ABSTRACT

Starting at Garden of the Gods, this traverse of the Colorado Rocky Mountains takes us up the Pikes Peak massif and to Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, site of some of the most delicate fossils ever preserved. We cross South Park, a 2 mi high stranded fragment of the Prairies in the center of the Rockies, and enter the Rio Grande Rift, where the continent is tearing itself apart. From here, we visit the old silver mining town of Leadville, where we visit the National Mining Hall of Fame. We continue across the continental divide to the old mining town (and new ski mecca) of Aspen. We end at the iconic Maroon Bells, magnificent red peaks consisting of detritus eroded from the Ancestral Rocky Mountains.