It moved to Georgetown in 2011 and features premier electronic artists, Georgetown is located in the valley of Clear Creek
24.
Interstate 70 in Colorado
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Interstate 70 is a transcontinental Interstate Highway in the United States, stretching from Cove Fort, Utah to Baltimore, Maryland. In Colorado, the highway traverses an east–west route across the center of the state, in western Colorado, the highway connects the metropolitan areas of Grand Junction and Denver via a route through the Rocky Mountains. In eastern Colorado, the crosses the Great Plains, connecting Denver with metropolitan areas in Kansas. Bicycles and other non-motorized vehicles, normally prohibited on Interstate Highways, are allowed on those stretches of I-70 in the Rockies where no other through route exists. The Eisenhower Tunnel, with an elevation of 11,158 feet and length of 1.7 miles, is the longest mountain tunnel. The portion through Glenwood Canyon was completed on October 14,1992 and this was one of the final pieces of the Interstate Highway System to open to traffic, and is one of the most expensive rural highways per mile built in the United States. The Colorado Department of Transportation earned the 1993 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers for the completion of I-70 through the canyon, when the Interstate Highway system was in the planning stages, the western terminus of I-70 was proposed to be at Denver. The portion west of Denver was included into the plans after lobbying by Governor Edwin C, Johnson, for whom one of the tunnels along I-70 is named. East of Idaho Springs, I-70 was built along the corridor of U. S. Highway 40, West of Idaho Springs, I-70 was built along the route of U. S. Highway 6, which was extended into Colorado during the 1930s. I-70 enters Colorado from Utah, concurrent with US6 and US50, the plateau ends just past the state line and the highway descends into the Grand Valley, formed by the Colorado River and its tributaries. The Grand Valley is home to several towns and small cities that form the Grand Junction Metropolitan Statistical Area, the highway directly serves the communities of Fruita, Grand Junction and Palisade. Grand Junction is the largest city between Denver and Salt Lake City and serves as the hub of the area. The freeway passes to the north of downtown, while US6 and 50 retain their original routes through downtown, US6 rejoins I-70 east of Grand Junction, US50 departs on a course toward Pueblo. I-70 exits the valley through De Beque Canyon, a path carved by the Colorado River that separates the Book Cliffs from Battlement Mesa, the river and its tributaries provide the course for the ascent up the Rocky Mountains. In the canyon, I-70 enters the Beavertail Mountain Tunnel, the first of several built to route the freeway across the Rockies. This tunnel design features a curved sidewall, unusual for tunnels in the United States, Engineers borrowed a European design to give the tunnel added strength. After the canyon winds past the Book Cliffs, the highway follows the Colorado River through a valley containing the communities of Parachute, approaching the city of Glenwood Springs, the highway enters Glenwood Canyon. A 12-mile section of roadway features the No Name Tunnel, Hanging Lake Tunnel, Reverse Curve Tunnel,40 bridges and viaducts, and miles of retaining walls
25.
Eisenhower Tunnel
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The Eisenhower Tunnel, officially the Eisenhower–Edwin C. Johnson Memorial Tunnel, is a dual-bore, four-lane vehicular tunnel approximately 60 mi west of Denver, Colorado, United States. The tunnel carries Interstate 70 under the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains, with a maximum elevation of 11,158 ft AMSL, it is one of the highest vehicular tunnels in the world. The tunnel is the longest mountain tunnel and highest point on the Interstate Highway System, completed in 1979, it was one of the last major pieces of the Interstate Highway system to be completed. The westbound bore is named after Dwight D. Eisenhower, the U. S. President for whom the Interstate system is also named, the eastbound bore is named for Edwin C. Senator who lobbied for an Interstate Highway to be built across Colorado, the Eisenhower bore is 1.693 mi long while the Johnson bore is 1.697 mi long. The tunnels are sloped with a 1. 64% grade, with an elevation of 11,013 feet at the east portal and 11,158 ft at the west portal, at the time of dedication, they were the highest vehicular tunnels in the world. While the Eisenhower Tunnel remains the highest vehicular tunnel in the United States, higher tunnels have since been constructed elsewhere, such as the Fenghuoshan Tunnel, the Eisenhower tunnel is noted as the longest mountain tunnel and highest point on the Interstate Highway System. The tunnel bores measure 48 feet by 40 feet, however, the rest of the bore is used for forced air ventilation and water drainage systems. Due to additional height restrictions from variable-message signs and lighting systems, the trucking industry lobbied the Colorado Department of Transportation to increase the vertical clearance. With a 2007 retrofit that used lower profile lighting and signs, trucks 13.92 feet can navigate the tunnel, sensors activate audible sirens near each entrance of the tunnel if a vehicle above the posted height attempts to enter the tunnel. Traffic signals at that entrance will turn red, stopping all traffic, the entrance will remain closed until the vehicle is removed from the freeway, sometimes causing severe delays for all traffic. CDOT noted that prior to the retrofit, about 20,000 vehicles per year tripped the alarm, the trucking industry argued that many of these trucks were under the height requirement but tripped the alarm due to their air suspensions or due to snow and ice atop the trailer. During this time, the industry estimated the number of alarms would drop by as much as 80% if the clearance could be raised even a few inches. Another feature of the retrofit monitors truck weight—a safe speed for each truck on the 7% grades and curves just outside the tunnel is calculated and displayed for each driver. To mitigate the dangers posed by a fire inside the tunnel, other than the above exceptions, the tunnel has replaced the pass for general vehicular traffic. While less formidable than the route, the approach to the tunnel on both sides is steep, and runaway truck ramps are available for truckers who lose control. During construction or winter storms that require closing Loveland Pass, there is a procedure in place to allow hazardous material trucks to use the tunnel. Once per hour, the tunnel bores will be closed to traffic
26.
