Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Appendix C--Common and Scientific Names of Plants 66

In 1859, Colorado's historic gold rush beckoned a legion of pioneers, and led indirectly to the settlement of the verdant meadows at the foot of the Front Range in the vicinity of modern Estes Park, and eventually to a "rush" of vacationists. As the scenic splendor of this region became better known, many public-spirited citizens recognized the need for preserving portions of the area as a National Park. In 1915, Rocky Mountain National Park was dedicated in simple ceremonies, at what is now called Horseshoe Park. Since that time millions of visitors have enjoyed the natural wonders of the park, including placid mountain lakes, rushing streams, and verdant high-country meadows. Here are trout to catch, native mammals and birds to be seen and photographed, and trails to hike.

Park rangers are often asked, "What are the main attractions of Rocky Mountain National Park?" It is hard to answer this question, for the appeal of the park, somewhat like that of a symphony, lies in the varied yet repeated experiences or melodies which may be found within its framework. The raw beauty of the rugged mountains contrasts with the calm loveliness of wildflower gardens growing nearby. Some visitors enjoy the solitude, while others appreciate the opportunity to meet people with like interests and to hike with organized groups on some of the 200 miles of trails. Many derive pleasure from quietly studying the fascinating world of nature preserved in the park. Some vigorously battle the steep slopes of the mountains; others relax in camp, soothed by the sound of the wind in the trees. Each person enjoys the park in his own way. There are regulations, but no regimentation, no compulsory activities, no "musts." The park was established for all to use, but not to abuse.

Rocky Mountain National Park comprises about 400 square miles of the Front Range. The altitude of the park is high, with cool summers the inevitable result. There are more than 65 named peaks exceeding 10,000 feet. The Continental Divide, separating slopes draining to the Pacific Ocean from those draining to the Gulf of Mexico, runs through the park.

To those who study it, the park reveals stories of great natural dramas of earth forces that made its deep gorges and lofty peaks, and of once-mighty glaciers that carved its remote lakes. Its forests and wildflowers tell a story of struggle and adjustment to environments that differ with altitude and exposure. Its native populations--deer, elk, bear, beaver, birds and the myriad lesser creatures of the wild--can be seen in their natural habitats. Its streams attract the hopeful fisherman; its unmodified natural compositions enthrall the artist; its cool, green setting appeals to all summer travelers.

Enos Mills, "father" of Rocky Mountain National Park, wrote about 40 years ago:

A National Park is a fountain of life.... Without parks and outdoor life all that is best in civilization will be smothered. To save ourselves--to enable us to live at our best and happiest, parks are necessary. Within National Parks is room--glorious room--room in which to find ourselves, in which to think and hope, to dream and plan, to rest, and resolve.

His words are even more significant to our generation than they were to his. This booklet is an attempt to provide a concise summary of some of the park's important natural values and to arouse your appetite for further pursuit of the enjoyment they offer. The basic experience in this National Park, as in most, is to capture some of the inspiration and spiritual qualities of the landscape which Enos Mills felt so keenly.

THE MOUNTAINS ARE MADE

The geological story of Rocky Mountain National Park is a long one. Most of its details are lost in the passage of hundreds of millions of years. Some of the story has been put together by scientists from bits of evidence scattered here and there. The evidence strongly indicates a certain chain of events, but no eyewitnesses are available to confirm the deductions. Few of these events can be proved to everyone's satisfaction; we can but pass on to you some determinations that geologists have made.

Most of the rocks which you see in the park are crystalline and very ancient. The gneiss and schist were, in part, once sediments formed in seas, perhaps a billion years ago, under conditions about which there is little knowledge or general agreement. These sediments were buried beneath thousands of feet of other sediments, cemented and hardened into layers of sedimentary rock and later squeezed, crushed, and elevated by slow, ceaselessly working earth forces that produced mountains even in that ancient time. During this period the sedimentary rocks were changed to harder metamorphic rocks, probably because of deep burial under tremendous pressure and considerable heat. Masses of molten rock welled up into these earlier deposits and hardened under the earth's surface. This later (though still very ancient) intrusive material is now exposed granite in many parts of Rocky Mountain National Park.

These ancient mountains were gradually worn away by wind, rain, and other agents of erosion, which must have attacked the surface of the earth as vigorously then as now. With the passage of millions of years, these mountains were reduced to a lowland. Another sea gradually lapped over the land where mountains had been, and once again sediments were dropped in its bottom. This new invasion of the ocean affected the park region during many millions of years in which the dinosaurs dominated the earth.

In response to little-understood rhythms of the earth's crust, which have lifted mountains ever so slowly at great intervals all over the world, the seas drained away as the crust rose again, and the rising land once more became subject to the ceaseless attack of erosion. This uplift--which began about 60 million years ago--originated the system of mountain ranges and basins that today give Colorado its spectacular scenery and much of its climate. This great period of mountain-making is called the Laramide Revolution, from its early recognition in the Laramie Basin region of Wyoming.

The Front Range, of which this park preserves a choice sample, was buckled in the fashion of a great long wrinkle in a carpet. This "roll" of rock was about 200 miles long and some 40 miles across. In its earlier stages it was covered by the arched-up sediments, but, as time passed and erosion continued, the inner core of earlier crystalline rocks was exposed once again. Today, all traces of the former thick mantle of sedimentary beds are gone from the park. They are still present beneath the plains to the east and the basins to the west, and the cut-off ends of some of them now lie exposed in a tilted position against both east and west flanks of the mountains. The sandstones of some of the hogback ridges crossed by the approach roads from Lyons and Loveland are a part of this once continuous overburden.

Uplift continued intermittently during many millions of years. In the western section of the park, volcanic eruptions took place. Specimen Mountain is the remnant of a volcano; some of its flows are seen today as the cliffs behind Iceberg Lake, on Trail Ridge Road. Great sheets of lava and other volcanic rocks piled in layers now make up much of the Never Summer Range. Eventually, these rocks, too, will be stripped away by the relentless work of erosion; this will require millions of years.

An unusual feature of the landscape here is the rolling, sometimes flattened character of many mountain summits. Trail Ridge Road crosses several miles of one of these summits--a gently rolling upland above 11,000 feet. These mountaintops appear to be all that is left of an old land surface that once may have been continuous far eastward over the area occupied today by the Great Plains. Such surfaces, of which the mountains in the park show many good remnants, are called peneplains. Their presence atop the mountains is a part of the evidence suggesting that the range had been worn down by erosion to a fairly flat upland a few million years ago. Then renewed uplifting occurred, and streams draining the highland gradually cut canyons two or three thousand feet into the elevated surface.

THE WORK OF GLACIERS

These canyons were filled by glaciers at intervals during the million years of the ice age. This period saw the formation of vast ice fields over much of northern North America. The causes of the ice age are complex, but its effects on our landscape are marked and convincing.

Every large high-altitude canyon in what is now Rocky Mountain National Park became filled with snow, much of which, under pressure, turned to ice. The glaciers thus formed, moving under their own great weight--slowly, but with tremendous power--broadened, deepened, and straightened the twists and turns of the original river-cut valleys, and, bit by bit, scooped out bowls, or cirques, at the glacier sources. These glaciers quarried and removed untold millions of tons of rocks from the upper reaches. Many of the cliffs and lakes of the park are the results of excavating done by the mountain glaciers.

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