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San Isabel National Forest
Colorado

If you're thinking about climbing all of Colorado's fourteeners, the San Isabel is a great place to knock some of 'em off — 19 of the 54 peaks are here, including the state's highest, Mount Elbert, at 14,433 feet. The Ute Indians say that man first emerged from the Earth in the mountains of San Isabel. The Utes, along with the Apache and Comanche, worshiped the Spanish Peaks and named the mountains Wahatoya, meaning"Breast of the Earth." Indeed, there is a primeval feel to the forest as thousands of years of erosion reveal volcanic stocks and jagged outcrops formed by molten magma forced through vertical dikes.

View from Monarch Pass Observatory (US Rt. 50) of Mt. Aetna and Taylor
View from Monarch Pass Observatory


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[from Outside magazine]