Grays Peak
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Grays Peak is the tenth-highest summit of the Rocky Mountains of North America and the U. S. state of Colorado. The prominent 14, 278-foot fourteener is the highest summit of the Front Range, Grays Peak is located in Arapahoe National Forest,3.9 miles southeast by east of Loveland Pass on the Continental Divide between Clear Creek and Summit counties. The peak is the highest point in both counties, Grays Peak is one of 53 fourteeners in Colorado. Parry made the first recorded ascent of the summit in 1861, Gray did not see the peak until 1872, eleven years later. Grays Peak is commonly mentioned in conjunction with adjacent Torreys Peak, like the other fourteeners nearby, Grays Peak is considered to be an easy hike by fourteener standards, and is very popular among weekend climbers. Often a climb to the summit of Grays Peak is accompanied by continuing on to Torreys Peak, the main trail, Grays Peak Trail, departs from Stevens Gulch. To get to the Stevens Gulch Trailhead, take I-70 west from Denver about 50 miles to Bakerville Road, from there, take Stevens Gulch Road south about 2.5 miles to the trailhead. As of the summer of 2009, Stevens Gulch Road is still open for traffic, with cuts in the road over two feet deep and large stones in the path, travel to the trailhead is only feasible for high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicles, motorcycles or all-terrain vehicles. From the trailhead, it is a hike of about 3.5 miles, the trail, well-marked and well-trodden, begins by following the gulch for a slow rise in elevation, before hitting the steeper slopes. The summit includes a very small U-shaped rock shelter where a log book is maintained, extensive views stretch south to Pikes Peak and the San Luis Valley, east to the Great Plains, West to Silverthorne, and north to Longs Peak and Rocky Mountain National Park. At the climbers option, the trail continues from the north to Torreys Peak. Wildflowers that bloom in the area on the Continental Divide of the Americas include moss campion, alpine forget-me-not, sky pilot, sea pink, old-man-of-the-mountain. Below the tree-line, the blooms of monkshood or wolfsbane, blue columbine, fireweed, and paintbrush can be found. com Grays and Torreys Peaks on TrailCentral. com
27.
Torreys Peak
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Torreys Peak is a mountain in the Front Range region of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. It is one of 53 fourteeners in Colorado and its nearest major city is Denver. Torreys Peak is located along the Continental Divide, as well as the division between Clear Creek County and Summit County, the first man to ascend Torreys Peak, botanist Charles C. Parry, named the peak for his botanist colleague John Torrey, Torrey actually did not see the peak until 1872,11 years later. It is nearly always mentioned in conjunction with nearby Grays Peak, there are three main trails used to reach the summit. The first is actually a continuation of Grays Peak Trail to the summit of Grays Peak, see the Grays Peak article for more information on accessing that trail. A popular and challenging variation of this trail follows class-3 Kelso Ridge, the third trail starts at Loveland Pass about 4.5 miles to the northwest. To reach Loveland Pass, follow I-70 west from Denver 55 miles to where US Route 6 breaks off, follow the meandering Route 6 approximately seven miles to the trailhead at Loveland Pass, at an elevation of 11,990 feet. The steepest part of the trail actually begins right away with a half mile climb of 1,000 feet. The trail follows the Continental Divide gently taking the climber down into three saddles and up two more peaks, including Grizzly Peak at 13,427 feet and Mount Sniktau at 13,234 feet, the final saddle rests at approximately 12,600 ft. From this saddle, it is an ascent of 1,800 feet to the final summit. Once at the summit, many opt to continue on to Grays Peak,0.75 miles away, the trail from Torreys Peak to Grays Peak dips down to a 13, 707-foot saddle and then climbs back up to 14,270 feet
28.
Mount Parnassus (Colorado)
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Mount Parnassus is a high mountain summit in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The 13, 580-foot thirteener is located in Arapaho National Forest,5.4 miles west-northwest of the Town of Silver Plume in Clear Creek County, Colorado, Mount Parnassus sits east of the Continental Divide in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The summit is located near Interstate 70, the higher Bard Peak, at 13,647 feet, sits nearby, and the closest major town is Silver Plume, Colorado. It is also in proximity to Woods Mountain, Mount Sniktau, Engelmann Peak, Robeson Peak. By automobile, Mount Parnassus is about one hour west of Denver, hikers may reach the summit of the mountain on foot by following the Watrous Gulch Trail, starting at the Herman Gulch Trailhead off of Interstate 70. From the trailhead, visitors must hike roughly 7 miles and gain roughly 3,300 feet in elevation to reach the summit. com Mount Parnassus on SummitPost
29.
Silver Plume, Colorado
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Silver Plume is a Statutory Town located in Clear Creek County, Colorado, United States. Silver Plume is a silver mining camp along Clear Creek in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The town population was 170 at the 2010 census, the Silver Plume Post Office has the ZIP code 80476. Silver Plume is located in the valley of Clear Creek at 39°41′45″N 105°43′34″W, interstate 70 and U. S. Route 6 pass through the town, with access from Exit 226. It is 20 miles west across the Continental Divide to Silverthorne and 46 miles east to Denver, according to the United States Census Bureau, the town of Silver Plume has a total area of 0.2 square miles, all of it land. The town of Silver Plume has a rich history. Many tales circulate about the town, according to records and legends, Louis Dupuy was also a newspaper editor for the town. Many other legends abound about the small Living Ghost Town, one involves a much-beloved citizen from the mining days, Clifford Griffin. According to legend, Mr. Griffin came from the state of New York, Griffin became engaged in New York, but his fiance tragically, and mysteriously, died the night before their wedding. Her death was contributed to natural causes, and to escape the painful memories of his beloved, he moved to Colorado with his brother. Clifford became the manager of the 7,30, and was loved by his miners for his kindness. Not only did he take care of his miners, every evening he provided him with entertainment as well, every evening he would sit near the edge of a nearby cliff and play his violin. Due to the acoustics of the valley, the entire town could step outside. According to local legend, one evening, after a particularly beautiful recital, assuming the worst, the miners of the 7,30 raced up the trail to the entrance, and there they found Clifford Griffin, shot through the heart, in a grave hed dug himself. A note in the nearby Managers Office told the tale and it asked the residents of Silver Plume to leave him where he lay, because thats where hed experienced the most happiness since his wife died. Not only did they follow his request, the town erected a 10-foot-tall Gunnison Granite monument in his honor, the monument can still be seen today, on the cliffs directly in front of the 7,30 Mine. As of the census of 2000, there were 203 people,93 households, the population density was 820.2 people per square mile. There were 134 housing units at a density of 541.4 per square mile
30.
