There are few places in western North America richer in Paleo-Indian archaeology than Middle Park, the valley that forms the headwaters of the Colorado River in Grand County. Within Middle Park, the Barger Gulch area preserves an impressive amount of…

The Earth beneath the rugged mountains and serene plains of Colorado records an ancient saga. Broad tropical seas teemed with life, while reptiles roamed on shore. Continents converged and collided, building massive mountains, only to be torn apart by…

The beautiful and imposing mountain scenery of Colorado’s Great Divide has led to the common belief that the state is home to a singular “Continental Divide.” The divide in Colorado, however, is only a piece of the larger Great Divide, a geologic crest…


 
 Jared Smith is the author of thirteen volumes of poetry. His work has appeared in hundreds of journals and anthologies here and abroad. He is Poetry Editor of Turtle Island Quarterly (e-zine,) and has worked on the editorial staff of The New…


 
 Kierstin Bridger is a Colorado writer who divides her time between Ridgway and Telluride. She is author of two books: Women Writing the West's 2017 WILLA Award-winning Demimonde (Lithic Press) and All Ember (Urban Farmhouse Press). She is a…

Named for the Boulder County town whose historic quarries made it famous, the Lyons Sandstone formation is a Permian age rock layer in the foothills of the Front Range from the Wyoming border to south of Colorado Springs. It is the primary formation in…

Political activist and wilderness advocate Pam Uschuk has howled out six books of poems, including Crazy Love (2010 American Book Award) and her most recent collection, Blood Flower (2015). Translated into more than a dozen languages, her work…

From exquisitely flaked Folsom spear points to the spectacular cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde National Park, among the most visible vestiges of Colorado’s Native American history are those crafted from naturally available rock. Archaeologists and others…

Rita Brady Kiefer has published two full-length poetry collections—Nesting Doll, finalist for the Colorado Book Award, and Crossing Borders—and three chapbooks. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Face to Face (New…

The Colorado Rocky Mountains are the highest portion of the 1,900-mile Rocky Mountain chain that stretches from northern British Columbia, Canada, to southern New Mexico. Colorado contains 78 of the 100 highest peaks in the chain, including the 30…

Located northwest of Craig in Moffat County, the Sand Wash Basin is an area of Bridger Formation rock outcrops that prehistoric peoples mined extensively as a source for stones to make tools with. Bridger Formation chert is typically light to dark brown,…

Shield Cave is a large limestone cavern in Eagle County that contains painted rock art dating to the Historic period and deposits of the iron mineral pigment material used to make ochre-color paint. This site is one of hundreds of caverns that have…

Trout Creek in east Chaffee County is an extensive archaeological site exhibiting natural outcrops of colorful jaspers that were used for thousands of years as raw material for toolmaking by many different groups of Native Americans. It is one of the…