Rocky Mountain National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
View from Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park
Location	Larimer / Grand / Boulder counties, Colorado, USA
Nearest city	Estes Park and Grand Lake, Colorado
Coordinates	40°20′00″N 105°42′32″W / 40.3333333°N 105.70889°W / 40.3333333; -105.70889Coordinates: 40°20′00″N 105°42′32″W / 40.3333333°N 105.70889°W / 40.3333333; -105.70889
Area	265,761 acres (107,550 ha)[1]
Established	January 26, 1915
Visitors	3,176,941 (in 2011)[2]
Governing body	National Park Service

Rocky Mountain National Park entrance sign at Estes Park, Colorado

Rocky Mountain National Park is a national park located in the north-central region of the U.S. state of Colorado. It features majestic mountain views, a variety of wildlife, varied climates and environments—from wooded forests to mountain tundra—and easy access to back-country trails and campsites. The park is located northwest of Boulder, Colorado, in the Rockies, and includes the Continental Divide and the headwaters of the Colorado River.

The park has five visitor centers. The park headquarters, Beaver Meadows Visitor Center, is a National Historic Landmark, designed by the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture at Taliesin West.^[3]

The park may be accessed by three roads: U.S. Highway 34, 36, and State Highway 7. Highway 7 enters the park for less than a mile, where it provides access to the Lily Lake Visitor Center which is closed indefinitely. Farther south, spurs from route 7 lead to campgrounds and trail heads around Longs Peak and Wild Basin. Highway 36 enters the park on the east side, where it terminates after a few miles at Highway 34. Highway 34, known as Trail Ridge Road through the park, runs from the town of Estes Park on the east to Grand Lake on the southwest. The road reaches an elevation of 12,183 feet (3,713 m), and is closed by snow in winter.

The California Zephyr serves Granby (near the west entrance of the park) by rail from Denver, crossing the Continental Divide through the Moffat Tunnel well south of the park. The park's website suggests Granby as an appropriate rail terminus for visitors,^[4] although it lies a good sixteen miles from the park without public transportation connections.

The park is surrounded by Roosevelt National Forest on the north and east, Routt National Forest on the northwest, and Arapaho National Forest on the southwest.

Geography[link]

Map of Colorado. The area of the Rocky Mountain National Park is in dark green.

Rocky Mountain National Park encompasses 265,761 acres (415.25 sq mi; 1,075.50 km²) of land in Colorado's northern Front Range.

The park is split by the Continental Divide, which gives the eastern and western portions of the park a different character. The east side of the park tends to be drier, with heavily glaciated peaks and cirques. The west side of the park is wetter and more lush, with deep forests dominating.^{[citation needed]}

The park contains 359 miles (578 km) of trails, 150 lakes, and 450 miles (720 km) of streams. The park contains over 60 named peaks higher than 12,000 feet (3,700 m), and over one fourth of the park resides above tree line. The highest point of the park is Longs Peak, which rises to 14,259 feet (4,346 m; surveys before 2002 show 14,255 feet (4,345 m) [1]) above sea level. Longs Peak is the only fourteen thousand foot peak in the park.^{[citation needed]}

Permanent Ice patches on mountains

Several small glaciers and permanent snowfields are found in the high mountain cirques, including Andrews Glacier, Sprague Glacier, Tyndall Glacier, Taylor Glacier, Rowe Glacier, Mills Glacier, and Moomaw Glacier.

Ecosystems[link]

The lowest elevations in the park are montane forests and grassland. The ponderosa pine, which prefers drier areas, dominates, though at higher elevations douglas fir trees are found. Above 9,000 feet (2,700 m) the montane forests give way to the subalpine forest. Engelmann Spruce and Subalpine Fir trees are common in this zone. These forests tend to have more moisture than the montane and tend to be denser. Above tree line, at approximately 11,500 feet (3,500 m), trees disappear and the vast alpine tundra takes over. Due to harsh winds and weather, the plants in the tundra are short with very limited growing seasons. Streams have created lush riparian wetlands across the park.

A view of a tundra landscape in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Climate[link]

July and August are the warmest months in the park, where temperatures can reach the 80s although it is not uncommon to drop to below freezing at night. Thunderstorms sometimes appear in the afternoons, and visitors should plan on staying below tree line when they occur. Heavy winter snows can begin around mid-October, and last into April. While the snow can melt away from the lowest elevations of the park, deep snow is found above 9,000 feet (2,700 m) in the winter, causing the closure of Trail Ridge and Fall River roads during the winter and spring. Most of the trails are under snow this time of the year, and snowshoeing and skiing become popular. Springs tend to be wet, alternating between rain and possibly heavy snows. These snows can occur as late as July. The west side of the park typically receives more precipitation than the drier east side.^{[citation needed]}

Popular areas[link]

Ouzel Lake

The park is dominated by Longs Peak, which is visible from many vantage points, and has an elevation of 14,259 feet (4,346 m). Each year thousands of people attempt to scale it. The easiest route is the Keyhole Route, impassable to regular hikers in all but the hottest summer months due to snow and ice. This eight-mile (13 km) one-way climb has an elevation gain of 4,850 ft (1,480 m). The vast east face, including the area known as The Diamond, is home to many classic big wall rock climbing routes.

Not all leave Longs Peak alive and safe. There is a stone gazebo at the Keyhole formation with a plaque memorializing Agnes Vaille, a well-known climber in the 1920s. In January 1925, Vaille fell 100 ft (30 m) while descending the North Face. Vaille survived the fall with minor injuries, but was unable to walk. Her climbing partner, professional mountaineering guide Walter Kiener, went for help; but when rescuers arrived, Vaille had died of fatigue and hypothermia.

Bear Lake, in the heart of the park, is a popular destination and trailhead. The lake lies below Hallett Peak and the Continental Divide. Several trails start from the lake, ranging from easy strolls to strenuous hikes. Bear Lake Road is open year round, though it may close temporarily due to bad weather.

