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Note: Alaska and Hawaii are shown out of
position for reference only and are not to scale.
Blank
Colorado State Outline Map
The
geography of the State of
Colorado is unusually diverse, encompassing both
rugged mountainous terrain and vast plains. The
State of Colorado is defined as the geospherical
rectangle that stretches from
37°N to
41°N latitude and
from
102°03'W to
109°03'W longitude (25°W
to
32°W from the
Washington Meridian). Colorado is one of only
three U.S. states (with
Wyoming and
Utah) that have only lines of
latitude and
longitude for boundaries.
The summit
of Mount Elbert at 4401 meters
(14,440 feet) elevation in
Lake County is the state's highest point and the highest
point in the entire Rocky
Mountains. Colorado has approximately 550 mountain peaks
that exceed 4000 meters (13,123 feet) elevation. Colorado is
the only U.S. state that lies entirely above 1000 meters
(3281 feet) elevation. The state's lowest elevation is 1010
meters (3315 feet) at the point on the eastern boundary of
Yuma County where the
Arikaree River flows into the
State of Kansas.
Regions
To the east
of the Rocky Mountains in
Colorado are the Colorado
Eastern Plains, the section of the
Great Plains within Colorado at
elevations ranging from 3,500 to 7,000 feet (1,000 to
2,000 m). Kansas and
Nebraska border Colorado to the east
The plains
are sparsely settled with most population along the
South Platte and the
Arkansas rivers. Rainfall is
meager, averaging about 15 inches (380 mm) annually. There
is some irrigated farming, but much of the land is used for
dryland farming or
ranching.
Winter wheat is a typical crop and most small towns in
the region boast both a water tower
and a grain elevator.
The bulk of
Colorado's population lives along the eastern edge of the
Rocky Mountains in the
Front Range Urban Corridor. This region is partially
protected from prevailing storms by the high mountains to
the west.
To the west
lies the eastern slope of the
Rocky Mountains with notable peaks such as
Longs Peak,
Mount Evans, Pikes Peak, and
the Spanish Peaks near
Walsenburg in the south.
This area drains to the east, is forested, and partially
urbanized. With urbanization, utilization of the forest for
timbering and grazing was retarded, which resulted in
accumulation of fuel. During the drought of
2002 devastating forest fires
swept this area.
The
Continental Divide
stretches along the crest of the Rocky Mountains. To the
west of the Continental Divide is the
Western Slope.
Water west of the Continental Divide drains west into the
Pacific Ocean via the
Colorado River.
Within the
interior of the Rocky Mountains are several large parks or
high broad basins. In the north, on the east side of the
Continental Divide is North Park.
North Park is drained by the
North Platte River, which flows north into
Wyoming. Just south but on the west
side of the Continental Divide is
Middle Park, drained by the Colorado River.
South Park is the
headwaters of the South Platte
River. To the south lies the San
Luis Valley, the headwaters of the
Rio Grande, which drains into New
Mexico. Across the
Sangre de Cristo Range to the east of the San Luis
Valley lies the Wet Mountain
Valley. These basins, particularly the San Luis Valley,
lie along the Rio Grande Rift,
a major geological formation,
and its branches. See Great
Rift Valley.
The Rocky
Mountains within Colorado contain 54 peaks that are 14,000
feet (4270 m) or higher, known as
fourteeners. The mountains are timbered with
conifers and aspen
to the tree line, at an elevation
of about 12,000 feet (4,000 m) in southern Colorado to about
10,500 feet (3,200 m) in northern Colorado; above this only
alpine vegetation grows. The Rockies are snow-covered only
in the winter; most snow melts by mid-August with the
exception of a few small glaciers. The
Colorado Mineral Belt,
stretching from the San Juan
Mountains in the southwest to
Boulder and
Central City on the
front range, contains most of the historic gold and silver
mining districts
of Colorado.
The Western
Slope is generally drained by the Colorado River and its
tributaries. Notable to the south are the
San Juan Mountains, an
extremely rugged mountain range, and to the west of the San
Juans, the Colorado Plateau,
a high desert bordering Southern Utah.
Grand Junction is
the largest city on the Western Slope. Grand Junction is
served by Interstate Highway I-70. To the southeast of Grand
Junction is Grand Mesa, a large
flat-topped mountain. Further east are the
ski resorts of
Aspen,
Vail,
Crested Butte, and
Steamboat Springs.
The northwestern corner of Colorado bordering Northern Utah
and Western Wyoming is mostly sparsely populated rangeland.
From west
to east, the state consists of desert-like basins, turning
into plateaus, then alpine mountains, and then the
grasslands of the Great Plains.
Mount Elbert is the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains
within the continental United States. The famous
Pikes Peak is just west of
Colorado Springs.
Its lone peak is visible from near the
Kansas border on clear days.
Interactive Colorado State Map
Explore the state of Colorado with the dynamic map below. You can
zoom, pan and even get a satellite map view.
Move your cursor over the markers on the map to
learn more about Colorado.
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