THE NEW WEST: LANDSCAPES ALONG THE COLORADO FRONT RANGE PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Robert Adams,Joshua Chuang,John Szarkowski | 136 pages | 22 Mar 2016 | Steidl Publishers | 9783869309002 | English | Gottingen, Germany Colorado Parks & Wildlife - Colorado Front Range Trail There was an error processing your request. As an officially designated International Dark Sky Community, Westcliffe and nearby Silver Cliff have jumped through hoops to make sure their town is one of the darkest in the country. Special light shields are used to prevent light from es… [ Toggle navigation Menu. Don't have an account? Sign Up Today. Sign-up for our Free Colorado newsletter. Things To Do in Front Range. The Front Range offers quality of life with its many museums and art galleries, natural and urban parklands, hiking and bike trails, rock climbing areas, National Forests, and numerous recreational opportunities. Vrain, and Staunton—are all within driving distance of the Denver metropolitan area. They offer camping, fishing, hiking, climbing, boating, and nature study. Many hiking trails thread through city and county parks in Denver and Boulder. This outdoor destination boasts over days of sunshine annually, over miles of trails, and over 45, acres of open space and parks. Boulder is a place to go climbing at Eldorado Canyon in the morning, take a jog on Mesa Trail in Boulder Mountain Park at lunch, spend an hour fly fishing in Boulder Creek, and then go skiing at Eldora in the afternoon. It offers lots of great city parks like Fossil Creek Park; Horsetooth Reservoir for boating and bouldering; and Poudre Canyon for climbing, fly fishing, hiking, and camping. Vrain State Park outside Longmont. The park, with over 4 million annual visitors, is a magnet for hikers, climbers, mountaineers, campers, and scenic drivers. Colorado Springs, the second-largest city in the state, anchors the central Front Range. The city, dominated by 14,foot Pikes Peak, is home to the U. Olympic Committee and an Olympic training center. Hikers ramble on hundreds of miles of trails, including mile Barr Trail up the Peak or the straight-up Mount Manitou Incline, the most popular trail in Colorado. Fishermen cast lines in the South Platte and Arkansas rivers, and rafters and kayakers dash through rapids on the Arkansas, including the raging Royal Gorge. Westcliffe Dark Sky Site. Updated Jun 23, Historic Arkansas Riverwalk. Bishop Castle. Frog Rock. Paradise Cove Guffey Cove. Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun. May Natural History Museum. Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine. Rocky Flats. Frozen Dead Guy. The Broadmoor. Stanley Hotel. Dinosaur Ridge. Trout Creek Pass. Wilkerson Pass. Igneous rocks generally, are formed from the cooling of magma or molten rock. Intrusive igneous rocks , while "intruding" into surrounding rock, are characterized by crystal formation, resulting from their slower cooling rate. Because of their association with the underground, they are also called plutonic rock, for Pluto, the Greek god of the underworld. Extrusive igneous rocks , formed from magmas which come to the surface before cooling, are generally known as volcanic rocks, for Vulcan, the Greek god of fire. Pyroclastic rocks are those produced in volcanic explosions, when materials are ejected into the air. Some million years ago Colorado's existing mountain formations, or the flattened hills which remained of them, disappeared under a shallow sea, which covered the region for the next million years. The seascape was gradually replaced by desert. Some million years ago, what are known as the Ancestral Rockies began forming. Like their predecessors, erosion would reduce them to little more than hills. Streams coming off the mountains carried boulders, rocks, and sand down the slopes, to accumulate in streambeds below. Over time, as iron compounds mixed with the sandstone, it took on the distinctive red color of the Fountain Formation, found at places such as Red Rocks and Roxborough parks. About million years ago the climate became drier. Wind, rather than streams, carried sand from place to place, depositing it in large dunes. Some, but not all, of the iron seen in the Fountain Formation today was gone. The resulting formations, now known as the Lyons Sandstone, would take on a pink and light brown or gray color. Around million years ago M. Algae, grew in slimy mounds, known as stromatolites, leaving layers of limestone composed of calcium carbonate. For much of the Triassic Period the limestone layers would accumulate into what is known as the Lykins Formation. Dinosaurs made their appearance in the Late Triassic. The Jurassic Period, - M. It was the age of dinosaurs. Sauropods, of which the Brontosaurus is the best known, roamed the area around Morrison. The first discovery, locally, was at Morrison in There is a Brontosaurus footprint, or at least the underside impression of one, dated to M. Since rocks can take on many different shapes, the