Trail Ridge Road connects the town of Estes Park in the east with Grand Lake in the west. The road reaches an altitude of 12,183 feet (3,713 m), with long stretches above tree line. It passes the Alpine Visitors' Center, a popular destination, and crosses the Continental Divide at Milner Pass. Numerous short interpretive trails and pullouts along the road serve to educate the visitor on the history, geography, and ecology of the park.

The southern area of the park is Wild Basin, a wild and remote region. Several trails cross the area and backpacking it is popular.

The Mummy Range is a short mountain range in the north of the park. The Mummies tend to be gentler and more forested than the other peaks in the park, though some slopes are rugged and heavily glaciated, particularly around Ypsilon Mountain and Mummy Mountain.

The snow-capped Never Summer Mountains are found in the west side of the park. Here the south-trending Continental Divide takes a brief sharp northward loop, which creates an interesting reverse scenario, where the Pacific Basin is on the east side of the divide and the Atlantic Basin on the west. The mountains themselves, the result of volcanic activity, are craggy and, more often than not, covered in deep snow. This area saw the most extensive mining in the park, and trails lead past old mines and ghost towns.

Paradise Park is hidden in the peaks above Grand Lake. This rugged and wild area has no trails penetrating it.

Geologic History[link]

The Front Range was created by the Laramide Orogeny, the last of three major mountain-building events, which occurred between 70 and 40 million years ago. Tectonic activity during the Cenozoic Era changed the Ancestral Rocky Mountains via block uplift, eventually forming the Rocky Mountains as they exist today. The geologic make-up of Rocky Mountain National Park was also affected by deformation and erosion during the Cenozoic Era. Many sedimentary rocks from the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras exist in the basins surrounding the park.

History[link]

Following Trail Ridge Road upward for 1,000 feet is akin to driving 600 miles north from the park in reference to changes in climate and vegetation.

Evidence has shown that Native Americans have visited the area of the park for the last 10,000 years. Their influence in the region was limited, however, and their visits often transitory. The Ute Tribe visited the west side of the park, particularly around Grand Lake. The Arapaho visited and hunted in the Estes Park region.^{[citation needed]}

The Long Expedition, led by Stephen H. Long, for whom Longs Peak was named,^[5] visited the area in 1820, though they never entered the mountains.

Joel Estes and his son stumbled across the meadows that eventually became Estes Park in 1859 while on a hunting expedition. He moved his family there in 1860 and raised cattle. He stayed only until 1866, forced out by long, harsh winters. In the next years, settlers and homesteaders staked their claims in the Estes Park region. Tourists, particularly those interested in climbing the high peaks of the region, appeared after this time.

In 1880 a small mining rush began in the Never Summer Mountains. The mining town of Lulu City was established with great fanfare and promotion by the media, particularly by Fort Collins newspapers. The ore mined, however, was low grade; by 1883 the rush went bust, and most of the residents moved on. A satellite town, Dutchtown, was abandoned by 1884.

Enos Mills, then a 14 year old boy, moved to Estes Park in 1884. He explored the mountains of the area and wrote many books and articles describing the region. He later supported the creation of Rocky Mountain National Park, and he split his time between the mountains he loved and the cities of the eastern United States, where he lobbied for the legislation to create the park. The legislation was drafted by James Grafton Rogers, a Denver lawyer and avid outdoorsman. Mills' original proposal for park boundaries went from Wyoming all the way down to the Mount Evans area, including areas such as the Indian Peaks Wilderness. Much of the land was favored for mining, logging, and other operations, however, so the proposed park was reduced to an area approximating the current park borders. The bill passed Congress and was signed by President Woodrow Wilson on January 26, 1915. A formal dedication ceremony was held on September 4, 1915 in Horseshoe Park. The park has expanded over the years, with the largest parcel — the Never Summer Range — added in 1929.

The 1920s saw a boom in building lodges and roads in the park, culminating with the construction of Trail Ridge Road between 1929 and 1933. The Civilian Conservation Corps handled several building projects during the Great Depression and remnants of their camps can be found in the park today.^{[citation needed]}

On June 24, 2010, a wildfire burned over 1,500 acres (6.1 km²) of the park in Larimer County near Estes Park. Estes Park Fire Department believed that lightning may have started the fire.

Activities[link]

Timber Creek Campground toward the Grand Lake entrance to the park

On the Colorado River trail inside Rocky Mountain National Park

• Most visitors to the park drive over the famous Trail Ridge Road, but other scenic roads include Fall River Road and Bear Lake Road.
• Many visitors hike and backpack. The park contains a network of 349 miles (562 km) of trail and dozens of designated backcountry camp sites. Trails range from easy to strenuous. Many routes are off-trail and the hiker must be careful to leave no trace of their passage.
• Horseback riding is permitted on most trails. Some trails which are closed to horse traffic allow llamas as pack animals, because their smaller size and softer feet have a lower impact on trail erosion.
• Rock climbing and mountaineering have increased in recent years^{[citation needed]}. Longs Peak, Hallett Peak and Lumpy Ridge, among others, are famous rock climbing areas. Many of the highest peaks have technical ice and rock routes on them, ranging from short scrambles to long multi-pitch climbs.
• In the winter, when the trails are covered in snow, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing are popular. Backcountry-style Alpine, Alpine Touring and Telemark skiing can be found on the higher slopes.
• Fishing is found in the many lakes and streams in the park.
• Camping is allowed at several designated campgrounds.