Drainage basin
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A drainage basin or catchment area is any area of land where precipitation collects and drains off into a common outlet, such as into a river, bay, or other body of water. Drainage basins connect into other drainage basins at elevations in a hierarchical pattern, with smaller sub-drainage basins. Other terms used to describe drainage basins are catchment, catchment basin, drainage area, river basin and water basin. In closed drainage basins the water converges to a point inside the basin, known as a sink, which may be a permanent lake. The drainage basin acts as a funnel by collecting all the water within the covered by the basin. Each drainage basin is separated topographically from adjacent basins by a perimeter, drainage basins are similar but not identical to hydrologic units, which are drainage areas delineated so as to nest into a multi-level hierarchical drainage system. Hydrologic units are defined to allow multiple inlets, outlets, or sinks, in a strict sense, all drainage basins are hydrologic units but not all hydrologic units are drainage basins. Drainage basins of the oceans and seas of the world. Grey areas are endorheic basins that do not drain to the oceans, the following is a list of the major ocean basins, About 48. 7% of the worlds land drains to the Atlantic Ocean. The two major mediterranean seas of the world also flow to the Atlantic, The Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico basin includes most of the U. S. The Mediterranean Sea basin includes much of North Africa, east-central Africa, Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe, Turkey, and the areas of Israel, Lebanon. Just over 13% of the land in the world drains to the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Oceans drainage basin also comprises about 13% of Earths land. It drains the eastern coast of Africa, the coasts of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, the Indian subcontinent, Burma, antarctica comprises approximately eight percent of the Earths land. The five largest river basins, from largest to smallest, are the basins of the Amazon, the Río de la Plata, the Congo, the Nile, and the Mississippi. The three rivers that drain the most water, from most to least, are the Amazon, Ganga, endorheic drainage basins are inland basins that do not drain to an ocean. Around 18% of all land drains to endorheic lakes or seas or sinks, the largest of these consists of much of the interior of Asia, which drains into the Caspian Sea, the Aral Sea, and numerous smaller lakes. Some of these, such as the Great Basin, are not single drainage basins but collections of separate, in endorheic bodies of standing water where evaporation is the primary means of water loss, the water is typically more saline than the oceans. An extreme example of this is the Dead Sea, drainage basins have been historically important for determining territorial boundaries, particularly in regions where trade by water has been important
31.
South Platte River
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The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U. S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwest and it joins the North Platte River in western Nebraska to form the Platte, which then flows across Nebraska to the Missouri. The river serves as the source of water for eastern Colorado. In its valley along the foothills in Colorado, it has permitted agriculture in an area of the Colorado Piedmont and Great Plains that is otherwise arid. The river is formed in Park County, Colorado, southwest of Denver in the South Park grassland basin by the confluence of the South Fork and Middle Fork, approximately 15 miles southeast of Fairplay. Both forks rise along the flank of the Mosquito Range, on the western side of South Park. From South Park, it passes through 50 miles of the Platte Canyon, here, it is joined by the North Fork before emerging from the foothills southwest of the Denver suburb of Littleton. At Littleton, the river is impounded to form Chatfield Reservoir, the river flows north through central Denver, which was founded along its banks at its confluence with Cherry Creek. The valley through Denver is highly industrialized, serving generally as the route for both the lines, as well as Interstate 25. On the north side of Denver it is joined somewhat inconspicuously by Clear Creek, North of Denver it flows through the agricultural heartland of the Piedmont. East of Greeley it turns eastward, flowing across the Colorado Eastern Plains, past Fort Morgan and Brush and it continues past Sterling, and runs into Nebraska between Julesburg, Colorado and Big Springs, Nebraska. In Nebraska, it passes south of Ogallala and joins the North Platte River near the city of North Platte. The South Platte River through Denver is on the U. S. EPAs list of impaired waterbodies for pathogen impairment, other water issues involve the appearance of the New Zealand Mud Snail and of the Zebra Mussel. The South Platte was originally called Niinéniiniicíihéhe by the native Arapaho people who lived on its banks, the early Spanish explorers called it the Rio Chato. The South Platte River also served as a water source in Colorado. Long before the city of Denver was created many travelers came to the South Platte River to escape the arid Great Plains and these people could survive the heat but not without the vital water source that the South Platte River gave them. Buckets and wells sufficed as a system for a while. In an arid region of the United States, the South Platte is marked with several dams, the first notable water impoundment on the South Platte is Antero Reservoir
32.
