The Mountain Range That Disappeared and Came Back Again

Special thanks to Vincent Coringrato for photos of the Colorado Rockies
Special thanks to David Mackertich for videos of desert. Check his site out / @davidmac7825
Special thanks to Bode Trappett for helping with research
Ron Blakey Deep Time maps License # 5120
Red Rock amphitheater, Garden of the Gods, Paradox basin, Boulder flatirons, Colorado geology, Uncompahgre mountains,

[@HANKTHEDANKEST]

We're lucky to live in such a time when great teachers like Myron are able to educate us in the comfort of our homes for free. "Lucky" barely touches it--thousands of generations of humans looked at the living rock we stand on and regarded it as timeless and immutable, which we know to be false--it is entirely dynamic and, indeed, *alive.* Thanks so much, Myron.

[@Schizniit]

And yet we have so many conspiracy nuts running around, refusing to acknowledge any information or facts and manipulate others into doing the same. In other words, always share knowledge with others

[@Jahcef]

Also Roger Spurr at mudfossil university. Check Mr Roger out he's got DNA and cat scan evidence

[@ericcomp7032]

Denver is not in the mountains 😕 Sry not sry but I live here. Denver is situated in a high arid desert and the mountains are close by. People always associate Denver with mountains because it makes great marketing but you are being sold a lie. Denver is not in the mountains.

[@Running4Daze]

“Sold a lie”That sounds a bit dramatic. People associate Denver with the mountains because u r a proverbial stone’s throw or relatively super quick drive to them.

[@ericcomp7032]

@@Running4Daze I'd be angry if Cherry Hill NJ sold itself as a beach town and I got there to find it's an hour drive to the beach. But yet people are fine with Denver pulling this shit. Without the suburban sprawl and manicured landscaping Denver wouldn't have any trees, have sand instead of soil, and paddle cacti would dominate the hillsides. You can be ok with them lying to you but I'm not that stupid.

[@drtrowb]

Myron drops a video, and I drop everything I’m doing to watch. 🥞

[@GregMcNeish]

I literally rearranged my work plan for the day on the fly specifically so that I could put this on my side monitor and work exclusively on the main screen, until the video is over. I *MUST* watch this video *NOW*.

[@erichauge5623]

Retired science teacher here. These lessons are wonderful in every way. Smooth, comforting tone, and available to novice and advanced alike. Really enjoyable. Mahalo nui.

[@myroncook]

Wow, thank you!

[@johnderatt3168]

That was sneaky Myron.... About to go to bed. Had to get a beer and sit back and learn... Thanks mate!

[@myroncook]

Enjoy!

[@vickihubach4388]

haha, same here, I couldn't stop watching.

[@denniscrane9753]

I’m gettin paid to watch Myron! I love my job!

[@Brennen666CA]

Myron, I'm a young (relatively; I'm just 27!) Canadian living in Saskatchewan. I've so loved your videos and on location things you show and teach us. I live in a somewhat transitional area between the phanerozoic basin and the precambrian shield. It's mind bogling to think of the history of the rocks around me. Some are upwards of 3 Billion years old. I stop to think of the history they have endured. The archean. The birth of life on our planet. Id often find myself firmly planting head in the rocks and my mind imaging the world when they were formed. These videos and what you show us has had such a profound effect on my present life. I've even been considering returning to school to pursue an education in geology. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart. I look forward to your next video eagerly.

[@myroncook]

I'm humbled that I somehow have had a positive influence in your life. You seem to have a "feel" for our planet like I do.

[@tommyford7210]

Also from sask and we have some crazy rocks here for sure

[@rogueyun9613]

What a pleasure it is to go on these visual and informative journeys with you! Absolutely magnificent! Thank you!

[@myroncook]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@richarddodge1349]

Grew up on the front range, went to ted rocks school between the hogback and the amphitheatre. Mount Morrison was my front yard. Spent vacation in Moab. All that now geologic memory, myself dinosaurian.

[@prototropo]

I grew up a bike-ride away from Red Rocks. The Bear Creek runs through there--ice-cold melt-water that lower down becomes a venerable cottonwood riparian corridor, much like all the mountain streams feeding the great Platte and Arkansas Rivers to the east, the Rio Grande to the south and the Colorado River west. Great place for kids, although now the suburban sprawl represents a sad, poorly regulated detriment to the Front Range of Denver. But what a treat it is, 60 years after riding my bike in the summers around the town of Morrison (near Molly Brown's summer bungalow!) to now hear Myron's explanation of how the great Morrison Formation came to be, and how Red Rocks amphitheater is astonishingly older than the Front Range of the modern Rocky Mountains, looming over 14,000 ft behind. Thank you, Myron--I can't tell you how meaningful your video classes are. And those introductory photos of Colorado are really gorgeous.

