Text Box: The Southern Rocky Mountains province, or simply Southern Rockies, is the southernmost and easternmost of the four Rocky provinces in the conterminous United States. It extends from Wyoming southward through Colorado to central New Mexico, and is bounded on the east entirely by the Great Plains and on the west by the Colorado Plateaus and Wyoming Basin. This is the highest of the Rocky provinces, containing Mt. Elbert, approximately 100 miles southwest of Denver in the Sawatch Range, with an elevation variously stated to be 14,420, 14,431, and 14,433 feet–the tallest peak in all the Rockies. Colorado alone has 741 peaks that exceed 13,000 feet and is the only state in the Rockies with peaks exceeding 14,000 feet in elevation. Colorado also has more peaks over 14,000 feet, often called fourteeners, than all other states combined that have such peaks (Alaska, California and Washington). The United States Geological Society recognizes 53 fourteeners in Colorado, although the Colorado Mountain Club states there are 54. Table 3 shows that the Sawatch and Sangre de Cristo ranges contain the most fourteeners. TABLE 3 Number of Fourteeners in Colorado (according to Colorado Mountain Club)  
Text by Jim Henry (Copyright 2007) Illustrations by Miller Wylie and Mark Abolins