idea that the Brontosaurus tracks there are, in fact, sauropod or Brontosaurus tracks, is somewhat speculative. About million years ago the area around Morrison and Golden had become the shoreline of a shallow sea. The closest mountains were in what is now Utah. Like the Ancestral Rockies, erosion took its toll on these mountains as well. Washing down from the slopes, sand and gravel would be carried by rivers across Colorado and Kansas. The accumulation would become the Dakota Formation. Oddly, what would become the permanent geological record of this time would not be volcanic eruptions or lava flows, but the ripple marks left by waves on the shore. That, and the tracks of dinosaurs as they traveled from one region to another. This time, the tracks would be of Iguanodons, large plant-eaters, not quite the size of Brontosaurus, but nevertheless of impressive size. Container-grown trees can be planted at any time during the growing season. Container-grown native trees are often grown in a soiless mixture of peat and bark, so the planting site should be amended with some organic material. Another option would be to carefully wash off the media from the container grown plant and plant it bare root. Using native trees offers many benefits in addition to reduced maintenance. Natives are part of our natural heritage and the ecosystems of Colorado. Cox, Arapahoe County Extension horticulture agent. Colorado State University, U. Learn more about us or about our partners. Having website issues? Please use our website feedback form. Colorado State University Extension. Online Directory. Providing trusted, practical education to help you solve problems, develop skills and build a better future. The New West - Aperture The Jurassic Period, - M. It was the age of dinosaurs. Sauropods, of which the Brontosaurus is the best known, roamed the area around Morrison. The first discovery, locally, was at Morrison in There is a Brontosaurus footprint, or at least the underside impression of one, dated to M. Since rocks can take on many different shapes, the idea that the Brontosaurus tracks there are, in fact, sauropod or Brontosaurus tracks, is somewhat speculative. About million years ago the area around Morrison and Golden had become the shoreline of a shallow sea. The closest mountains were in what is now Utah. Like the Ancestral Rockies, erosion took its toll on these mountains as well. Washing down from the slopes, sand and gravel would be carried by rivers across Colorado and Kansas. The accumulation would become the Dakota Formation. Oddly, what would become the permanent geological record of this time would not be volcanic eruptions or lava flows, but the ripple marks left by waves on the shore. That, and the tracks of dinosaurs as they traveled from one region to another. This time, the tracks would be of Iguanodons, large plant-eaters, not quite the size of Brontosaurus, but nevertheless of impressive size. The shoreline existing at the time gradually disappeared. Colorado was once again inundated by another salt sea, the Cretaceous Western Interior Sea. Sharks replaced the dinosaurs as major predators. The skies above were patrolled by pterosaurs, flying reptiles with wingspans of twenty- five feet. Perhaps as early as 75 or 72 million years ago, another mountain-building episode began. Known as the Laramide Orogeny, it marked the beginnings of the present Rocky Mountains. The Interior Sea retreated. By 69 M. The Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, i. The presence of high levels of the element iridium in soils and rock, discovered in the late s, suggests that some extraterrestrial event occurred 65 or Following this observation, an impact crater was discovered beneath the Mexican town of Chixulub in the Yucatan Peninsula. The asteroid that hit was roughly the size of Denver. The end of the Cretaceous period, apart from the asteroid collision, was marked by a high level of volcanic activity, associated with the rise of the Rockies. Near Golden, lava flows would solidify into a now 1, foot high structure overlooking the surrounding area. Over time, a stream would cut the formation in half, leaving two separate buttes, now known as North Table Mountain and South Table Mountain, or the Table Tops. Fossil finds, or at least a Tyrannosaurus Rex tooth suggest that it may have been the hunting grounds for T. The Denver region as a whole turned swampy, supporting palm and walnut trees. Evidence of the swamp would be found in coal beds east of Denver when the Denver International Airport DIA was being constructed in By 64 million years ago, swampland had given way to rainforest. Once established, the watering frequency can be reduced or even eliminated if the plant was sited in its native environmental conditions. Container-grown shrubs can be planted at any time during the growing season. Container-grown native shrubs are often grown in a soiless mixture of peat and bark, so the planting site should be amended with some organic material.