Rocky Mountain National Park was also a place for downhill skiing. Hidden Valley (Ski Estes Park) operated between 1955 - 1991 along U.S. 34, five miles (8 km) west of Estes Park. The area had been skied by locals long before it opened as a ski area.^[6]

Sites of interest[link]

Headquarters cabin to restored Holzwarth Dude Ranch in Rocky Mountain National Park

• Alpine Visitor's Center
• Bear Lake
• Chasm Lake
• Fall River Pass
• Grand Lake
• Milner Pass
• Mount Meeker
• Sprague Lake
• Trail Ridge Road
• Longs Peak
• Wild Basin

See also[link]

• Ecology of the Rocky Mountains

Notes[link]

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (July 2009)

References[link]

• Cole, James C.; Braddock, William A. (2009). Geologic Map of the Estes Park 30' x 60' Quadrangle, North-Central Colorado. Scientific Investigations Map 3039. U.S. Geological Survey. ISBN 978-1-4113-2221-9. http://pubs.usgs.gov/sim/3039/.  This source discusses the geology of the quadrangle, which covers most of Rocky Mountain National Park.
• Buchholtz, C. W. (1983). Rocky Mountain National Park: A History. University Press of Colorado. ISBN 0-87081-146-0. 
• Emerick, John C. (1995). Rocky Mountain National Park Natural History Handbook. Roberts Hinehart Publishers/Rocky Mountain Nature Association. ISBN 1-879373-80-7. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rocky Mountain National Park (category)

• Rocky Mountain National Park (official site)

v t e National parks of the United States Acadia American Samoa Arches Badlands Big Bend Biscayne Black Canyon of the Gunnison Bryce Canyon Canyonlands Capitol Reef Carlsbad Caverns Channel Islands Congaree Crater Lake Cuyahoga Valley Death Valley Denali Dry Tortugas Everglades Gates of the Arctic Glacier Glacier Bay Grand Canyon Grand Teton Great Basin Great Sand Dunes Great Smoky Mountains Guadalupe Mountains Haleakalā Hawaiʻi Volcanoes Hot Springs Isle Royale Joshua Tree Katmai Kenai Fjords Kings Canyon Kobuk Valley Lake Clark Lassen Volcanic Mammoth Cave Mesa Verde Mount Rainier North Cascades Olympic Petrified Forest Redwood Rocky Mountain Saguaro Sequoia Shenandoah Theodore Roosevelt Virgin Islands Voyageurs Wind Cave Wrangell–St. Elias Yellowstone Yosemite Zion                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     List of national parks of the United States (by elevation)

An elephant safari through the Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary in West Bengal, India

The Teide National Park in Tenerife (Spain).

A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently (for example, see Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in the United States^[1]), an international organization, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and its World Commission on Protected Areas, has defined National Parks as its category II type of protected areas. While ideas for this type of national park had been suggested previously, the United States established the first such one, Yellowstone National Park, in 1872. The largest national park in the world meeting the IUCN definition is the Northeast Greenland National Park, which was established in 1974. According to the IUCN, there were 6,555 national parks worldwide in 2006 that meet its criteria.^[2]

Definitions[link]

Landsat 7 image of Kavir National Park, Iran.

In 1969 the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) declared a national park to be a relatively large area with particular defining characteristics.^[3] A national park was deemed to be a place

• with one or several ecosystems not materially altered by human exploitation and occupation, where plant and animal species, geomorphological sites and habitats are of special scientific, educative and recreative interest or which contain a natural landscape of great beauty.
• the highest competent authority of the country has taken steps to prevent or eliminate exploitation or occupation as soon as possible in the whole area and to effectively enforce the respect of ecological, geomorphological, or aesthetic features which have led to its establishment.
• visitors are allowed to enter, under special conditions, for inspirational, educative, cultural, and recreative purposes.

In 1971 these criteria were further expanded upon leading to more clear and defined benchmarks to evaluate a national park. These include:

• a minimum size of 1,000 hectares within zones in which protection of nature takes precedence
• statutory legal protection
• a budget and staff sufficient to provide sufficient effective protection
• prohibition of exploitation of natural resources (including the development of dams) qualified by such activities as sport, fishing, the need for management, facilities, etc.

While national parks are generally understood to be administered by national governments (hence the name), in Australia national parks are run by state governments and predate the Federation of Australia.

History[link]

Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

In 1835, the English poet William Wordsworth described the Lake District as a^[4]

sort of national property, in which every man has a right and interest who has an eye to perceive and a heart to enjoy.

The painter George Catlin, in his travels through the American West, wrote during the 1830s that the Native Americans in the United States might be preserved^[5]

(by some great protecting policy of government) ...in a magnificent park ...A nation's Park, containing man and beast, in all the wild and freshness of their nature's beauty!

The first effort by any government to set aside such protected lands was in the United States, on April 20, 1832, when President Andrew Jackson signed legislation that the 22nd United States Congress had enacted to set aside four sections of land around what is now Hot Springs, Arkansas to protect the natural, thermal springs and adjoining mountainsides for the future disposal of the US government.^[6][7] It was known as the Hot Springs Reservation. However no legal authority was established and federal control of the area was not clearly established until 1877.^[6]

The next effort by any government to set aside such protected lands was, again, in the United States, when President Abraham Lincoln signed an Act of Congress on June 30, 1864, ceding the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias (later becoming the Yosemite National Park) to the state of California:^[8]

.... the said State shall accept this grant upon the express conditions that the premises shall be held for public use, resort, and recreation; shall be inalienable for all time; .... — 38th United States Congress, Session 1, 1864

Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, California, USA

In 1872, Yellowstone National Park was established as the world's first truly national park.^[9] When news of the natural wonders of the Yellowstone were first promulgated, the land was part of a federally governed territory. Unlike Yosemite, there was no state government that could assume stewardship of the land, so the federal government took on direct responsibility for the park, the official first national park of the United States. It took the combined effort and interest of conservationists, politicians and especially businesses—namely, the Northern Pacific Railroad, whose route through Montana would greatly benefit by the creation of this new tourist attraction—to ensure the passage of that landmark enabling legislation by the United States Congress to create Yellowstone National Park. Theodore Roosevelt, already an active campaigner and so influential as good stump speakers were highly necessary in the pre-telecommunications era, was highly influential in convincing fellow Republicans and big business to back the bill.

