Travel with Powell on his harrowing 1869 journey of exploration to descend the Green to the Colorado down to the foot of the Grand Canyon. This 9 x 12 book is overflowing with beautiful photos and details for your enjoyment.
Imagine seeing the varied landscapes of the earth as they used to look throughout hundreds of millions of years of earth history. Tropical seas lap on the shores of an Arizona beach. Immense sand dunes shift and swirl in Sahara-like deserts in Utah and New Mexico. Ancient rivers spill from a mountain range in Colorado that was a precursor to the modern Rockies. Such flights of geologic fancy are now tangible through the thought-provoking and beautiful paleogeographic maps, reminiscent of the maps in world atlases we all paged through as children, of Ancient Landscapes of the Colorado Plateau.Ron Blakey of Northern Arizona University is one of the world's foremost authorities on the geologic history of the Colorado Plateau. For more than fifteen years, he has meticulously created maps that show how numerous past landscapes gave rise to the region's stunning geologic formations. Ancient Landscapes of the Colorado Plateau is the first book to showcase Blakey's remarkable work. His maps are accompanied by text by Wayne Ranney, geologist and award-winning author of Carving Grand Canyon. Ranney takes readers on a fascinating tour of the many landscapes depicted in the maps, and Blakey and Ranney's fruitful collaboration brings the past alive like never before.Features: More than 70 state-of-the-art paleogeographic maps of the region and of the world, developed over many years of geologic research Detailed yet accessible text that covers the geology of the plateau in a way nongeologists can appreciate More than 100 full-color photographs, diagrams, and illustrations A detailed guide of where to go to see the spectacular rocks of the region
Explore the traces of the rise and fall of Colorado's mountains, volcanic eruptions, shifting seas, wind-blown deserts, and dinosaur haunts. This new destination guide offers understanding of the many unique and spectacular geologic formations of Colorado. 8-page color photo insert. 80 b&w photos. 14 maps.
As the Ice Age waned, Clovis hunter-gatherers began to explore and colonize the area now known as Colorado. Their descendents and later Paleoindian migrants spread throughout Colorado's plains and mountains, adapting to diverse landforms and the changing climate. In this new volume, Robert H. Brunswig and Bonnie L. Pitblado assemble experts in archaeology, paleoecology-climatology, and paleofaunal analysis to share new discoveries about these ancient people of Colorado. The editors introduce the research with scientific context. A review of seventy-five years of Paleoindian archaeology in Colorado highlights the foundation on which new work builds, and a survey of Colorado's ancient climates and ecologies helps readers understand Paleoindian settlement patterns. Eight essays discuss archaeological evidence from Plains to high Rocky Mountain sites. The book offers the most thorough analysis to date of Dent--the first Clovis site discovered. Essays on mountain sites show how advances in methodology and technology have allowed scholars to reconstruct settlement patterns and changing lifeways in this challenging environment. Colorado has been home to key moments in human settlement and in the scientific study of our ancient past. Readers interested in the peopling of the New World as well as those passionate about the methods and history of archaeology will find new material and satisfying overviews in this book. Contributors include Rosa Maria Albert, Robert H. Brunswig, Reid A. Bryson, Linda Scott Cummings, James Doerner, Daniel C. Fisher, David L. Fox, Bonnie L. Pitblado, Jeffrey L. Saunders, Todd A. Surovell, R. A. Varney, and Nicole M. Waguespack.