Platte River
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The Platte River /plæt/ is a major river in the state of Nebraska and is about 310 mi long. Measured to its farthest source via its tributary the North Platte River, the Platte River is a tributary of the Missouri River, which itself is a tributary of the Mississippi River which flows to the Gulf of Mexico. The Platte over most of its length is a muddy, broad, shallow, meandering stream with a swampy bottom and these characteristics made it too difficult for canoe travel, and it was never used as a major navigation route by European-American trappers or explorers. This expression is very close to the French words rivière plate, in central north Colorado is the North Park valley, ringed by mountains of 12,000 feet height, this is where the North Platte River originates. The nearest Colorado town is Walden, the county seat, the rugged Rocky Mountains Continental Divide surrounding Jackson County have at least twelve peaks over 11,000 feet in height. From Jackson County, the North Platte flows north about 200 miles out of the Routt National Forest and North Park near what is now Walden to Casper, Wyoming. Shortly after passing Casper, the North Platte turns to the east-southeast and flows about 350 miles to the city of North Platte, Nebraska. In Colorado and Wyoming, the North Platte is narrower and much swifter flowing than it is in Nebraska, the North Platte River has been dammed about eight times for water storage and irrigation purposes in Wyoming and Nebraska as it flows to its confluence with the South Platte River. The upper reaches of the river in the Rockies in Colorado and Wyoming are popular for rafting and lure and fly fishing for rainbow, brown, cutthroat trout. In western Nebraska, the banks and riverbed of the North Platte provide a green oasis amid an otherwise semi-arid region of North America, today, by the time the North Platte reaches Paxton, Nebraska it is much smaller due to the extensive water taken from it for irrigation. Historically, the North Platte River was up to a mile wide in places, as evidenced by the old streambed. The South Platte drains a part of the Front Range mountains east of the continental divide. The part of the river labeled the South Platte is formed in Park County, Colorado, located southwest of Denver, in the South Park grassland basin and mountains east of the continental divide. It is formed by the confluence of the South Fork South Platte River and Middle Fork South Platte River, approximately 15 miles southeast of Fairplay, Colorado. From Greeley, the South Platte turns east and flows about 200 miles to its confluence with the North Platte River near the city of North Platte, Nebraska. The South Platte River has been dammed about 20 times for storage, drinking water. The total number of dams in the South Platte drainage may exceed 1,000 as nearly all major streams have at least one dam on them, the South Platte River serves as the principal source of water for arid eastern Colorado. The South Platte River valley provided a major emigration path to Denver, the wagon trails followed the south side of the Platte/North Platte River
33.
Missouri River
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The Missouri River is the longest river in North America. Rising in the Rocky Mountains of western Montana, the Missouri flows east and south for 2,341 miles before entering the Mississippi River north of St. Louis, Missouri. The river takes drainage from a populated, semi-arid watershed of more than half a million square miles. When combined with the lower Mississippi River, it forms the fourth longest river system. For over 12,000 years, people have depended on the Missouri River and its tributaries as a source of sustenance and transportation. More than ten major groups of Native Americans populated the watershed, most leading a nomadic lifestyle, the Missouri River was one of the main routes for the westward expansion of the United States during the 19th century. The growth of the fur trade in the early 1800s laid much of the groundwork as trappers explored the region, pioneers headed west en masse beginning in the 1830s, first by covered wagon, then by the growing numbers of steamboats entering service on the river. Former Native American lands in the watershed were taken over by settlers, leading to some of the most longstanding, during the 20th century, the Missouri River basin was extensively developed for irrigation, flood control and the generation of hydroelectric power. Fifteen dams impound the main stem of the river, with more on tributaries. Meanders have been cut and the river channelized to improve navigation, from the Rocky Mountains of Montana and Wyoming, three streams rise to form the headwaters of the Missouri River. The longest begins near Browers Spring,9,100 feet above sea level, on the southeastern slopes of Mount Jefferson in the Centennial Mountains. Flowing west then north, it runs first in Hell Roaring Creek, then west into the Red Rock, swings northeast to become the Beaverhead and these two streams then flow north and northwest into Montana. The Missouri River officially starts at the confluence of the Jefferson and Madison in Missouri Headwaters State Park near Three Forks, Montana, the Missouri then passes through Canyon Ferry Lake, a reservoir west of the Big Belt Mountains. Issuing from the mountains near Cascade, the flows northeast to the city of Great Falls, where it drops over the Great Falls of the Missouri. Farther on, the passes through the Fort Peck Dam, and immediately downstream. At the confluence, the Yellowstone is actually the larger river, the Missouri then meanders east past Williston and into Lake Sakakawea, the reservoir formed by Garrison Dam. Below the dam the Missouri receives the Knife River from the west and flows south to Bismarck, the capital of North Dakota and it slows into the Lake Oahe reservoir just before the Cannonball River confluence. While it continues south, eventually reaching Oahe Dam in South Dakota, the Missouri makes a bend to the southeast as it winds through the Great Plains, receiving the Niobrara River and many smaller tributaries from the southwest
34.
Mississippi River
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The Mississippi River is the chief river of the largest drainage system on the North American continent. Flowing entirely in the United States, it rises in northern Minnesota, with its many tributaries, the Mississippis watershed drains all or parts of 31 U. S. states and 2 Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains. The Mississippi ranks as the fourth longest and fifteenth largest river in the world by discharge, the river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Native Americans long lived along the Mississippi River and its tributaries, most were hunter-gatherers, but some, such as the Mound Builders, formed prolific agricultural societies. The arrival of Europeans in the 16th century changed the way of life as first explorers, then settlers. The river served first as a barrier, forming borders for New Spain, New France, and the early United States, and then as a vital transportation artery and communications link. Formed from thick layers of the silt deposits, the Mississippi embayment is one of the most fertile agricultural regions of the country. In recent years, the river has shown a shift towards the Atchafalaya River channel in the Delta. The word itself comes from Messipi, the French rendering of the Anishinaabe name for the river, see below in the History section for additional information. In addition to historical traditions shown by names, there are at least two measures of a rivers identity, one being the largest branch, and the other being the longest branch. Using the largest-branch criterion, the Ohio would be the branch of the Lower Mississippi. Using the longest-branch criterion, the Middle Mississippi-Missouri-Jefferson-Beaverhead-Red Rock-Hellroaring Creek River would be the main branch and its length of at least 3,745 mi is exceeded only by the Nile, the Amazon, and perhaps the Yangtze River among the longest rivers in the world. The source of this waterway is at Browers Spring,8,800 feet above sea level in southwestern Montana and this is exemplified by the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the phrase Trans-Mississippi as used in the name of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. It is common to qualify a regionally superlative landmark in relation to it, the New Madrid Seismic Zone along the river is also noteworthy. These various basic geographical aspects of the river in turn underlie its human history and present uses of the waterway, the Upper Mississippi runs from its headwaters to its confluence with the Missouri River at St. Louis, Missouri. The source of the Upper Mississippi branch is traditionally accepted as Lake Itasca,1,475 feet above sea level in Itasca State Park in Clearwater County, however, the lake is in turn fed by a number of smaller streams. From its origin at Lake Itasca to St. Louis, Missouri, fourteen of these dams are located above Minneapolis in the headwaters region and serve multiple purposes, including power generation and recreation. The remaining 29 dams, beginning in downtown Minneapolis, all locks and were constructed to improve commercial navigation of the upper river
35.