The United States in 1872. When Yellowstone was established, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho were territories, not states. For this reason, the federal government had to assume responsibility for the land, hence the creation of the national park.

American Pulitzer Prize-winning author Wallace Stegner, has written:^[10]

National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst.

Even with the creation of Yellowstone, Yosemite, and nearly 37 other national parks and monuments, another 44 years passed before an agency was created in the United States to administer these units in a comprehensive way — the U.S. National Park Service (NPS). Businessman Stephen Mather and his journalist partner Robert Sterling Yard pushed hardest for the creation of the NPS, writing then-Secretary of the Interior Franklin Knight Lane about such a need and spearheading a large publicity campaign for their movement. Lane invited Mather to come to Washington, DC to work with him to draft and see passage of the National Park Service Organic Act, which the 64th United States Congress enacted and which President Woodrow Wilson signed into law on August 25, 1916. Of the 397 sites managed by the National Park Service of the United States, only 58 carry the designation of National Park.

Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA Yellowstone was the first national park in the world.

Following the idea established in Yellowstone there soon followed parks in other nations. In Australia, the Royal National Park was established just south of Sydney in 1879, becoming the world's second official national park. Rocky Mountain National Park became Canada's first national park in 1885. New Zealand established Tongariro National Park in 1887. In Europe the first national parks were a set of nine parks in Sweden in 1909; Europe has some 359 national parks as of 2010.^{[citation needed]} Africa's first national park was established in 1925 when Albert I of Belgium designated an area of what is now Democratic Republic of Congo centred around the Virunga Mountains as the Albert National Park (since renamed Virunga National Park). In 1973, Mount Kilimanjaro was classified as a National Park and was opened to public access in 1977.^[11] In 1926, the government of South Africa designated Kruger National Park as the nation's first national park. After World War II, national parks were founded all over the world. The Vanoise National Park in the Alps was the first French national park, created in 1963 after public mobilization against a touristic project.

See also[link]

	Environment portal
	Ecology portal
	Earth sciences portal
	Sustainable development portal

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: National parks

• Protected Planet – World Database of Protected Areas
• UNESCO — Man and the Biosphere Programme (Biosphere Reserves)
• World Heritage Sites
• A-Z of Areas of Biodiversity Importance: National Parks
• UN Protected Areas database
• EUROPARC Federation — Europe's protected areas
• European National Parks Centre (ENPC)
• National Park of China
• National Parks Worldwide
• Vietnam National Parks
• Pictures of European national parks

Rocky Mountains
Rockies
Moraine Lake, and the Valley of the Ten Peaks, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada
Highest point
Peak	Mount Elbert (U.S.A.)
Elevation	14,440 ft (4,400 m)
Coordinates	39°07′03.90″N 106°26′43.29″W / 39.11775°N 106.4453583°W / 39.11775; -106.4453583Coordinates: 39°07′03.90″N 106°26′43.29″W / 39.11775°N 106.4453583°W / 39.11775; -106.4453583
Geography
Countries	Canada and United States
States/Provinces	List British Columbia Alberta Idaho Montana Wyoming Utah Colorado New Mexico
Parent range	North American Cordillera
Geology
Period	Precambrian and Cretaceous
Type of rock	Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic

The Rocky Mountains (or the Rockies) are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than 3,000 miles (4,830 km) 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 and the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada which all lie further to the west.

The Rocky Mountains were formed from 80 million to 55 million years ago by the Laramide orogeny. Since then, erosion by water and glaciers have sculpted the mountain range into dramatic valleys and peaks. At the end of the last ice age, humans started to inhabit the mountain range. After Europeans, such as Sir Alexander MacKenzie and the Lewis and Clark expedition, started to explore the range, minerals and furs drove the initial economic exploitation of the mountains, although the range itself never became densely populated.

Currently, much of the mountain range is protected by public parks and forest lands, and is a popular tourist destination, especially for hiking, camping, mountaineering, fishing, hunting, mountain biking, skiing, and snowboarding.

Geography[link]

The Rocky Mountains are commonly defined as stretching from the Liard River in British Columbia south to the Rio Grande in New Mexico. Other mountain ranges continue beyond those two rivers, including the Selwyn Range in Yukon, the Brooks Range in Alaska, and the Sierra Madre in Mexico, but those are not part of the Rockies, though they are part of the American cordillera. The United States definition of the Rockies, however, includes the Cabinet and Salish Mountains of Idaho and Montana, whereas 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, which runs the length of British Columbia from its beginnings in the middle Flathead River valley in western Montana to the south bank of the Liard River.^[1] The Rockies vary in width from 70 to 300 miles (110 to 480 kilometers). 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 eastern side of the Trench, the McGregor Plateau, resembles the Rockies but is considered part of the Interior Plateau.

The Rocky Mountains arise abruptly from the Great Plains near Greenwood Village, Colorado

The eastern edge of the Rockies rises dramatically above the Interior Plains of central North America, including the Front Range of Colorado, the Wind River Range and Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming, the Absaroka-Beartooth ranges and Rocky Mountain Front of Montana, Dunnick's Peak (Colorado) and the Clark Range of Alberta. In Canada geographers define three main groups of ranges: the Continental Ranges, Hart Ranges and Muskwa Ranges (the latter two flank the Peace River, the only river to pierce the Rockies, and are collectively referred to as the Northern Rockies). The Muskwa and Hart Ranges together comprise what is known as the Northern Rockies (the Mackenzie Mountains north of the Liard River are sometimes referred to as being part of the Rockies but this is an unofficial designation).

