Northern Arizona is best known for the Grand Canyon. Less widely known are the hundreds of geologically young volcanoes scattered across the southern portion of the Colorado Plateau at the eastern foothills of the San Francisco Peaks.
Published May 23, 2006
The Spanish Peaks, on the eastern flank of the Sangre de Cristo range in Colorado, abruptly rise 7,000 feet above the western Great Plains. Settlers, treasure hunters, trappers, gold and silver miners have long sighted on these prominent landmarks along the Taos branch of the Santa Fe trail. Well before the westward migration, the mountains figured in the legends and history of the Ute, Apache, Comanche, and earlier tribes. “Las Cumbres Espa&ntidle;olas” are also mentioned in chronicles of exploration by Spaniards including Ulibarri in 1706 and later by de Anza, who eventually founded San Francisco, California. This exceptional view, captured by the crew of Space Shuttle mission STS108, portrays the Spanish Peaks in the context of the southern Rocky Mountains.
Published Jan 20, 2002
Central Asia’s snowy Himalaya range rises above a dry plateau to the north and a vegetated plain to the south.
Published Nov 20, 2015
Snow-covered ski runs at Copper Mountain and Breckenridge stand out from darker forests of the Tenmile Mountain Range in this astronaut image from October 24, 2008.
Published Dec 29, 2008
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