Forest Canyon Glacial Landscape EarthCache
Hidden : 7/16/2009
Difficulty:
3 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: other (other)

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Geocache Description:


Rocky Mountain National Park is located west of Estes Park and north and east of Grand Lake. This is a fee area of the National Park Service, and costs $30 per vehicle. This fee is covered in the Rocky Mountain National Park Annual Pass, the Rocky Mountain National Park/Arapaho National Recreation Area Annual Pass, and the America the Beautiful Pass. Please see the following website (visit link) for the entire fee schedule. The park is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Road and Trail Conditions and Closures can be found at: (visit link) Recorded information for the condition of Trail Ridge Road can be found by calling (970) 586-1222. Please remember that all geologic features within the borders of Rocky Mountain National Park are protected by law, as are all natural and historic features. Please do not disturb, damage, or remove any rocks, plants, or animals.

To the south and west, across Forest Canyon, you can see the U-shaped valleys and bowl-shaped cirques that are evidence of glacial effects on this landscape.

There have been several episodes of glaciation in this upper reach of the Big Thompson River Valley. The V-shape of the original Big Thompson River Valley was widened and deepened when glaciers moved slowly down, grinding the rock into till, and carrying the native rock for several miles downstream.

Bowl-shaped cirques can be seen near the tops of these valleys, and the cirques fed tributary glaciers into the Thompson Glacier, the primary glacier of this valley.

Is it windy during your visit? Likely it is, and the wind is from the south or west. There is a relationship between the direction of the wind and the location of the cirques which you can see.

Almost all the cirques are on the north-facing or east-facing slopes. This is because the southerly or westerly winds would carry snow up the face of the mountain, and drop it on the north or east side. The glaciers would begin here, first eating back into the mountain and forming the cirque, then flowing down the mountain when the cirque could no longer hold the ice.

Most cirques have a small moraine called a “recessional moraine” at the mouth of the cirque, caused by till that dropped out as the glacier retreated back into the cirque.

To log this EarthCache, send me an email with the answers to these questions:

1.) How many deep U-shaped valleys do you see here?

2.) How many cirques can you count? [hint, it is more than the 2 shown on the informational display.]

Please consider posting photos of yourself, or the local geology, when you log this EarthCache. Photos can be an additional rewarding part of your journey, but posting them is not a requirement for logging this EarthCache, and is strictly optional.

The above information was compiled from the following sources:

2004. Rocky Mountain National Park. In Harris, A.G. et al., editors. Geology of National Parks, Sixth Ed. P. 337-356. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.

Cole, J.C., and Braddock, W.A. 2009. Geologic map of the Estes Park 30’ x 60’ quadrangle, north-central Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 3039, 1 sheet, scale 1:100,000, 1 pamphlet, 56 p.

Colorado Geological Survey. 2003. Messages in Stone. Matthews et al., editors. Denver, Colorado.

Raup, O.P. 2005. Geology Along Trail Ridge Road. A Self-Guided Tour for Motorists. Estes Park, Colorado: Rocky Mountain Nature Association.

Rocky Mountain National Park. Online at: (visit link)

Informational display at site.

Rocky Mountain National Park was most helpful in the background discussion, aid in the choosing of sites, and review of this EarthCache. My thanks to the Park for allowing the placement of this EarthCache!

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