Mount Elbert in Colorado, is the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains.

The western edge of the Rockies includes ranges such as the Wasatch near Salt Lake City and the Bitterroots along the Idaho-Montana border. 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 Rockies do not extend into the Yukon or Alaska, or into central British Columbia, where the Rocky Mountain System (but not the Rocky Mountains) includes the Columbia Mountains, the southward extension of which is considered part of the Rockies in the United States. The Rocky Mountain System within the United States is a United States physiographic region; the Rocky Mountain System is known in Canada as the Eastern System.

The Rocky Mountains are notable for containing the highest peaks in central North America. The range's highest peak is Mount Elbert located in Colorado at 14,440 feet (4,401 m) above sea level. Mount Robson in British Columbia, at 12,972 feet (3,954 m), is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies.

Mount Robson in British Columbia, Canada.

The Continental Divide is located in the Rocky Mountains and designates the line at which waters flow either to the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans. Triple Divide Peak (8,020 feet (2,440 m)) in Glacier National Park (U.S.) 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, which has its outlet on the Beaufort Sea of the Arctic Ocean. 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 (10 per square mile) and few cities with over 50,000 people. However, the human population grew rapidly in the Rocky Mountain states between 1950 and 1990. The 40-year statewide increases in population range from 35% in Montana to about 150% in Utah and Colorado. The populations of several mountain towns and communities have doubled in the last 40 years. Jackson Hole, Wyoming, increased 260%, from 1,244 to 4,472 residents, in 40 years.^[2]

Geology[link]

The rocks in the Rocky Mountains were formed before the mountains were raised by tectonic forces. The oldest rock is Precambrian metamorphic rock that forms the core of the North American continent. There is also Precambrian sedimentary argillite, dating back to 1.7 billion years ago. During the Paleozoic, western North America lay underneath a shallow sea, which deposited many kilometers of limestone and dolomite.^[3]

In the southern Rocky Mountains, near present-day Colorado, these ancestral rocks were disturbed by mountain building approximately 300Ma, during the Pennsylvanian. This mountain building produced the Ancestral Rocky Mountains. They consisted largely of Precambrian metamorphic rock forced upward through layers of the limestone laid down in the shallow sea.^[4] The mountains eroded throughout the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic, leaving extensive deposits of sedimentary rock.

Terranes started to collide with the western edge of North America in the Mississippian (approximately 350 million years ago), causing the Antler orogeny.^[5] For 270 million years, the effects of plate collisions were focused very near the edge of the North American plate boundary, far to the west of the Rocky Mountain region.^[5] It was not until 80 Ma that these effects began to reach the Rockies.^[6]

The current Rocky Mountains were raised in the Laramide orogeny from between 80 to 55 Ma.^[6] For the Canadian Rockies, the mountain building is analogous to a rug being pushed on a hardwood floor:^[3] the rug bunches up and forms wrinkles (mountains). In Canada, the terranes and subduction are the foot pushing the rug, the ancestral rocks are the rug, and the Canadian Shield in the middle of the continent is the hardwood floor.^[3]

Further south, the growth of the Rocky Mountains in the United States was probably caused by an unusual subduction, where the Farallon plate dove at a shallow angle below the North American plate.^[7] This low angle moved the focus of melting and mountain building much farther inland than the normal 200 to 300 miles (300 to 500 km).^[7] It is postulated that the shallow angle of the subducting plate greatly increased the friction and other interactions with the thick continental mass above it. Tremendous thrusts piled sheets of crust on top of each other, building the extraordinarily broad, high Rocky Mountain range.^[7]

Tilted slabs of sedimentary rock in Colorado

The current southern Rockies were forced upwards through the layers of Pennsylvanian and Permian sedimentary remnants of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains. Such sedimentary remnants were often tilted at steep angles along the flanks of the modern range; they are now visible in many places throughout the Rockies, and are prominently shown along the Dakota Hogback, an early Cretaceous sandstone formation that runs along the eastern flank of the modern Rockies.

Immediately after the Laramide orogeny, the Rockies were like Tibet: a high plateau, probably 6,000 metres (20,000 ft) above sea level. In the last 60 million years, erosion stripped away the high rocks, revealing the ancestral rocks beneath, and forming the current landscape of the Rockies.^[3]

Glaciers, such as Jackson Glacier as shown here, have dramatically shaped the Rocky Mountains.

Periods of glaciation occurred from the Pleistocene Epoch (1.8 million - 70,000 years ago) to the Holocene Epoch (fewer than 11,000 years ago). The ice ages left their mark on the Rockies, forming extensive glacial landforms, such as U-shaped valleys and cirques. Recent glacial episodes included the Bull Lake Glaciation that began about 150,000 years ago and the Pinedale Glaciation that probably remained at full glaciation until 15,000-20,000 years ago.^[2][8]

All of the geological processes, above, have left a complex set of rocks exposed at the surface. For example, volcanic rock from the Paleogene and Neogene periods (65 million - 2.6 million years ago) occurs in the San Juan Mountains and in other areas. Millennia of severe erosion in the Wyoming Basin transformed intermountain basins into a relatively flat terrain. The Tetons and other north-central ranges contain folded and faulted rocks of Paleozoic and Mesozoic age draped above cores of Proterozoic and Archean igneous and metamorphic rocks ranging in age from 1.2 billion (e.g., Tetons) to more than 3.3 billion years (Beartooth Mountains).^[2]

Ecology and climate[link]

There are a wide range of environmental factors in the Rocky Mountains. The Rockies range in latitude between the Liard River in British Columbia (at 59° N) and the Rio Grande in New Mexico (at 35° N). Prairie occurs at or below 1,800 feet (550 m), while the highest peak in the range is Mount Elbert at 14,440 feet (4,400 m). Precipitation ranges from 10 inches (250 mm) per year in the southern valleys^[9] to 60 inches (1,500 mm) per year locally in the northern peaks.^[10] Average January temperatures can range from 20 °F (−7 °C) in Prince George, British Columbia to 43 °F (6 °C) in Trinidad, Colorado.^[11] Therefore, there is not a single monolithic ecosystem for the entire Rocky Mountain Range.

