slgwv's photos with the keyword: Rocky Mountains

Colorado. Looking north; the highway glimpsed below in the middle distance is Interstate 70. Elevation here is just under 12,000 ft/3650 m. More about Loveland Pass here: www.ipernity.com/doc/289859/39672480/in/album/843024

Sub-peak looming over the Red Mountain mining district to the west, Colorado. If I'm reading the USGS topo map correctly, the elevation is 13359 ft (4072 m). Yes, we're in the Rockies here--in the San Juan Mountains, to be exact. There are a couple of small snow patches still visible.

Along the Durango to Silverton narrow-gage excursion train, Colorado. The river's name is shortened from the Spanish original: El Río de las Animas Perdidas , "The River of Lost Souls." The story is that several members of a Spanish expedition in the 1700s were swept away and drowned while trying to cross the river. Note the rust staining along the river banks. It's from acid-mine drainage, due to sulfide oxidation making sulfuric acid that in turn mobilized metals. Not all of it is a result of mining, but mining certainly exacerbated it! The stain is harmless--it's literally just rust (iron oxides and hydroxides), but it doesn't add to the esthetic experience--

Colorado, USA, off State Route 91 in the high Rockies. The elevation here is just over 11K feet.

Elevation 10,597 ft (3230 m), just off Colorado State Route 103 in the High Rockies.

Just off Interstate 70 in Colorado's Rocky Mountains, on the Blue River, a tributary of the Colorado. The area includes the old mining towns of Dillon, Silverthorne and Frisco, which are now burgeoning centers of tourism, upscale vacation homes, boutiques, craft breweries, etc., etc.--a typical pattern in the US West.

A small cirque lake off US Highway 6, below Loveland Pass to the west. Colorado, USA.

Colorado Rockies, USA. It's said to be the highest all-season pass in the world. There are, of course, much higher passes in the Himalayas and Andes, but presumably they're not kept open in the winter. The highway it's on, on the right, is US 6; on the left, beyond the sign, a little bit of Interstate 70 is visible. I-70, with the Eisenhower Tunnel, bypasses Loveland Pass, so US 6 here is now mostly just a scenic route. Except for trucks carrying hazardous cargos, tanker trucks especially, which aren't allowed in the tunnel. They still have to go over Loveland Pass! It's not a section of highway you'd put the rookie drivers on. The need for the hazmat bypass, as well as access to some ski resorts in the vicinity, is probably why they bother to keep the pass open in the wintertime. In case you're wondering about the "US Dept of Agriculture" on the sign--we're on the boundary between Arapaho and White River National Forests. Over a century ago the US Forest Service was transferred to the Dept. of Agriculture in the first wave of "conservation" reforms. The idea was that trees are a "crop", y'see--

Rocky Mountains, looking north from Loveland Pass. Interstate 70 is following the deep canyon in the middle distance. Colorado, USA. More on Loveland Pass here: www.ipernity.com/doc/289859/39672480/in/album/843024