La Garita Mountains Explained

La Garita Mountains
Country:United States
State:Colorado
Region:Saguache and Mineral
Region Type:Counties
Parent:San Juan Mountains, Rocky Mountains
Highest:Phoenix Peak
Elevation Ft:13,895
Elevation Ref:[1]
Coordinates:37.9364°N -106.8663°W
Map:USA Colorado

The La Garita Mountains are a high mountain range in the San Juan Mountains, a sub-range of the Southern Rocky Mountains. The mountains are located in Saguache and Mineral counties in southwestern Colorado and are almost entirely managed as public land within the Rio Grande National Forest.[1]

The La Garita Mountains extend from near the town of Creede east and northeast over 30miles toward the San Luis Valley. The range is marked by a circuitous ridge with the westernnmost peak being Phoenix Peak (elevation 13895feet) near the Continental Divide and the easternmost peak being Lookout Mountain (elevation 11516feet) near Carnero Pass.[1]

La Garita means in Spanish. Along this range climbers can look south across the upper Rio Grande Valley and east across the San Luis Valley.

The western third of the La Garita Mountains is protected within the La Garita Wilderness, one of Colorado's lesser-known wilderness areas. Travel in the wilderness is restricted to those on foot and horseback, while the remainder of the range is more accessible with multiple roads allowing mechanized travel. The range includes montane and subalpine forests and meadows and alpine tundra that provide ideal habitats for elk and mule deer.[2] [3]

Geology

The La Garita Mountains are dominated by Tertiary volcanic rocks, including lavas, ash flow tuffs, and breccias. These materials originated from over a dozen volcanoes and multiple eruptions in the San Juan volcanic field. The rocks exposed today are from eruptions 35 million years ago to 26 million years ago.[4] [5]

After major eruptions emptied the magma chamber below these volcanoes, the overlying rock could collapse and produce a sunken crater called a caldera. Evidence of such calderas are found throughout the San Juan Volcanic Field, including where the La Garita Mountains occur today. One of the largest of these volcanoes was the La Garita Caldera, which is located on the western extent of the La Garita Mountains. It was active 27.8 million years ago, and within this caldera, later eruptions (27.3 million years ago) produced the Bachelor Caldera. Through time, these calderas have filled with additional volcanic material ejected from other volcanoes, and subsequent erosion has reshaped the landscape making the ancient calderas now difficult to detect.[6] [7]

Evidence of glaciation is present at the highest elevations of the La Garita Mountains. Glacial cirques are particularly evident along the higher, western extent of the range where tarns and glacial deposits are found.[4] [6]

The Wheeler Geologic Area, located along the northeast wall the Bachelor Caldera, is noted for its eroded and exposed layers of volcanic tuff that filled the caldera. This 27 million year old tuff was ejected from eruptions in the San Luis Caldera Complex located north of the La Garita Mountains.[6]

Climate

The climate of the La Garita Mountains is classified in the Köppen system as a subarctic climate (Dfc) at lower elevations and a tundra climate (ET) above treeline, with cold, snowy winters and cool summers. It receives precipitation as snow in winter and as thunderstorms in summer, with June typically being a drier month.[8] [9] [10]

Mountains

Notable summits along the La Garita Mountains’ ridge, as delineated by the United States Board on Geographic Names, from west to east.[1]

Notes and References

  1. 190505. La Garita Mountains. 17 March 2024.
  2. Web site: La Garita Wilderness . Wilderness Net . 22 May 2020.
  3. Book: Warren, Scott S.. Exploring Colorado's Wild Areas: A Guide for Hikers, Backpackers, Climbers, X-C Skiers, and Paddlers. Seattle, Washington. The Mountaineers. 2002. 2nd. 0898867843.
  4. Book: Cappa . J.A.. Wallace. C.A.. Geology and Mineral Resources of Saguache County, Colorado. Resource Series RS-44. Denver, Colorado. Colorado Geological Survey. 1999.
  5. Web site: Tweto. Ogden. Geologic map of Colorado. United States Geological Survey. 1979. 4 March 2024.
  6. Book: Lipman, Peter W.. Geologic map of the central San Juan caldera cluster, southwestern Colorado. Geologic Investigations Series Map I-2799. United States Geological Survey. 2006.
  7. Morgan . Leah E. . Johnstone . Samuel A. . Gilmer . Amy K. . Cosca . Michael A. . Thompson . Ren. A. . 2019 . A supervolcano and its sidekicks: A 100 ka eruptive chronology of the Fish Canyon Tuff and associated units of the La Garita magmatic system, Colorado, USA . Geology . Geological Society of America . 2019 . 47 . 5 . 453–456 . 10.1130/G45898.1 . free . 1943-2682 . February 8, 2024.
  8. Web site: Doesken . Nolan J.. Pielke, Sr.. Roger A.. Bliss. Odilia A. P. . Climate of Colorado. Fort Collins, Colorado. Colorado Climate Center. 2003. 4 March 2024.
  9. Beck . H.E. . McVicar . T.R. . Vergopolan . N. . 1 . 2023 . High-resolution (1 km) Köppen-Geiger maps for 1901–2099 based on constrained CMIP6 projections . Scientific Data . 10 . 724 . 24 March 2024 . 10.1038/s41597-023-02549-6. 10593765 .
  10. Web site: Climate zones on the move: Historical and predicted future changes in the global distribution of Köppen-Geiger climate zones . Haizea Analytics . Canberra, Australia . 24 March 2024.