Gulf of Mexico
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The Gulf of Mexico is an ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. The U. S. states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas border the Gulf on the north, Atlantic and Pacific coasts, or sometimes the south coast, in juxtaposition to the Great Lakes region being the north coast. One of the seven main areas is the Gulf of Mexico basin. The Gulf of Mexico formed approximately 300 million years ago as a result of plate tectonics, the Gulfs basin is roughly oval and is approximately 810 nautical miles wide and floored by sedimentary rocks and recent sediments. It is connected to part of the Atlantic Ocean through the Florida Straits between the U. S. and Cuba, and with the Caribbean Sea via the Yucatan Channel between Mexico and Cuba, with the narrow connection to the Atlantic, the Gulf experiences very small tidal ranges. The size of the Gulf basin is approximately 1.6 million km2, almost half of the basin is shallow continental shelf waters. The basin contains a volume of roughly 2,500 quadrillion liters, the consensus among geologists who have studied the geology of the Gulf of Mexico, is that prior to the Late Triassic, the Gulf of Mexico did not exist. It was created by the collision of plates that formed Pangea. As interpreted by Roy Van Arsdale and Randel T. Cox, geologists and other Earth scientists agree in general that the present Gulf of Mexico basin originated in Late Triassic time as the result of rifting within Pangea. The rifting was associated with zones of weakness within Pangea, including sutures where the Laurentia, South American, first, there was a Late Triassic-Early Jurassic phase of rifting during which rift valleys formed and filled with continental red beds. Second, as rifting progressed through Early and Middle Jurassic time and it was at this time that tectonics first created a connection to the Pacific Ocean across central Mexico and later eastward to the Atlantic Ocean. This flooded the basin created by rifting and crustal thinning to create the Gulf of Mexico. While the Gulf of Mexico was a basin, the subsiding transitional crust was blanketed by the widespread deposition of Louann Salt. Initially, during the Late Jurassic, continued rifting widened the Gulf of Mexico and progressed to the point that sea-floor spreading, at this point, sufficient circulation with the Atlantic Ocean was established that the deposition of Louann Salt ceased. During the Late Jurassic through Early Cretaceous, the occupied by the Gulf of Mexico experienced a period of cooling. The subsidence was the result of a combination of stretching, cooling. Initially, the combination of stretching and cooling caused about 5–7 km of tectonic subsidence of the central thin transitional
36.
U.S. Route 6 in Colorado
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In the U. S. state of Colorado, U. S. Route 6 is an east–west highway stretching from Utah to Nebraska. Much of the route overlaps other highways in Colorado, and as a result, US6 is concurrent with Interstate 70 for a significant portion of its length from the Utah state line to Denver. When the highway enters the western Denver suburbs, US6 coincidentally aligns with 6th Avenue in the grid system, once it reaches Interstate 25, US6 travels north briefly, then follows Interstate 76 for most of its length east of Denver. It is unsigned while it is overlapped, the highest altitude along US6 is 11,990 feet at Loveland Pass, where it crosses the Continental Divide. It continues down Clear Creek Valley until it reaches I-70, where it is briefly overlapped until I-70 leaves Clear Creek Valley, US6 continues down Clear Creek and into Denver, where it turns into a freeway with 6 lanes. East of Denver, it continues east while joined with I-76 until it reaches Sterling, the last town in Colorado it passes is Holyoke
37.
Treeline
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The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and in frigid environments, beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions. The tree line should not be confused with a lower timberline or forest line, at the tree line, tree growth is often sparse and stunted, with the last trees forming densely matted bushes, known as krummholz. The tree line, like other natural lines, appears well-defined from a distance. Trees grow shorter towards the inhospitable climate until they stop growing. The climate above the line of mountains is called an alpine climate. In the northern hemisphere treelines on north-facing slopes are lower than on south-facing slopes because the increased shade on north-facing slopes means the snowpack takes longer to melt and this shortens the growing season for trees. In the southern hemisphere, the slopes have the shorter growing season. The alpine tree line boundary is seldom abrupt, it forms a transition zone between closed forest below and treeless alpine tundra above. Environmentally dwarfed shrubs commonly forms the upper limit, the decrease in air temperature due to increasing elevation causes the alpine climate. Skin effects and topography can create microclimates that alter the general cooling trend, however, the number of degree days calculated from leaf temperatures may be very similar in the two kinds of timberlines. A series of warm summers in the 1940s seems to have permitted the establishment of “significant numbers” of spruce seedlings above the treeline in the hills near Fairbanks. Survival depends on a sufficiency of new growth to support the tree, the windiness of high-elevation sites is also a potent determinant of the distribution of tree growth. However, snow accumulation in sheltered gullies in the Selkirk Mountains of southeastern British Columbia causes timberline to be 400 metres lower than on exposed intervening shoulders. In a desert, the line marks the driest places where trees can grow. These tend to be called the tree line and occur below about 5,000 ft elevation in the Desert Southwestern United States. In some mountainous areas, higher elevations above the line or on equator-facing and leeward slopes can result in low rainfall. This dries out the soil, resulting in an arid environment unsuitable for trees
38.