Tundra in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado

Instead, ecologists divide the Rocky Mountain into a number of biotic zones. Each zone is defined by whether it can support trees, and the presence of one or more indicator species. Two zones that do not support trees are the Plains and the Alpine tundra. The Great Plains lie to the east of the Rockies, and is characterized by prairie grasses (below roughly 1,800 feet (550 m)). Alpine tundra occurs in regions above the treeline for the Rocky Mountains, which varies from 12,000 feet (3,700 m) in New Mexico to 2,500 feet (760 m) at the northern end of the Rocky Mountains (near the Yukon).^[11]

The USGS defines ten forested zones in the Rocky Mountains.^[2] Zones in more southern, warmer, or drier areas are defined by the presence of pinyon pines/junipers, ponderosa pines, or oaks mixed with pines. In more northern, colder, or wetter areas, zones are defined by Douglas-firs, Cascadian species (such as western hemlock), lodgepole pines/quaking aspens, or firs mixed with spruce. Near treeline, zones can consist of white pines (such as whitebark pine or bristlecone pine); or a mixture of white pine, fir, and spruce that appear as shrub-like krummholz. Finally, rivers and canyons can create a unique forest zone in more arid parts of the mountain range.^[2]

Bighorn sheep (such as this lamb in Alberta) have declined dramatically since European-American settlement of the Rocky Mountains.

The Rocky Mountains are important habitat for a great deal of well-known wildlife, such as elk, moose, mule and white-tailed deer, pronghorns, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, black bears, grizzly bears, coyotes, lynxes, and wolverines.^[2] For example, North America's largest herds of moose is in the Alberta-British Columbia foothills forests.

The status of most species in the Rocky Mountains is unknown, due to incomplete information. European-American settlement of the mountains has adversely impacted native species. Examples of some species that have declined include western toads, greenback cutthroat trouts, white sturgeons, white-tailed ptarmigans, trumpeter swans, and bighorn sheep. In the United States portion of the mountain range, apex predators such as grizzly bears and gray wolves had been extirpated from their original ranges, but have partially recovered due to conservation measures and reintroduction. Other recovering species include the bald eagle and the peregrine falcon.^[2]

Human history[link]

Indigenous People[link]

Since the last great ice age, the Rocky Mountains were home first to the indigenous peoples, including the Apache, Arapaho, Bannock, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Crow Nation, Flathead, Shoshone, Sioux, Ute, Kutenai (Ktunaxa in Canada), Sekani, Dunne-za, and others.^[2] Paleo-Indians hunted the now-extinct mammoth and ancient bison (an animal 20% larger than modern bison) in the foothills and valleys of the mountains. Like the modern tribes that followed them, Paleo-Indians probably migrated to the plains in fall and winter for bison and to the mountains in spring and summer for fish, deer, elk, roots, and berries. In Colorado, along the crest of the Continental Divide, rock walls that Native Americans built for driving game date back 5,400–5,800 years.^[2] A growing body of scientific evidence indicates that indigenous people had significant effects on mammal populations by hunting and on vegetation patterns through deliberate burning.^[2]

European exploration[link]

Recent human history of the Rocky Mountains is one of more rapid change.^[2] The Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado—with a group of soldiers, missionaries, and African slaves—marched into the Rocky Mountain region from the south in 1540.^[12] The introduction of the horse, metal tools, rifles, new diseases, and different cultures profoundly changed the Native American cultures. Native American populations were extirpated from most of their historical ranges by disease, warfare, habitat loss (eradication of the bison), and continued assaults on their culture.^[2]

In 1739, French fur traders Pierre and Paul Mallet, while journeying through the Great Plains, discovered a range of mountains at the headwaters of the Platte River, which local American Indian tribes called the "Rockies", becoming the first Europeans to report on this uncharted mountain range.^[13]

Sir Alexander MacKenzie in 1800

Sir Alexander MacKenzie (1764–March 11, 1820) became the first European to cross the Rocky Mountains in 1793.^[14] He found the upper reaches of the Fraser River and reached the Pacific coast of what is now Canada on July 20 of that year, completing the first recorded transcontinental crossing of North America north of Mexico.^[15] He arrived at Bella Coola, British Columbia, where he first reached saltwater at South Bentinck Arm, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806) was the first scientific reconnaissance of the Rocky Mountains.^[16] Specimens were collected for contemporary botanists, zoologists, and geologists.^[2] The expedition was said to have paved the way to (and through) the Rocky Mountains for European-Americans from the East, although Lewis and Clark met at least 11 European-American mountain men during their travels.^[2]

Mountain men, primarily French, Spanish, and British, roamed the Rocky Mountains from 1720 to 1800 seeking mineral deposits and furs. The fur-trading North West Company established Rocky Mountain House as a trading post in what is now the Rocky Mountain Foothills of present-day Alberta in 1799, and their business rivals the Hudson's Bay Company established Acton House nearby.^[17] These posts served as bases for most European activity in the Canadian Rockies in the early 19th century. Among the most notable are the expeditions of David Thompson (explorer), who followed the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean.^[18] On his 1811 expedition, he camped at the junction of the Columbia River and the Snake River and erected a pole and notice claiming the area for Great Britain and stating the intention of the North West Company to build a fort at the site.^[19]

By the Anglo-American Convention of 1818, which established the 49th parallel north as the international boundary west from Lake of the Woods to the "Stony Mountains";^[20] the UK and the USA agreed to what has since been described as "joint occupancy" of lands further west to the Pacific Ocean. Resolution of the territorial and treaty issues, the Oregon dispute, was deferred until a later time.

