THE ROCKIES
The story of the Rockies goes back about 120 million years ago, when their peaks started poking out of ancient marshland. In the days of dinosaurs, southern Alberta was a very flat and low-lying marshland. Dinosaurs lived here, feeding on marsh or lowland vegetation. After the dinosaurs died, their bones were gradually covered and they became part of the rocks. Over millions of years the layers became hardened and compressed into visible layers of rocks.
The Rocky Mountains are actually only 120 miles deep, from east to west. The Rockies actually consist of four sets of ranges that extend from Alberta's foothills to the Rocky Mountain Trench that includes the Columbia Valley. Each of these ranges is separated by parallel valleys.
The FRONT RANGES are those east of the Bow, North Saskatchewan, and Athabasca Rivers. The EASTERN MAIN RANGE are those that form the Continental Divide, and contain the 20 tallest peaks in the Canadian Rockies. The WESTERN MAIN RANGE includes the mountains west of the Kootenay River. The WESTERN RANGE occupies the area between Golden and Radium Hot Springs in British Columbia. The ROCKY MOUNTAIN TRENCH forms the western boundary of the Rockies, by creating a broad valley that extends in a north-westerly direction for hundreds of miles.
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