Sheep Lakes Overlook

by Jon Burch Photography

Title

Sheep Lakes Overlook

Artist

Jon Burch Photography

Medium

Photograph - Digital Capture

Description

Bighorn sheep, the Colorado state animal, is also the symbol of the Colorado Division of Wildlife.

The parking area overlooking Sheep Lakes in Rocky Mountain National Park in northern Colorado is built on a natural flat surface called a glacial outwash terrace. It was formed by braided streams issuing from the most recent melting glacier. Over time, these streams distributed glacial debris into many thin layers, as they moved back and forth across the valley floor.

Bighorn sheep are attracted by salt deposits in the soil. During the middle of the day, they rest in the shade of trees.

Before 1800 there were two million bighorn sheep in the lower 48 states, most of which were concentrated in the Rockies. The herds have declined since the mid-1800s as a result of hunting, as well as from ringworm, pneumonia, scabies, and competition for range with elk, cattle, domestic sheep, and horses.

As the last ice age glacier retreated, large debris containing chunks of ice broke loose and came to rest on the valley floor. The ice mass melted, creating cavities into which the overlying debris slumped. Such depressions, when filled with water, are called kettle lakes. They have no surface drainage and may go dry during droughts. Sheep lakes are an example of these geologic formations.

Rising above the lakes is Fall River Canyon with Trail Ridge on the left and Mt. Chapin. 12.454 foot elevation and Mt. Chiquita, 13,069 feet in elevation on the right. To the left on the hillside beyond the lakes is the lower switchback of Trail Ridge Road. Below the switchback, aspen groves delineate an unusual hillside wetland. - National Park Service information

Image copyright 2015 Jon Burch Photography

Uploaded

June 28th, 2015

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