In 1819, Spain ceded their rights north of the 42nd Parallel to the United States, though these rights did not include possession and also included obligations to Britain and Russia concerning their claims in the same region.

Settlement[link]

After 1802, American fur traders and explorers ushered in the first widespread Caucasian presence in the Rockies south of the 49th parallel. The more famous of these include Americans William Henry Ashley, Jim Bridger, Kit Carson, John Colter, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Andrew Henry, and Jedediah Smith. On July 24, 1832, Benjamin Bonneville led the first wagon train across the Rocky Mountains by using Wyoming's South Pass.^[2] Similarly, in the wake of Mackenzie's 1793 expedition, fur trading posts were established west of the Northern Rockies in a region of the northern Interior Plateau of British Columbia which came to be known as New Caledonia, beginning with Fort McLeod (today's community of McLeod Lake) and Fort Fraser, but ultimately focused on Stuart Lake Post (today's Fort St. James).

Negotiations with Great Britain over the next few decades failed to settle upon a compromise boundary and the Oregon Dispute became important in geopolitical diplomacy between the British Empire and the new American Republic. In 1841 James Sinclair, Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, guided some 200 settlers from the Red River Colony west to bolster settlement around Fort Vancouver in an attempt to retain the Columbia District for Britain. The party crossed the Rockies into the Columbia Valley, a region of the Rocky Mountain Trench near present-day Radium Hot Springs, British Columbia, then traveled south. Despite such efforts, in 1846, Britain ceded all claim to Columbia District lands south of the 49th parallel to the United States; as resolution to the Oregon boundary dispute by the Oregon Treaty.^[21]

Cherokee Trail near Fort Collins, Colorado, from a sketch taken 7 June 1859.

Thousands passed through the Rocky Mountains on the Oregon Trail beginning in the 1840s.^[22] The Mormons began to settle near the Great Salt Lake in 1847.^[23] From 1859 to 1864, gold was discovered in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and British Columbia, sparking several gold rushes bringing thousands of prospectors and miners to explore every mountain and canyon and to create the Rocky Mountains' first major industry. The Idaho gold rush alone produced more gold than the California and Alaska gold rushes combined and was important in the financing of the Union Army during the American Civil War. The transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869,^[24] and Yellowstone National Park was established as the world's first national park in 1872.^[25] Meanwhile, a transcontinental railroad in Canada was originally promised in 1871. Though political complications pushed its completion to 1885, the Canadian Pacific Railway eventually followed the Kicking Horse and Rogers Passes to the Pacific Ocean.^[26] Canadian railway officials also convinced Parliament to set aside vast areas of the Canadian Rockies as Jasper, Banff, Yoho, and Waterton Lakes National Parks, laying the foundation for a tourism industry which thrives to this day. Glacier National Park (MT) was established with a similar relationship to tourism promotions by the Great Northern Railway.^[27] While settlers filled the valleys and mining towns, conservation and preservation ethics began to take hold. U.S. President Harrison established several forest reserves in the Rocky Mountains in 1891–1892. In 1905, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt extended the Medicine Bow Forest Reserve to include the area now managed as Rocky Mountain National Park.^[2] Economic development began to center on mining, forestry, agriculture, and recreation, as well as on the service industries that support them.^[2] Tents and camps became ranches and farms, forts and train stations became towns, and some towns became cities.^[2]

Economy[link]

Industry and development[link]

Economic resources of the Rocky Mountains are varied and abundant. Minerals found in the Rocky Mountains include significant deposits of copper, gold, lead, molybdenum, silver, tungsten, and zinc. The Wyoming Basin and several smaller areas contain significant reserves of coal, natural gas, oil shale, and petroleum. For example, the Climax mine, located near Leadville, Colorado, was the largest producer of Molybdenum in the world. Molybdenum is used in heat-resistant steel in such things as cars and planes. The Climax mine employed over 3,000 workers. The Coeur d'Alene mine of northern Idaho produces silver, lead, and zinc. Canada's largest coal mines are near Fernie, British Columbia and Sparwood, British Columbia; additional coal mines exist near Hinton, Alberta,^[2] and in the Northern Rockies surrounding Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia.

Abandoned mines with their wakes of mine tailings and toxic wastes dot the Rocky Mountain landscape. In one major example, eighty years of zinc mining profoundly polluted the river and bank near Eagle River in north-central Colorado. High concentrations of the metal carried by spring runoff harmed algae, moss, and trout populations. An economic analysis of mining effects at this site revealed declining property values, degraded water quality, and the loss of recreational opportunities. The analysis also revealed that cleanup of the river could yield $2.3 million in additional revenue from recreation. In 1983, the former owner of the zinc mine was sued by the Colorado Attorney General for the $4.8 million cleanup costs; five years later, ecological recovery was considerable.^[2][28]

A drilling rig drills for natural gas just west of the Wind River Range in the Wyoming Rockies

The Rocky Mountains contain several sedimentary basins that are rich in coalbed methane. Coalbed methane is natural gas that arises from coal, either through bacterial action, or through exposure to high temperature. Coalbed methane supplies 7 percent of the natural gas used in the United States. The largest coalbed methane sources in the Rocky Mountains are in the San Juan Basin in New Mexico and Colorado and the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. These two basins are estimated to contain 38 trillion cubic feet of gas. Coalbed methane can be recovered by dewatering the coal bed, and separating the gas from the water; or injecting water to fracture the coal to release the gas (so-called hydraulic fracturing).^[29]

Agriculture and forestry are major industries. Agriculture includes dryland and irrigated farming and livestock grazing. Livestock are frequently moved between high-elevation summer pastures and low-elevation winter pastures,^[2] a practice known as transhumance.