Mountain climbing
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The term mountaineering describes the sport of mountain climbing, including ski mountaineering. Hiking in the mountains can also be a form of mountaineering when it involves scrambling, or short stretches of the more basic grades of rock climbing. All require experience, athletic ability, and technical knowledge to maintain safety, mountaineering is often called Alpinism, especially in European languages, which implies climbing with difficulty such high and often snow and ice-covered mountains as the Alps. A mountaineer with such great skill is called an Alpinist, historically, many cultures have harbored superstitions about mountains, which they often regarded as sacred due to their proximity with heaven, such as Mount Olympus for the Ancient Greeks. In 1492 Antoine de Ville, lord of Domjulien and Beaupré, was the first to ascend the Mont Aiguille, in France, with a team, using ladders. It appears to be the first recorded climb of any technical difficulty, in 1573 Francesco De Marchi and Francesco Di Domenico ascended Corno Grande, the highest peak in the Apennine Mountains. During the Enlightenment, as a product of the new spirit of curiosity for the natural world, in 1741 Richard Pococke and William Windham made a historic visit to Chamonix. By the early 19th century many of the peaks were reached, including the Grossglockner in 1800, the Ortler in 1804, the Jungfrau in 1811, the Finsteraarhorn in 1812. In 1808 Marie Paradis became the first female to climb Mont Blanc and this inaugurated what became known as the Golden age of alpinism, with the first mountaineering club - the Alpine Club - being founded in 1857. Well-known guides of the era include Christian Almer, Jakob Anderegg, Melchior Anderegg, J. J. Bennen, Michel Croz, in the early years of the golden age, scientific pursuits were intermixed with the sport, such as by the physicist John Tyndall. In the later years, it shifted to a more competitive orientation as pure sportsmen came to dominate the London-based Alpine Club and this ascent is generally regarded as marking the end of the mountaineering golden age. By this point the sport of mountaineering had largely reached its modern form, with a body of professional guides, equipment, mountaineering in the Americas became popular in the 1800s. In North America, Pikes Peak in the Colorado Rockies was first climbed by Edwin James, though lower than Pikes Peak, the heavily glaciated Fremont Peak in Wyoming was thought to be the tallest mountain in the Rockies when it was first climbed by John C. Frémont and two others in 1842, pico de Orizaba, the tallest peak in Mexico and third tallest in North America, was first climbed by U. S. military personnel which included William F. Raynolds and a half dozen other climbers in 1848. Heavily glaciated and more technical climbs in North American were not achieved until the late 19th, in 1897 Mount Saint Elias on the Alaska-Yukon border was summitted by the Duke of the Abruzzi and party. But it was not until 1913 that Mount Mckinley, the tallest peak in North America was successfully climbed by Hudson Stuck, Mount Logan, the tallest peak in Canada was first summitted by a half dozen climbers in 1925 in an expedition that took more than two months. In 1879-1880 the exploration of the highest Andes in South America began when English mountaineer Edward Whymper climbed Chimborazo, the summit of Aconcagua was finally reached on January 14,1897 by Swiss mountaineer Matthias Zurbriggen during an expedition led by Edward FitzGerald that began in December 1896. The Andes of Bolivia were first explored by Sir William Martin Conway in 1898 and it took until the late 19th century for European explorers to penetrate Africa
39.
Boulder, Colorado
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Boulder is the home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Boulder County, and the 11th most populous municipality in the U. S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of 5,430 feet above sea level, the city is 25 miles northwest of Denver. The population of the City of Boulder was 97,385 people at the 2010 United States Census, while the population of the Boulder, furthermore, the city of Boulder frequently receives high rankings in art, health, well-being, quality of life, and education. The university officially opened on September 5,1877, Boulder adopted an anti-saloon ordinance in 1907. Statewide prohibition started in Colorado in 1916 and ended with the repeal of prohibition in 1933. As of the census of 2010, there were 97,385 people,41,302 households, the population density is 3,942.7 inhabitants per square mile. There were 43,479 housing units at a density of 1,760.3 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 88. 0% White,0. 9% Black or African American,0. 4% Native American,4. 7% Asian,0. 1% Pacific Islander,3. 2% some other race, and 2. 6% from two or more races. 8. 7% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race,35. 8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7. 1% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.16, and the family size was 2.84. Boulders population is younger than the average, largely due to the presence of university students. The median age at the 2010 census was 28.7 years compared to the U. S. median of 37.2 years. In Boulder,13. 9% of the residents were younger than the age of 18,29. 1% from 18 to 24,27. 6% from 25 to 44,20. 3% from 45 to 64, for every 100 females there were 105.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and older, there were 106.2 males, in 2011 the estimated median household income in Boulder was $57,112, and the median family income was $113,681. Male full-time workers had an income of $71,993 versus $47,574 for females. The per capita income for the city was $37,600,24. 8% of the population and 7. 6% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the population,17. 4% of those under the age of 18 and 6. 0% of those 65. Boulder housing tends to be priced higher than surrounding areas, for the 2nd quarter of 2006, the median single-family home in Boulder sold for $548,000 and the median attached dwelling sold for $262,000
40.
Breckenridge, Colorado
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The historic Town of Breckenridge is the Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Summit County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 4,540 at the 2010 United States Census, the town also has many part-time residents, as many people have vacation homes in the area. The town is located at the base of the Tenmile Range, since ski trails were first cut in 1961, Breckenridge Ski Resort has made the town a popular destination for skiers. The historic buildings along Main Street with their clapboard and log exteriors add to the charm of the town, since 1981, Breckenridge hosts the Breckenridge Festival of Film in September. In January each year in the 21st century there is a Backcountry Film Festival and that is held about the same time as the Ullr Fest, a week of celebrating snow and honoring the Norse god Ullr. There are many activities, including an annual Fourth of July parade. The town of Breckenridge was formally created in November 1859 by General George E. Spencer, Spencer chose the name Breckinridge after John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, 14th Vice President of the United States, in the hopes of flattering the government, Spencer succeeded in his plan and a post office was built in Breckinridge, it was the first post office between the Continental Divide and Salt Lake City, Utah. However, when the Civil War broke out in 1861, the vice president sided with the Confederates. The first i was changed to an e, and the name has been spelled Breckenridge ever since. Prospectors entered what is now Summit County during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush of 1859, Breckenridge was founded to serve the miners working rich placer gold deposits discovered along the Blue River. Placer gold mining was soon joined by hard rock mining, as followed the gold to its source veins in the hills. Gold in some upper gravel benches east of the Blue River was recovered by hydraulic mining, Gold production decreased in the late 1800s, but revived in 1908 by gold dredging operations along the Blue River and Swan River. The Breckenridge mining district is credited with production of one million troy ounces of gold. The gold mines around Breckenridge are all shut down, although some are open to tourist visits. The characteristic gravel ridges left by the gold dredges can still be seen along the Blue River and Snake River, notable among the early prospectors was Edwin Carter, a log cabin naturalist who decided to switch from mining to collecting wildlife specimens. Harry Farncomb found the source of the French Gulch placer gold on Farncomb Hill in 1878 and his strike, Wire Patch, consisted of alluvial gold in wire, leaf and crystalline forms. By 1880, he owned the hill, Farncomb later discovered a gold vein, which became the Wire Patch Mine
41.
