Sangre de Cristo Range
- This article is about the northern-most portion of the larger Sangre de Cristo Mountains. If you were looking for the mountains as a whole, see Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
The Sangre de Cristo Range is a narrow mountain range of the Rocky Mountains running north and south along the east side of the Rio Grande Rift in southern Colorado in the United States. The mountains extend southeast from Poncha Pass for about 75 miles (120 km) through south-central Colorado to La Veta Pass, approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of Walsenburg, and form a high ridge separating the San Luis Valley on the west from the watershed of the Arkansas River on the east.
According to the USGS, the range is the northern part of the larger Sangre de Cristo Mountains, which extend through northern New Mexico. Usage of the terms "Sangre de Cristo Range" and "Sangre de Cristo Mountains" is varied; however this article discusses only the mountains between Poncha Pass and La Veta Pass.
Notable peaks
| Peak name | Elevation | Prominence |
|---|---|---|
| Blanca Peak | 14,345 ft = 4372.4 m | 5326 ft |
| Crestone Peak | 14,294 ft = 4356.8 m | 4534–4574 ft |
| Crestone Needle | 14,197 ft = 4327.2 m | 437 ft |
| Kit Carson Peak | 14,165 ft = 4317.5 m | 1005 ft |
| Challenger Point | 14,080 ft = 4291.6 m | 281 ft |
| Humboldt Peak | 14,064 ft = 4286.7 m | 1184–1224 ft |
| Ellingwood Point | 14,042 ft = 4280.0 m | 322 ft |
| Mount Lindsey | 14,042 ft = 4280.0 m | 1522–1562 ft |
| Little Bear Peak | 14,037 ft = 4278.5 m | 357 ft |
| Columbia Point | 13,980 ft = 4261.1 m | 320–360 ft |
| Mount Adams PB | 13,931 ft = 4246.2 m | 851 ft |
| California Peak PB | 13,849 ft = 4221.2 m | 609 ft |
| Rito Alto Peak PB | 13,794 ft = 4204 m | 1114–1154 ft |
| Colony Baldy PB | 13,705 ft = 4177 m | 905–945 ft |
| Pico Asilado [1] | 13,612 ft = 4149 m | 837 ft |
| Tijeras Peak PB | 13,604 ft = 4146 m | |
| Electric Peak PB | 13,595 ft = 4144 m | |
| Cottonwood Peak PB | 13,588 ft = 4142 m | 1108–1148 ft |
| Twin Peaks [2] | 13,577 ft = 4138.3 m | |
| Broken Hand Peak PB | 13,573 ft = 4137.1 m | 653 ft |
| Fluted Peak [3] | 13,554 ft = 4131.3 m | |
| Milwaukee Peak [4] | 13,522 ft = 4121.5 m |
Geography
Most of the range is shared by two National Forests, which abut along the range divide. Most of the northeast (Arkansas River) side is located within the San Isabel National Forest, while most of the southwest (San Luis Valley) side is included in the Rio Grande National Forest. The central part of the range is designated as the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness. The Great Sand Dunes National Park sits on the southwestern flank of the range at the edge of the San Luis Valley. The range divide is traversed by no paved roads, but only by four wheel drive and foot trails over Hayden Pass, Hermit Pass, Music Pass, Medano Pass, and Mosca Pass.
The highest peak in the range, located in the south, is Blanca Peak (14,345 feet/4,372 m); it is flanked by three other fourteeners, Little Bear Peak, Mount Lindsey, and Ellingwood Point[1]. Other well-known peaks are the fourteeners of the Crestone group: Kit Carson Mountain, Crestone Peak, Crestone Needle, and Humboldt Peak. Two sub-peaks of Kit Carson Mountain, Challenger Point and Columbia Point, are named in memory of the crews of the Space Shuttle Challenger and the Space Shuttle Columbia. The range is also home to many high peaks in the 13,000 to 14,000 foot (3,900-4,300 m) range. See the Sangre de Cristo Mountains article for other noteworthy summits in the greater range.
History and economy
In 1719 the Spanish explorer Antonio Valverde y Cosio named the Sangre de Cristo ("Blood of Christ") mountains after being impressed by the reddish hue of the snowy peaks at sunrise, alpenglow. Today tourism is the main economic activity.
Geology
The Sangre de Cristos are fault-block mountains with major fault lines running along both the east and west sides of the mountains and, in places, cutting through the range. The mountains were pushed up about 27 million years ago, pretty much as one large mass of rock.
On the west side is the San Luis Valley with the Rio Grande Rift running down the middle. On the southeast side is the Raton Basin, a quiet but still active volcanic field. On the northeast side are the Wet Mountains and the Front Range, areas of Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rocks formed during the Colorado Orogeny some 1.7 billion years ago and then uplifted more recently during the Laramide orogeny.
The Blanca Massif is also Precambrian rock, while most of the rest of the Sangres is composed of younger Permian-Pennsylvanian (about 250-million-year old) rock, a mix of sedimentary conglomerates, shales, and igneous intrusions. These sedimentary rocks originated as sediment eroded from the Ancestral Rocky Mountains.
See also
- Colorado mountain ranges
- Geography of Colorado
- List of highest mountain peaks in Colorado
- Rocky Mountains
- Sangre de Cristo Mountains
- State of Colorado
References
- ^ Ellingwood Point is not always counted as an official fourteener, as it has a high saddle connecting it with Blanca Peak, and hence a low topographic prominence.
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