Tourism[link]

Castle Geyser in Yellowstone National Park

See also: List of U.S. Rocky Mountain ski resorts, List of Alberta ski resorts, List of B.C. ski resorts

Every year the scenic areas and recreational opportunities of the Rocky Mountains draw millions of tourists.^[2] The main language of the Rocky Mountains is English. But there are also linguistic pockets of Spanish and Native American languages. French is another official language in Canada's national parks.

People from all over the world visit the sites to hike, camp, or engage in mountain sports.^[2] In the summer season, examples of tourist attractions are:

In the United States:

• Pikes Peak
• Royal Gorge
• Rocky Mountain National Park
• Yellowstone National Park
• Grand Teton National Park
• Glacier National Park
• Sawtooth National Recreation Area

Going to the Sun Mountain in Glacier National Park

In Canada, the mountain range contains these national parks:

• Banff National Park
• Jasper National Park
• Kootenay National Park
• Waterton Lakes National Park
• Yoho National Park

Glacier National Park in Montana and Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta border each other and collectively are known as Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. (See also International Peace Park.)

In the winter, skiing is the main attraction. A list of the major ski resorts can be found at List of U.S. Rocky Mountain ski resorts.

The adjacent Columbia Mountains in British Columbia contain major resorts such as, Fernie, Panorama and Kicking Horse, as well as Mount Revelstoke National Park and Glacier National Park.

There are numerous provincial parks in the British Columbia Rockies, the largest and most notable being Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park, Mount Robson Provincial Park, Northern Rocky Mountains Provincial Park, Kwadacha Wilderness Provincial Park, Stone Mountain Provincial Park and Muncho Lake Provincial Park.

See also[link]

	Book: Canada
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

	Book: United States
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

Needles of larches in Alberta turn yellow in autumn.

• Outline of North America
  • Geography of North America
  • Geology of North America
• Mountain ranges of the world
  • Lists of mountains
• Rocky Mountains
  • Geology of the Rocky Mountains
  • Mountain peaks of the Rocky Mountains
  • Rocky Mountains subalpine zone
  • Canadian Rockies
    • Ranges of the Canadian Rockies
  • Geography of the United States Rocky Mountain System
  • Northern Rocky Mountains
    • Mountain ranges of Montana
    • Mountain ranges of Wyoming
    • Mountains and mountain ranges of Yellowstone National Park
    • Mountains and mountain ranges of Glacier National Park (U.S.)
  • Western Rocky Mountains
    • Mountain ranges of Utah
  • Southern Rocky Mountains
    • Mountain ranges of Colorado
    • Mountain peaks of Colorado
    • Mountain passes of Colorado
• Little Rocky Mountains
• Mountain man
• The Rocky Mountain Rangers (Canadian militia unit)

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Baron, Jill (2002). Rocky Mountain futures: an ecological perspective. Island Press. ISBN 1-55963-953-9. http://books.google.ca/books?id=zxvFXkH0828C&lpg=PP1&dq=Rocky%20Mountains&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true 
• Newby, Rick (2004). The Rocky Mountain region. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-32817-X. http://books.google.ca/books?id=xv5ivm13_0oC&lpg=PA68&dq=Rocky%20Mountains&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rocky Mountains

• U.S. Geological Survey website on the Rocky Mountains
• Headwaters News—Headwaters News—Reporting on the Rockies
• Colorado Rockies Forests ecoregion images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu (slow modem version)
• North Central Rockies Forests ecoregion images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu (slow modem version)
• South Central Rockies Forests ecoregion images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu (slow modem version)
• Sunset on the Top of the Rocky Mountains, CO, Historical Society of Pennsylvania

v t e Subfields of physical geography Biogeography Climatology / Paleoclimatology Coastal geography Edaphology Geomorphology Glaciology Hydrology / Hydrography Landscape ecology Limnology Oceanography Palaeogeography Pedology/Soil science Quaternary science

v t e Canada History Year List Pre-colonization New France (1534–1763) British Canada (1763–1867) Post-Confederation (1867–1914) World Wars and Interwar Years (1914–1945) Modern times: 1945–1960 1960–1981 1982–1992 since 1992 Topics Constitutional Crown & Aboriginals Economic Etymology Former colonies & territories Immigration Military Monarchical National Historic Sites Persons of significance Territorial evolution Provinces and territories Provinces Alberta British Columbia Manitoba New Brunswick Newfoundland and Labrador Nova Scotia Ontario Prince Edward Island Quebec Saskatchewan Territories Northwest Territories Nunavut Yukon Government Law Constitution The Crown Governor General Parliament (Senate House of Commons) Prime Minister (List) Courts (Supreme Court) Military Local Government Foreign relations Law enforcement Politics Elections Gun politics LGBT rights Multiculturalism Geography Regions (west to east) Pacific Northwest Coast Mountains Interior Plateau Columbia Mountains Rocky Mountains Prairies Western Canada Northern Canada Canadian Shield Great Lakes Central Canada Saint Lawrence Lowlands Appalachian Mountains Arctic Cordillera Atlantic Canada Maritimes Topics Animals Cities Extreme communities Islands Mountains National parks Plants Great Lakes Regions Rivers Volcanoes Economy Agriculture Banking Bank of Canada Canadian dollar Communications Companies Energy Fishing Oil Stock Exchange Taxation Tourism Transportation Social programs Poverty Society Education Health care Crime Obesity Smoking Demographics Topics Canadians Immigration Languages Religion 1996 Census 2001 Census 2006 Census Population by year Top 100s Metro areas Population centres Municipalities Culture Architecture Art Cinema Cuisine People Holidays Identity Literature Music Nationalism Online Media Protection of Sport Theatre Symbols Coat of Arms Flags National Flag Provincial and territorial Regional tartans Royal symbols Heraldry Related Bibliography Index Outline Topics Book Category Commons Portal WikiProject