[@myroncook]

Thanks for sharing

[@JL-cu8rh]

You are the BEST geology professor I ever heard !! Thanks for educating to all of us.

[@ClannCholmain]

Your work is amazing and your presentation is so personable. Warm greetings and best wishes from the west coast of Ireland 🇮🇪🇺🇸

[@myroncook]

Thank you very much!

[@greghelms4458]

Okay so this one of my favorites so far. Explained so much about one of my favorite drives in the whole country. Thanks Myron. ❤

[@myroncook]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@usnavyguy4454]

I genuinely wish more of my teachers would have been more like Myron.

[@Chris.Davies]

I am a simple man: Myron's dulcet tones in a new silky smooth upload cause me to watch the video, enjoy the video, and upvote the video. Simple!

[@jonscootsaround]

Greetings from Boulder! As a local rock climber, I’m so thankful for your videos. I’ve found a lot of evidence of petrified streambeds in the arkose of the Flatirons- long snaking tubes

[@myroncook]

That is awesome!

[@mandobob]

You may have noticed that the Fountain formation exposed in Eldarado canyon tends to be significantly harder than most of the Fountain formation exposed in the Flatirons. Same rock, although typically more fine grained, but the Eldarado canyon rocks have been cemented with silica (quartz) complements to thermal springs activity. Rocks can have an interesting history post deposition. Geologist call post deposition changes diagenesis. - Long time rock climber.

[@CFEF44AB1399978B0011]

I’ve always suspected that the eldo rock was fountain, but was always confused by this. I was kind of amazed at how the little chunks of rock in some of the cliffs are so strikingly similar to the Garden of the Gods rock. It just I guess didn’t make sense to me, because Gog rock is very very soft compared to eldo. Still somehow haven’t made it up a flatiron, gotta climb out there, I grew up on North Table, which is kind of out of place in the front range, being a random basalt dike that left a big flat top mountain since it's more resistant @@mandobob

[@jonscootsaround]

It’s fascinating how the qualities of the fountain change up and down the front range. Have you seen the railroad tracks that run up the fountain formation south of Eldorado Canyon? It starts rising just north of the Ralston Dike- love the geologic story of the table mountains

[@mandobob]

@@CFEF44AB1399978B0011 Actually some of the rock fins at the GOG are another Ancestral Rockies sourced deposit called the Lyons Formation (also called the Lyons Sandstone). It is mostly wind-blown (eolian) sands that formed dune fields adjacent to the sea. The Lyons SS is named for the type location near the town of Lyons north of Boulder and has been used for many years as a decorative and building stone along the Front Range. The Lyons SS has been used for sidewalks all over Denver - clue, you can see fossil sand/mud ripples. Depending on where you are the Lyons Sandstone can be quite hard or much softer, and that may be what you have observed. Just one more thing, the basalt-capped North and South Table Mesas is actually a flow(s) and not a dike or sill. The flow originated up Ralston Creek north of Golden.

[@douglasboyle6544]

I lived in Denver for a dozen years and I loved exploring the geology of Colorado. I knew the basics about the area, especially Red Rocks but you really expanded my knowledge on the whole deep history. Absolutely wonderful - as usual!

[@jerrycornelius5986]

I always look forward to your geological excursions, they never disappoint.

[@agibitable]

I've never been more excited to make some observations!

[@myroncook]

love that!

[@mrtoastyman07]

Best geology content on the internet - absolutely amazing. Thank you so much Myron!

[@crowonawirehome]

2 minutes after posting. I’m watching. Go Myron, Okay, why was only a few thousand feet red?

[@kwgm8578]

Howdy, Myron. Welcome to the Front Range! I live near Boulder and would have offered you a little Colorado hospitality had I known that you were passing through my area. As you know, there's a lot of geology piled into our Centennial State, and isn't it a sad irony that one human life is so short. I'll never get to see it all, but videos like yours help greatly in extending my time here. At the end of each presentation, I'm always curious to see where you'll take us on your next exploration. Thank you, and I'll see you then.

