Fifty-two of Colorado's Rocky Mountains are over 14,000 feet in height (known as "14ers" locally). But the tallest mountain is Mt. Elbert, on the northern end of the Sawatch range, at 14,433 feet high. The shortest is Sunshine Peak at 14,001 feet.
Longs Peak, the northernmost "14er," is only 14,225 feet high, but with no mountains around it, views from its peaks are unparalleled.
Colorado's Rocky Mountains are not the first Rocky Mountains. The ancestral Rockies formed around 300 million years ago. They occurred when North America's continental predecessor, Laurentia, and the supercontinent, Gondwana, collided. The modern Rockies formed about 72 million years ago when the Laramide Orogeny forced the earth's crust to deform and rise.
Around 36 million years ago, volcanic action defined many of the southern Colorado Rockies, forming Colorado's mineral belt as they deposited volcanic materials throughout the state.
Since the modern Rockies were formed, the have been subject to environmental erosion, most notably glacial action. The gorgeous cirques and bowls and mounding hills of the Rockies were formed as the glaciers that covered Colorado receded. They were last covered with glaciers until about 10,000 years ago. Glaciers are still found at high altitudes but are quickly receding as temperatures warm.
President Theodore Roosevelt visited Colorado and what would be Rocky Mountain National Park in 1900 with Gifford Pinchot and John Muir. It was in the mountains of Colorado that Roosevelt saw a baby bear and spared it while hunting, giving teddy bears their famous moniker. To preserve the Colorado Rockies, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Rocky Mountain National Park Act of 1915.
