Top 14 Hiking Trails According to AllTrails AllTrails lists 4, great hiking trails, trail running trails, mountain biking trails and more. They offer trail maps and driving directions as well as detailed reviews and photos.
These are their top 14 picks for Colorado. The Arkansas River heads in one of these linear depressions in central Colorado, being fed by the melting snows of the Sawatch Range on the west, and the Mosquito Range on the east. The crests of these parallel ranges are about 15 miles apart, and their peaks rise more than a mile above the valley to elevations greater than 14, feet.
The upper Arkansas Valley is relatively open and conforms perfectly to the grain of the Rockies. From Tennessee Pass, at the north end of the Sawatch Range, the river flows southeastward for about 75 miles to a point below Salida, following the "straight and narrow path.
The narrowest and deepest part of this canyon is known as the Royal Gorge. The Gorge opens abruptly onto the flat lowlands surrounding Canon City, where the Arkansas River begins its long journey eastward across the plains. To visitors who look down into the Royal Gorge from its rim, the Arkansas River far below looks so small and insignificant that it seems incapable of cutting such a deep gash into the earth's surface.
It is not surprising that these visitors occasionally suggest that the gash must have been opened by a mighty earthquake. To passengers on the railroad, which follows the bottom of the Gorge, the river is much more impressive as it rushes turbulently through the narrow passage.
Those who realize the cutting power of sand-laden water are willing to concede the ability of the Arkansas River to saw its way down through the hard rocks of the canyon walls.
Several phases of the history of the Royal Gorge and the upper Arkansas Valley are not fully known, but geologists agree that the Gorge has been formed by the incessant grinding of pebbles and sand grains against the river bed as they are carried along by the stream. But why is the Gorge so deep, and why so narrow in relation to its depth, and in relation to its much greater width upstream and downstream? These questions can be answered more clearly after a detailed examination of the Gorge and the land surface in its vicinity.
At its narrowest point, the Gorge is approximately 1, feet wide and 1, feet deep; its walls consist of granite and gneiss of pre-Cambrian age. On each side of the Gorge a gently rolling plateau extends away from the rim for several miles. Rising above this plateau on the north are hills which represent the southernmost extension of the Front Range, and on the south rises the northern end of the Wet Mountains.
Both of these ranges have been pushed up and later eroded sufficiently to expose the granite core which is typical of Rocky Mountain ranges. The Royal Gorge Plateau is a connecting link which ties these two ranges together, since the granite and gneiss of the Gorge walls are continuous with the great masses of similar rocks which make up the cores of the two ranges. However, those who wish to do this Via Ferrata are recommended to have a decent fitness level and health.
Tours are led by an expert guide and takes participants through routes on the south rim of the gorge, offering a one-of-a-kind viewpoint of Royal Gorge. The steep walls of the gorge make for some of the best Via Ferrate conditions in the state, making this an outstanding Colorado experience. This Via Ferrata is available to anyone older than 10 years of age, and there are two paths that you can sign up for.
The shorter of the two can last between 2. You can go whitewater rafting on the Arkansas River directly through the Royal Gorge. Or hop aboard the Royal Gorge Route Railroad for a one-of-a-kind train ride in the heart of the canyon.
This prompts the question: Why did the Arkansas River carve a gorge through these hard rocks instead of taking the path of least resistance down a lower valley floored with softer sedimentary rocks? The reason is that the landscape that existed about five million years ago, when the river began carving the Royal Gorge, was quite different from what we see today.
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