Douglas Pass , elevation 8,205 feet (2,501 meters), is a mountain pass in the Book Cliffs of western Colorado . It is located in Garfield County and is traversed by State Highway 139 . The pass divides the watersheds of West Douglas Creek to the north and East Salt Creek to the south. It is named for the Northern Ute , Chief Douglas.
6-539: The pass is not an especially high summit relative to other Colorado passes, and the road, though reasonably steep on the south side (7%), has no tight spots and only a few switchbacks. The summit gives an unusual view of the northeast face of the La Sal Mountains (twelve peaks over 12,000 feet), 76 miles (122 km) away in Utah. The remainder of the drive is basically in valleys following creeks. The Utes had established
12-528: A trail over the pass, which was subsequently used by European explorers and settlers. The Domínguez–Escalante expedition crossed the pass in 1776. Following the Ute trail, a road over the pass was constructed in the 1920s. The mountain consists of shale strata belonging to the Green River Formation , exposures of which can be seen on the south side of the pass. This Colorado state location article
18-562: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . La Sal Mountains The La Sal Mountains or La Sal Range is a mountain range located in Grand and San Juan counties in the U.S. state of Utah , along the border with Colorado . The range rises above and southeast of Moab and north of the town of La Sal . This range is part of the Manti-La Sal National Forest and the southern Rocky Mountains . The maximum elevation
24-579: Is at Mount Peale , reaching 12,721 feet (3,877 m) above sea level. The range contains three clusters of peaks separated by passes. The peaks span a distance of about 10 miles (16 km). The name of the range dates to Spanish times, when the Sierra La Sal (meaning the "Salt Mountains") was a prominent landmark on the Old Spanish Trail between Santa Fe and Los Angeles. The range formed due to intrusion of igneous rocks and subsequent erosion of
30-634: The surrounding Colorado Plateau . Two other ranges on the Plateau, the Abajo Mountains and the Henry Mountains , formed around igneous intrusions of about the same age. Yet other nearby ranges, such as the Carrizo Mountains and Ute Mountain , formed about otherwise similar intrusions emplaced about 70 million years ago. The formation of these igneous rocks in two distinct time intervals has attracted
36-615: The surrounding less-resistant sedimentary rocks. The most abundant igneous rocks are porphyritic , with phenocrysts of hornblende and plagioclase : these rocks are called diorite in some accounts, but trachyte in at least one other source. Syenite , some containing the unusual mineral nosean , makes up a few percent of the igneous rocks present. Some igneous intrusions have the shapes of laccoliths . The ages of these igneous rocks fall between 25 and 28 million years. The magmas were emplaced into sedimentary rocks with ages from Permian to Cretaceous . The La Sal Mountains rise high over
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