[@myroncook]

thanks!

[@CFEF44AB1399978B0011]

I should make everyone I hike with on the front range watch this before hiking any of the hog-backs, or canyon trails in the area. I was at Garden of the gods back in February, and was just mind blown at how such a soft sandstone conglomerate can be so old, and yet so soft that I can pluck little clasts from the rock with relative ease. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you can go just a few miles away from the hogback and see coal beds and limestones with leaf fossils and petrified wood, which really drives home the fact that there were really marshes and swamps and beaches here with the mountains. I highly recommend stopping at Marshal Mesa if you ever visit Boulder, you can see these coal and limestone formations right out in front of the rockies. . It’s really amazing how you connected so many locations together to explain just how all this fits together, and didn’t just tell people how there once was an ancestral rocky mountain range, but showed it so people could see it for themselves. Now I’m curious how you'd show the laromide, and subsequent uplift of the front range, which I only sort of understand at a hand-wavy level.

[@myroncook]

You live in an awesome area...lots of geology

[@davidogle9247]

I feel just as fortunate to watch your videos! Thank you!

[@craiglilly3657]

Myron is a “rock” star! I live in Denver, and love his clear explanations of the beauty I see around me every day.

[@davideastlee9983]

a masterful explanation Myron. Thank you

[@myroncook]

Very welcome

[@kimclem8439]

Thanks Myron, born and raised in the Morrison area but now live between the Grand Mesa and the Uncompahgre plateau. You have helped me understand some of the different geology in this area. Thanks.

[@dirkdil8268]

While you blow our minds, I find it wonderfully soothing when you present us with your trusty little tree on your whiteboard. Love your presentations!

[@orchid623]

I just love your enthusiasm for geology! I truly enjoy learning from you, Professor Myron! I don't know if you're actually a professor, but it's like having your own personal geology teacher watching these videos 🤗

[@felipericketts]

It's great fun to have you shine a light on our amazing home. Helps me see and feel the magic of our Mother Earth and our very fleeting existence. 🙂

[@myroncook]

love to hear this!

[@hannahbrown2728]

A video from our beloved Myron Cook is always a great way to cap off a day. Thank you for all your hard work! edit: And you start off in Red Rocks!! So glad to hear youve seen a show there, Id love to myself one day!!!

[@myroncook]

do it!

[@EricRush]

Myron Cook and Nick Zentner geology lectures on the same morning. It's already a good day.

[@CTSFanSam]

My favorite KZbin show starts off in my very own back yard. I do have to get up in Myron's neighborhood to take a look at the Big Horn Basin first hand. Thanks Myron for your work.

[@LeoDomitrix]

Mountains recycle! Now cover all that with trees and you get my beloved Blue Ridge. Come to the east, please, and check out the road cuts here, or Natural Chimneys, Endless Caverns... It's crazy fun!

[@scottgordon9504]

This blew my mind Dr. Cook. I am going to have to watch it a couple more times for it to completely soak-in. I grew up on the west side of Denver, along the hogback wondering how it was formed and how the red rock formation fit in geologically and it has never been resolved for me until now with your explanation, so thank you for that! I hope you had time to visit Dinosaur Ridge, just a few miles north of Red Rocks amphitheater while you were there. There are dinosaur footprints fully exposed along the roadside on the rock walls. It too is a spectacular site to see and just a couple minutes drive from C-470 there. I have also been fortunate to see the areas of southern Utah that were once the great sand dunes you spoke of. Also a site to behold. Now it all is starting to make sense to me. Thank you once again for helping make sense of something so complex as this for my small mind.

[@myroncook]

Thanks for the feedbacK! I have been to Dinosaur Ridge...very cool

[@morganeubanks5166]

Thank you again. You're the best teacher I've ever had!

[@myroncook]

Wow, thanks!

[@MarkFloyd7451]

Thank you for the wonderful interpretation of the rebirth of the Rockies. Earth's History is so exciting when one learns the language of the rocks.

[@dianespears6057]

My goodness. What a story over time. Thank you.

[@gregjones2217]

The joy of seeing the past through your eyes is a great joy to me. Thank you really isn't enough to say.

[@Firebuck]

I'm glad you mentioned the Flatirons. I've been staring at them out the window from the beginning of the video. I've heard of the Fountain Formation, but never realized it's so old.

