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.

* 50 hikes reveal Colorado's geologic history and diversity * Trailside Geology section offers advice for practical study on the trail Erupting volcanoes, shifting seas, the icy embrace of giant glaciers, haunts of the dinosaurs: it's all here in Hiking Colorado's Geology. In 50 hikes, you'll see first-hand evidence of the most dramatic geologic events that created and continue to shape the terrain of this beautiful state. You'll benefit, too, from the authors' long experience as guides and lecturers, sharing their passion for the natural world. The guide is easy to use, with each hike headlined with the geologic features profiled. You'll also find an introductory section on geologic principles you'll see on the trail.

Hiking the Southwest's Geology: Four Corners Region takes curious hikers on a journey through time that explores the Colorado Plateau-an immense land of canyons, mesas, and isolated mountain ranges in the American Southwest. Hopkins' stunning color photography brings the Four Corners Region to life in dazzling detail.

An easy-to-read geology tutorial of the of the eastern Colorado Plateau, this book will answer all of your questions about how this stunning region was formed. Includes detailed road logs.

The book¿s 21 chapters, or vignettes, lead you to easily accessible stops along the Front Range¿s highways and byways, where you¿ll meet the apatosaur and other dinosaurs who roamed the floodplains and beaches that once covered the Front Range; look for diamonds in rare, out-of-the-way volcanic pipes; learn how America¿s mountain, Pikes Peak, developed from molten magma miles below the surface only to become an important visual landmark for early Great Plains¿ travelers; and walk the Gangplank, a singularly important plateau for both nineteenth-century westward expansion and our understanding of the Front Range¿s most recent exhumation.

Lace up your boots and head into Colorado's rugged Sangre de Cristo Mountains to explore this spine of soaring peaks that stand more than a mile above the San Luis and Wet Mountain Valleys. Here you'll discover plunging creeks, gorges cut from chunky conglomerate, and valleys where elk, bighorn sheep, coyote, and cougar live. Climb Kit Carson Mountain, Crestone Needle, or Blanca Peak; hike Black Canyon or Wild Cherry Creek. Wander the Great Sand Dunes National Park, which has the tallest dunes in North America. Local hiker and outdoor writer Lee Hart will introduce you to these trails and many more. Inside you'll find: up-to-date trail information; accurate directions to wilderness trails; difficulty ratings; topographic trail maps; zero-impact tips. Whether you are planning a day hike or an extended backpacking trip, you'll find trails suited to every ability and interest in one of the most beautiful regions of Colorado.

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