Denver is known the world over as the gateway to Colorado’s magnificent Rocky Mountains. Four national forests, a national grassland, scores of regional and city parks and preserves, and Rocky Mountain National Park offer hundreds of hiking and walking trails—all within one to three hours of downtown Denver. Base Camp Denver offers you 101 of the best of these great hiking destinations to choose from. Take a day to explore an alpine meadow, walk to a waterfall, hike through a forest, or stroll suburban parklands. Enjoy a spectacular day of spring wildflowers or fall foliage, and still be home by dinnertime. Scramble to the top of a mountain to enjoy a sunrise and still make it to work by eight. With Pete KJ as your guide and Denver as your base camp, the splendor of Colorado’s Front Range is yours to enjoy one day—or even just a few hours—at a time. History, geology, flora, and fauna for each hike Best hikes for each season, and where to enjoy spring wildflowers & fall foliage Ratings from 1 to 5 for trail conditions, difficulty, suitability for children, and more Detailed driving directions to trailheads and info about elevation, hiking time, parking, and restrooms Regional maps showing all trails in each chapter; route map for each hike Best hikes for dogs, kids, and teens Hikes that offer solitude ... or plenty of company! Hikes by interest: birdwatching, stargazing, wetlands, wildlife, and more How to prepare & what to take 101 great hikes to choose from! Best hikes for each season, and where to enjoy spring wildflowers & fall foliage Ratings from 1 to 5 for trail conditions, difficulty, suitability for children, and more Detailed driving directions to trailheads and info about elevation, hiking time, parking, and restrooms Regional maps showing all trails in each chapter; route map for each hike Best hikes for dogs, kids, and teens Hikes that offer solitude ... or plenty of company! Hikes by interest: birdwatching, stargazing, wetlands, wildlife, and more How to prepare & what to take 101 great hikes to choose from! -- Pete KJ
"In a series of articles and speeches, which were summarized in his best known publication, The Central Gold Region: The Grain, Pastoral and Gold Regions of North America (1860), Gilpin argued that the development of the interior of the continent, made possible in large part by a properly-sited transcontinental railroad, would create a new and dominant commercial line of communication between Europe and Asia. This would inaugurate a new era in human affairs focused around what would become the greatest civilization in history, the Republican Empire of North America"--Classics of Strategy and Diplomacy website.
Written with the general reader in mind, this is the updated edition of the classic on the geology of the red rock and canyon country of the Fours Corners region of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.
The epic story of the fastest boat ride in history, on a hand-built dory named the "Emerald Mile," through the heart of the Grand Canyon on the Colorado river.
The Colorado Plateau is America’s western treasure, home to the country’s highest concentration of national parks, monuments, wilderness areas, and state parks, and a near-endless bounty of wild, stunning landscape. Discovering the Colorado Plateau will explore this region through beautiful maps, full-color photography, and detailed descriptions of the area’s geography, history, and geology, as well as signature activities that encapsulate the best each locale has to offer. By purposefully shifting the focus away from the national parks, this book introduces readers to the various public lands and protected areas that are as exciting and wonderful as any of the major parks. Unlike any other book published recently about the Plateau, this book not only acts as a source of great information and imagery, but as a practical guide and a true celebration of one of America’s most beautiful and endangered lands.
At the end of the last Ice Age in a valley bottom in the Rocky Mountains, a group of bison hunters overwintered. Through the analysis of more than 75,000 pieces of chipped stone, archaeologist Todd A. Surovell is able to provide one of the most detailed looks yet at the lifeways of hunter-gatherers from 12,800 years ago. The best archaeological sites are those that present problems and inspire research, writes Surovell. From the start, the Folsom site called Barger Gulch Locality B was one of those sites; it was a problem-rich environment. Many Folsom sites are sparse scatters of stone and bone, a reflection of a mobile lifestyle that leaves little archaeological materials. The people at Barger Gulch left behind tens of thousands of pieces of chipped stone; they appeared to have spent quite a bit of time there in comparison to other places they inhabited. Summarizing findings from nine seasons of excavations, Surovell explains that the site represents a congregation of mobile hunter-gatherers who spent winter along Barger Gulch, a tributary of the Colorado River. Surovell uses spatial patterns in chipped stone to infer the locations of hearths and house features. He examines the organization of household interiors and discusses differential use of interior and exterior spaces. Data allow inference about the people who lived at the site, including aspects of the identity of flintknappers and household versus group mobility. The site shows evidence of a Paleoindian camp circle, child flintknapping, household production of weaponry, and the fission/fusion dynamics of group composition that is typical of nomadic peoples. Barger Gulch provides key findings on Paleoindian technological variation and spatial and social organization.