[@kreelaban3420]

My lucky day when I discovered this Channel and the explanation of this Great World and our Beautiful Mountains and how they formed. Thank You, Myron !

[@myroncook]

Wonderful!

[@lucasgotham7584]

When Bob Rocks drops a video, I drop what I'm doing to watch. Thank you Myron, these videos give me a sense of calm I oft lack in my hectic life.

[@ahuels67]

Myron, you also inspire us with your beautiful videos, just as much as those mountains do. Thanks again for what you give us

[@toinettevanschalkwyk8378]

Thanks Myron, it's always such a relaxing and informative time spent with you.

[@acm4213]

Thank you, Myron! I love having a deeper understanding of the landscapes that I hike through!

[@judyklein3221]

Wonderful host, intriguing geology, beautiful scenery! Love this video!💕

[@lizbetty6661]

This was a great little lecture. I saw Peter Gabriel at red rocks a few years back before the concert. I went and looked at all of those dinosaur tracks in the area. Anyway, the concert was amazing the sound of the surroundings. While the concert was in progress. There was a lightning storm in the distance that added to the amazing experience.

[@J.Battles]

Very interesting! Thank you for another great video, Myron!

[@donthorpe6301]

Thank you Myron for yet another insightful video.

[@blakescott2817]

And yet another great video! Thanks so much Myron!

[@JosephANagyJr]

Another great video, thanks Myron. I've really been enjoying all of your geology videos and hope you continue to make more!

[@asharajade247]

I love your channel! Thank you for taking your time to bring us out in the field with you!❤

[@leedoss6905]

The living earth is such a beautiful thing to behold.❤

[@aboyandhisdog]

Outstanding video, Myron! Thanks for all your hard work! -Tom.

[@reginatonetti7421]

Thanks, Myron, for this amazing class. What enchanted views! I live in Brazil and I'm always enjoying your videos.

[@myroncook]

Glad you like them!

[@lindarocco9974]

Myron, thank you for this excellent presentation. As always, I learned a lot from you. I really like the perspective you give through the drone footage.

[@mikelong9638]

Another great video Myron. Somehow you convey not only the science of geology but it's spirit. Safe travels.

[@eliaslyman9256]

Thank you for providing these resources and sharing your vast knowledge and passion! Always look forward to your videos

[@Sukisunn]

Another wonderfully interesting geology video! Thank you Myron!

[@death057]

Woohoo a new video I have been waiting to hear my Bob Ross of geology! Especially since it's on mountains I don't have any of those here in Florida lol

[@dennisclapp7527]

Thanks Myron. This much information makes my head spin if I try to understand it all in one bite. It is fun and mind expanding at the same time.

[@murraymartin9009]

Love, love, love these journeys in geology. Thank you Myron!

[@myroncook]

My pleasure!

[@lilysceesawjeanmoonlight]

Myron, you inspire me with your beauty. Also the Rock formations and their absolute stunning beauty. Thanx

[@BetzalelMC]

Thanks for wonderful content in every video Myron! With love from the Rockies!

[@andrewhotston983]

This is a very timely video, as I hope to make my first visit to Colorado later this year. I'm so looking forward to seeing this landscape.

[@nicholasorr4230]

My cousins live in Roxborough Park. I’m always so jealous with the beautiful scenery they have in their backyard. Excited to learn more about it!

[@DENVEROUTDOORMAN]

It has great hiking but the ridge across from the Ampitheater is Dakota/Dinosaur Ridge with Dinosaur Footprints and you can hike that ridge.

[@robertyauger1025]

Just another wonderful video from you sir.... please keep them coming!

[@Doc4Tardis]

thank you for visiting!

[@cvillekidd]

Wonderful! THANK YOU, Myron for explaining these formations. I've been to every place in this video and had only a sketchy understanding of the geology. It's amazing to think of the changes possible in 300 million years!

[@aaronaragon7838]

I fell in love with geology in 1980. Thanks for bringing that wonder back...

[@myroncook]

love to hear that!

[@Babbajune]

I always enjoy watching your videos, Myron, and I learn a little something each time. ❤❤

[@OldBrownDog]

Awesome field trip, thanks for bringing us along Myron. I'd like to go out west and see those places.

[@jimburnsjr.]

Fantastic as allways, thank you Myron .

[@SB-qm5wg]

Always great videos. These proportions are mind-blowing.

[@brianchenoweth7347]

Really loved this one, thanks Myron.