Gore Range
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The Gore Range is a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains of north central Colorado in the United States. The range runs for approximately 60 miles northwest-to-southeast, through western Grand and Summit counties and they form the southern extension of the Park Range, extending southward from Rabbit Ears Pass to the Eagle River near Vail. The Colorado River passes through the range at Gore Canyon, the range forms part of the western boundary of Middle Park at the headwaters of the Colorado, separating it from the upper basin of the Yampa River to the west. The northern section of the north of Gore Pass is somewhat lower than the southern section. The ridges of the range are visible on clear days from the summit of Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park approximately 50 miles to the east. The range is traversed at its southern and southwestern lower flanks by Interstate 70 from Silverthorne to Vail, much of the range is located within the Arapaho and White River National Forests. The range was named for Sir George Gore, an Irish baronet who visited the area in the 1850s on a hunting expedition throughout the American West. Mountain ranges of Colorado Gore Range
42.
Alpine skiing
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Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the sport or recreation of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. It is typically practiced at ski resorts which provide such as ski lifts, artificial snow making and grooming, first aid. Back-country skiers use alpine skiing equipment to ski off the marked pistes, in cases with the assistance of snowmobiles. Alpine skiing has been an event at the Winter Olympic Games since 1936, as of 1994, there were estimated to be 55 million people worldwide, who engaged in Alpine skiing. Approximately 30 million of these were in Europe,15 million in the US, as of 1996, there were reportedly 4,500 ski areas, operating 26,000 ski lifts and enjoying skier visits. The preponderant region for downhills skiing was Europe, followed by Japan, a skier following the fall line will reach the maximum possible speed for that slope. A skier with skis pointed perpendicular to the line, across the hill instead of down it. The speed of descent down any given hill can be controlled by changing the angle of motion in relation to the fall line, downhill skiing technique focuses on the use of turns to smoothly turn the skis from one direction to another. Good technique results in a motion from one descent angle to another one. This looks more like a series of Ss than turns followed by straight sections. The oldest and still form of alpine ski turn is the stem. In doing so, the ski pushes snow forward and to the side, the force backwards directly counteracts gravity, and slows the skier. The force to the sides, if unbalanced, will cause the skier to turn, carving is based on the shape of the ski itself, when the ski is rotated onto its edge, the pattern cut into its side causes it to bend into an arc. The contact between the arc of the ski edges and the snow naturally causes the ski to tend to move along that arc, slowing the skier, modern alpine skis are shaped to enable carve turning, and have evolved significantly since the 1980s. During the 1930s, the Kandahar binding was introduced, which could be locked down at the heel for the downhill portions, the Kandahar remained in widespread use until the 1960s. As more skiers took up the sport, especially in the 1950s, dr. Richard Spademan saw 150 spiral fractures pass through his emergency department near Squaw Valley in three days, an event that led to the development of the Spademan binding. By the early 1950s, several safety bindings were on the market allowed the ski to come off when the ski twisted to the side. This helped reduce the incidence of spiral fractures, originally boots were cut low, just over the ankle, and soft laterally, both of which limited the amount of sideways rotating force that could be applied
43.
Loveland Ski Area
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Loveland Ski Area is a ski area in the western United States, located near the town of Georgetown, Colorado. Located at the portal of the Eisenhower Tunnel, Loveland is within the Arapahoe National Forest. It is one of the closest ski areas to the Denver metropolitan area and Front Range corridor, the company is operated by Virginia Lee Upham of Mineral Wells, Texas, widow of previous owner Chet Upham. The Loveland Ski Area is the combination of two separate areas - Loveland Basin and Loveland Valley, the two areas, formerly connected by a double chairlift, are now served by bus. The area is one of Colorado’s highest ski areas with a summit of 13,010 ft and the second highest lift-served areas in North America at 12,697 ft. The ski area takes its name from adjacent Loveland Pass, which separates it from the nearby Arapahoe Basin ski area, the ski area is situated on the east side of the Eisenhower Tunnel, through which I-70 crosses the Continental Divide. Because of its lofty elevation, Loveland is typically one of the first ski areas to open and it also has the most first victories in recent years. It is generally regarded as the closest major ski area open to the Denver market, due to its lack of on-site lodging, Loveland often has shorter lift lines and less-expensive lift tickets, particularly midweek. Loveland Basin is the windiest of the two areas that compose Loveland Ski Area and it contains most of the runs and lifts in the ski area, including all of the Most Difficult and Expert terrain. Eight of the ten chairlifts are located in the Basin, the bottom of the mountain contains the Basin Lodge. The basin lodge is a building that contains the Loveland Grill, as well as a Deli, there are also many cabins on the mountain, which are both warming huts and some are food service. All have propane grills and heated insides, the historic E-Tow Cabin is one of these, which was the site of the original E-Tow Lift. Loveland Valley is geared toward beginners and it has two chair lifts, Chair 3, which serves its intermediate and racing runs, and Chair 7, which exclusively serves its beginner slopes, All Smiles and Take Off. Generally, its slopes are gentler which suits itself well to be the home of Loveland’s Ski and Ride School. Loveland Valley has a building that consists of a cafeteria, bar, the Ski and Ride School office, a ticket office, a rental shop, lockers, hygiene services. Loveland Race Club is also located within the Valley, the Club practices and races at the upper end of the Valley’s Switchback Trail. Practices are held every afternoon and races are held on the weekend, the Club also has a lodge just below the base of Chair 3. There is a big race that happens at Loveland Valley every year called the Loveland Derby that is put on by the Loveland Race Club, Loveland has a combination volunteer and paid patrol that services the mountain and leads the way for other volunteer patrols with their extensive camaraderie
