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United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

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Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

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Counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

, subdivision2= , parent= Sangre de Cristo Mountains,

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

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Fault-block Fault blocks are very large blocks of rock, sometimes hundreds of kilometres in extent, created by tectonic and localized stresses in Earth's crust. Large areas of bedrock are broken up into blocks by faults. Blocks are characterized by relat ...

mountains , area_mi2= 1250 , range_coordinates= , length_mi= 75 , length_orientation= north-south , width_mi= 48 , width_orientation= east-west , highest=

Blanca Peak Blanca Peak (Navajo: ) is the fourth highest summit of the Rocky Mountains of North America and the U.S. state of Colorado. The ultra-prominent peak is the highest summit of the Sierra Blanca Massif, the Sangre de Cristo Range, and the Sangr ...

, elevation_ft= 14345 , coordinates= , map= USA Colorado , map_size= , map_caption= , label= Sangre de Cristo Range The Sangre de Cristo Range is a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

of the

in southern

in the

, running north and south along the east side of the

Rio Grande Rift The Rio Grande rift is a north-trending continental rift zone. It separates the Colorado Plateau in the west from the interior of the North American craton on the east. The rift extends from central Colorado in the north to the state of Chihuahu ...

. The mountains extend southeast from Poncha Pass for about through south-central Colorado to La Veta Pass, approximately 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. The Sangre de Cristo Range rises over above the valleys and plains to the west and northeast. According to the

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

, the range is the northern part of the larger Sangre de Cristo Mountains, which extend through northern

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

. 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

A 14er is a mountain peak that has an elevation of at least 14,000 feet. Colorado has 53, the most of any state. There are 10 14ers in the Sangre de Cristo Range, which can be seen in the table below.

Geography

The Sangre de Cristo Mountains run from Poncha Pass in Central Colorado to Glorieta Pass near Santa Fe, New Mexico. 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 Rio Grande National Forest is a 1.86 million-acre (7,530 km²) U.S. National Forest located in southwestern Colorado. The forest encompasses the San Luis Valley, which is the world's largest agricultural alpine valley, as well as one of the ...

. The central part of the range is designated as the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness. The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve 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, only by

four-wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer cas ...

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

at ; it is flanked by three other

fourteeners In the mountaineering parlance of the Western United States, a fourteener is a mountain peak with an elevation of at least . The 96 fourteeners in the United States are all west of the Mississippi River. Colorado has the most (53) of any single ...

: Little Bear Peak, Mount Lindsey, and Ellingwood Point.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 In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...

. Other well-known peaks are the fourteeners of the Crestone group: Kit Carson Mountain,

Crestone Peak Crestone Peak is the seventh-highest summit of the Rocky Mountains of North America and the U.S. state of Colorado. The prominent fourteener is the highest summit of the Crestones and the second-highest summit in the Sangre de Cristo Range ...

Crestone Needle Crestone Needle is a high mountain summit of the Crestones in the Sangre de Cristo Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The fourteener is located east-southeast ( bearing 108°) of the Town of Crestone in Saguache County, Colorado, ...

, and Humboldt Peak. Two sub-peaks of Kit Carson Mountain,

Challenger Point Challenger Point is a high mountain summit of the Crestones in the Sangre de Cristo Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The fourteener is located east by south ( bearing 102°) of the Town of Crestone in Saguache County, Colorado, Un ...

and Columbia Point, are named in memory of the crews of the

Space Shuttle Challenger Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' (OV-099) was a Space Shuttle orbiter manufactured by Rockwell International and operated by NASA. Named after the commanding ship of a nineteenth-century scientific expedition that traveled the world, ''Challenge ...

and the

Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' (OV-102) was a Space Shuttle orbiter manufactured by Rockwell International and operated by NASA. Named after the first American ship to circumnavigate the upper North American Pacific coast and the female personif ...

. The range is also home to many high peaks in the 13,000 to 14,000 foot (3,900-4,300 m) range as it continues into New Mexico. In New Mexico most of the mountain area is managed by the US Forest Service in the Carson and Santa Fe National Forests.

Geology

The Colorado Sangre de Cristos are

fault-block Fault blocks are very large blocks of rock, sometimes hundreds of kilometres in extent, created by tectonic and localized stresses in Earth's crust. Large areas of bedrock are broken up into blocks by faults. Blocks are characterized by relat ...

mountains similar to the

Teton Range The Teton Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. It extends for approximately in a north–south direction through the U.S. state of Wyoming, east of the Idaho state line. It is south of Yellowstone National Park and ...

in Wyoming and the

Wasatch Range The Wasatch Range ( ) or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the G ...

in Utah. Major fault lines run along the east and west sides of the range, and cut right through the mountains in some places. Like all fault-block mountain ranges, the Sangre de Cristos lack

foothills Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topogr ...

which means the highest peaks rise abruptly from the valleys to the east and west, rising in only a few miles in some places. The mountains were pushed up around 5 million years ago, basically as one large mass of rock. The Sangre de Cristo range is still being uplifted today as faults in the area remain active. Due to uplift (elevation increase) and erosion, rock layers are missing, causing gaps in the range, called "unconformities." Dunes great sand 2

On the west side is the San Luis Valley, a portion of the

. On the southeast side is the

Raton Basin Raton or Ratón (Spanish for "mouse") may refer to: Places: * Raton Basin, a geologic structural basin in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico * Raton, New Mexico, the county seat of Colfax County, New Mexico ** Raton Downtown Historic ...

, a quiet but still active volcanic field. On the northeast side are the Wet Mountains and the

Front Range The Front Range is a mountain range of the Southern Rocky Mountains of North America located in the central portion of the U.S. State of Colorado, and southeastern portion of the U.S. State of Wyoming. It is the first mountain range encountered ...

, areas of Precambrian

igneous Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or ...

and

metamorphic Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causi ...

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 Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

conglomerates, silty mudstones and shales, sandstones, limestone beds and igneous intrusions. These sedimentary rocks originated as

sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sa ...

eroded Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is disti ...

from the

Ancestral Rocky Mountains The geology of the Rocky Mountains is that of a discontinuous series of mountain ranges with distinct geological origins. Collectively these make up the Rocky Mountains, a mountain system that stretches from Northern British Columbia through cen ...

. Crestone Conglomerate are a feature on many of the peaks, including Crestone Needle. The conglomerate settled near the uplift and contains boulders as large as 6 feet in diameter.

Climate

History

Antonio Valverde y Cosio named the Sangre de Cristo range after the red-hue that he saw during the snowy sunrise. Sangre de Cristo means Blood of Christ in English. In the formation of the range, we can see fossils of footprints, shells and bones. In August 2009, the Sangre de Cristo Range was dedicated as a National Heritage Area (NHA), an area of cultural, natural, and historic preservation.

Economy

Today, tourism is the main economic activity.

References

;Notes

External links

Sangre de Cristo Range @ Peakbagger
* ttp://www.daveharpe.com/public/colorado_20120225_001/ High resolution zoomable panorama of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range looking Westbr>CO & NM Sangre de Cristo Mountains
{{Authority control Mountain ranges of Colorado Sangre de Cristo Mountains Ranges of the Rocky Mountains Landforms of Custer County, Colorado Landforms of Saguache County, Colorado San Luis Valley of Colorado Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area