[@blakeanders897]

Myron, I just got back from a trip to Yellowstone and we are currently staying 10 minutes away from Garden of the Gods so this video really came out at the perfect time! You are an amazing lecturer, I really appreciate all of your videos.

[@harperium_3276]

great video, keep up the amazing work!

[@hopegreer3357]

Thank you so much for educating me on the red rocks. I always wondered how "The Garden of the Gods" was created. I was thru the tree back in 1987 with my family. I was only 15 then and absolutely enthralled with them. Love your white boards.

[@dougellis7917]

Another great video. Thank you for educating me, Myron.

[@cdineaglecollapsecenter4672]

Loved this video! I was so pleased that you included the Eagle basin.

[@hiker1658]

Thanks for another mind blowing presentation. Beautifully made and clearly explained. Every one of your videos leaves me with a new and awe inspired understanding of the national landscape.

[@greatsilentwatcher]

Always glad to see another great report. I learn something every time. Thanks.

[@jakeanderson8156]

Myron, thank you so much for all the wonderful geology lessons that you share with us!

[@myroncook]

My pleasure!

[@gsmith9531]

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this "field trip". I only wish that I had seen it years ago when I took a trip to Colorado. And, I loved the John Denver reference. Thank you so much, Professor Cook!

[@Starphot]

I used to bike ride to Red Rocks from Denver in the 1960s as a kid and look at the formations. I did have an interest in geology back then. The dinosaur tracks on the east side of the Dakota hogback to the gneiss and granite on Mount Morrison behind the amphitheater. Someone tried to put a tram up Mt. Morrison once and a rock bed and a rail sticking out was left of that effort. I have a couple of ancestors that lived in the Morrison area herding sheep in the late 1800s. Thanks Myron! Brings memories!

[@myroncook]

neat story

[@sandrine.t]

Wow! Fantastic video! Thank you for another amazing and inspiring geology lesson, Myron :)

[@Gunsnclapton4]

I always find time to watch these videos when they come out. Never a dull moment.

[@Radioactive_Slime]

White board got a workout today! Fabulous video, tons of information and so interesting. It really makes you give pause to consider the landscapes around you. Thanks again Mr. Cook!

[@shawn_ten_toes]

I wish I had teachers like Mr. Cook as a youngster. Sadly, they're quite rare. Keep up the great videos!

[@StanDavid-ix6yk]

Thank you Myron... beautiful scenery interesting subject

[@vickihubach4388]

holy cow... my mind is officially boggled now... that was fascinating! I love the way you teach... on the ground, in the field, from the air and pulling it together on the whiteboard! Thank you!

[@myroncook]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@HeavySilver]

Been watching and listening, enjoying and learning from these videos for a while, but it just struck me (GenX'r here) that the kindness, peace, and pace of his voice reminds me of Mr Rodgers. Thank you Mr Cook.

[@FlatlandMountaineer-ru8ue]

Thank you. A wonderful explanation, as always. I have spent a lot of time in these red rock areas, as well as the rest of the Rockies. You are a national treasure.

[@myroncook]

You are very welcome

[@martincotterill823]

Amazing story! Thanks, Myron!

[@justinausten1085]

Hello Myron. I have really enjoyed your video series. I was born on the West Coast and have enjoyed learning to appreciate my East of the Rockies friends and your geography and geology.

[@Kath1eenKoh1er]

One of your best! Love you lots Myron ! Thank you for sharing your knowledge 😘

[@myroncook]

You are so welcome

[@jackthetford7558]

Always a pleasure!

[@Cobbmtngirl]

Fascinating stuff! Thanks so much for the education, once again. ❤this channel!

[@dstevens7614]

The stories you explain is very interesting. I have wondered so much when I see the wonders of nature. Thanks for you ‘re prospective. Now back to the show 😁.

[@nickdivona8769]

Another well delivered and very informative video, thanks for the great content!

[@72Saeth]

One of your best videos, thanks for the excellent content. Especially fascinating as a Front Range resident.

[@elsapon]

I feel very fortunate as well, this one was exceptional and it shows in your smile. Many thanks!

[@myroncook]

Many thanks!

[@user-wk1mw9nj3i76]

And I feel fortunate to be able to learn from such a knowledgeable teacher, whose videos are stunningly well made. (Just to tag onto your two ending sentences.) thank you so much, Mr. Cook!