Discoveries…America National Parks: Colorado's Spectacular

Another winning entry from Discoveries…America National Parks—the extensive high-def-filmed armchair-travel series from filmmakers Jim and Kelly Watt—Colorado's Spectacular offers an overview of parks that showcase the state's incredible array of geological wonders and ancient history. Located just west of the nation's center, Colorado boasts an abundance of mountains, rivers, canyons, and sand dunes, as well as fossils and dinosaur bones. Among the spectacular sites covered here is Rocky Mountain National Park—two hours from Denver—which straddles America's Continental Divide, resulting in distinct climate differences found within the 358-square-mile area that includes a variety of wildlife and plentiful campgrounds. The Great Sand Dunes National Park & Reserve is an eerie wonder: comprised of 100,000 acres in Eastern Colorado, the park offers the tallest sand dunes in North America (how these dunes got here is a prehistoric mystery, but their ever-shifting shapes and photogenic appeal draw many visitors). Dinosaur National Monument (part of which is in Utah) features the bones of at least 500 creatures from the Jurassic period. An enormous slice of petrified mud from a riverbed is on display at a visitor's center, dotted with loose bones like candied fruit in a fruitcake. The Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in southeastern Colorado offers evidence of an entirely different, temperate climate that existed there 55 million years ago, including a fossilized imprint of a Tsetse fly (now only found in Africa) and stumps of redwood trees buried in mud from volcanic eruptions. Serving up a lovely overview of Colorado's national parks, this is recommended. Aud: P. (T. Keogh)