Uncover the epic geological forces that sculpted Rocky Mountain National Park, from ancient rock formation to the powerful work of glaciers.
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Two Billion Years Beneath Your Feet
This series, A Billion Years in the Making, traces the geologic story of Rocky Mountain National Park from its deepest origins to the landscapes you see today.
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1
Ancient Basement Rocks of the Rockies
The dark, banded rocks exposed along the high peaks here are among the oldest materials on the North American continent — between 1.7 and 1.8 billion years old.
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2
When the Rockies Rose from Flatland
Around 70 million years ago, this entire region was relatively flat, bordered by a shallow inland sea stretching across the Great Plains.
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3
Glaciers That Carved These Mountains
Some of the valleys here are so perfectly U-shaped that they look engineered, and in a sense they were — by ice sheets hundreds of feet thick grinding through solid rock.
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4
Longs Peak and Its Granite Heart
Longs Peak stands at fourteen thousand two hundred fifty-nine feet, the highest point in Rocky Mountain National Park and one of Colorado's most formidable fourteeners.
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5
Where Water Splits and Rivers Begin
The Continental Divide runs through this park like a spine, and every raindrop that falls here makes a consequential choice.
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