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Arapahoe Basin
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Arapahoe Basin is an alpine ski area in the Rocky Mountains of the United States, in the White River National Forest of Colorado. Arapahoe Basin is known for its extended season—usually staying open until early June, Arapahoe Basin is located south of Loveland Pass on U. S. Highway 6 in Summit County. The Arapahoe Basin East Wall has an elevation of 13,050 feet. It is widely regarded as the highest in-bounds skiable terrain in North America, however, the Telluride Ski Resort boasts Palmyra Peak and Silverton Mountain has terrain up to 13,487 feet. Due to its elevation and its mostly north-to-northeast face, the Basins ski season is much longer than most Colorado resorts in North America. It is often first to open mid-October and last to close in early July, Arapahoe Basin is located just below Loveland Pass and offers a spectacular view of the Continental Divide from the lifts. From the top of the East Wall and the North Pole, there are views of Lake Dillon, Breckenridge, Keystone, Montezuma. The Basin is located about 68 miles west of Denver, where Loveland and Eldora ski areas are somewhat closer, at 53 and 45, at the base is a full cafeteria, bar, and coffee bar. There is also a grill outside for warm days, at the peak of the Norway and Lenawee lifts is the Snow Plume refuge, a warming hut with tables and restrooms. New for the 2010–2011 season, Arapahoe Basin opened its first high speed quad lift named The Black Mountain Express. The Black Mountain Express takes the place of the Exhibition Lift, at the top of the Black Mountain Express, Black Mountain Lodge sits, serving an Alpine Bistro style menu. Nicknamed The Legend for its high mountain terrain. Arapahoe Basin is mostly known for advanced and expert terrain, but also has runs for the novice and intermediate skier, the Black Mountain Express, Molly Hogan, and Mollys Magic Carpet lifts service easy runs. The Molly Hogan is a lift running over the bunny slope. The Exhibition run features bumps, steep terrain, and a number of jumps. The Pallavicini lift services mostly black and double black terrain on the west side of the mountain, the Pallavicini face itself, a group of very steep and seemingly endless mogul runs, is rated double black diamond extreme. The Lenawee and Norway lifts take skiers to the top of the mountain, where they can access blues, blacks, opposite of the East Wall there is a blue called Cornice Run where skiers can take leaps from windblown cornices, though sometimes visibility can be a deterrent. Arapahoe Basin opened Zuma lift during the 2007–2008 season, which services blue, black, the largest terrain expansion in the nation for the 2007–2008 season marks an 80% increase in terrain for Arapahoe Basin
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Keystone Resort
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Keystone Resort is a ski resort located in Keystone, Colorado, United States. And owned and operated by Vail Resorts and it consists of three mountains – Dercum Mountain, North Peak, the Outback – and five Bowls offering skiing at all levels. The three mountains are connected by a series of ski lifts and gondolas, collectively, they form the largest operation in Colorado to offer night skiing. Night skiing takes place after sunset until as late as 9 p. m. on as many as 15 of the resorts trails, Keystone is known also for its five-acre resurfaced skating lake, sleigh rides and several Zagat-rated four- and five-star restaurants. There are over 3,000 condos in Keystone, all within a walk or free shuttle ride to one of the two base areas called River Run and Mountain House. In summer, Keystone provides lift access for mountain biking, biking parks, Keystone opened on November 21,1970 led by Max Dercum and a group of investors that included Bill Bergman and Ralston Purina Company. The resort is now owned and operated by Vail Resorts which bought the resort in 1997. Base,9,280 feet Summit,12,408 feet Vertical Rise,3,128 feet Skiable Area,3,148 acres Trails,135 total Bowls, Independence, Bergman, Erickson, North, South, Puma, Lower Packsaddle. Longest Run, Schoolmarm -3.5 miles Average Annual Snowfall,230 inches Terrain Parks, The A51 Terrain Park, the terrain park is the largest in Colorado to be lit at night. During the summer, visitors to Keystone resort often participate in hiking, horseback riding, fly-fishing, whitewater rafting, Keystone resort is also home to two 18-hole championship golf courses. Keystone ski area operates on National Forest System lands under special use permit to the Forest Service, the 30-year special use permit assigns to the permit holder only a portion of the bundle of rights normally associated with real estate ownership. For the privilege of using federal lands the ski area pays a fee of about one dollar per skier visitor to the U. S. Treasury. Twenty-five percent of those fees are returned to Summit County, Colorado, for roads, the Forest Service approves all master development plan revisions, environmental impact statements, summer and winter operations plans, and construction plans prior to opening. Independence Mountain was an olympic finalist and nearly selected for the alpine skiing downhill event for the ill-fated 76 Winter Olympic Games initially awarded to Denver. Speculation about conflicts in the Snake River Valley with the reintroduction program stifled further study. The Teller Lift was a Yan 1000 model triple chair installed in 1984 by Lift Engineering, the following year the upper bullwheel disconnected from the main gearbox shaft. Two people were killed and 47 injured, the lift was rebuilt by Yan as the Ruby lift, free of charge. Settlements between Yan and injured skiers topped over seven million dollars, Keystone Ski Resorts website Google Map with buildings/attractions/bus stops/etc
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