As I am typing this, I can see the Hogback out of my living room window. (Living here really rocks!) When you are looking at it from the flatlands east of the mountains, the name isn't doesn't seem as self-evident. It just looks like a jumble of low hills in front of the mountains. In fact, from where I live in Littleton, the Hogback is virtually all of the mountains that you can see.
Simply put, the Hogback is a ridge (series of ridges actually) that forms a line on the eastern borders of the Rocky Mountains. The satellite image (thank you, Google) on the left, shows a clear demarcation between the green of the plains and the bare granite in the mountains.I've tried to sort-out the natural history of the area so that I can share a bit of geological wisdom, but it's pretty much all Greek to me. I was embarrassed at how lost I was reading one article that promised to explain the process in "simple language." The main thing that you'll want to know is that the geological upheaval responsible for lifting the Rockies caused a break in the rock strata along the leading edge on the mountains to be tilted at a peculiar angle. This can be seen dramatically in the red sandstone outcroppings in places like Red Rocks Park in Metro Denver and Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. Glaciers and other forces of erosion carved out canyons and broke the single ridge into pieces. Much of the geography of central Colorado, including the locations of cities and roads, is dictated by the natural breaks in the Hogback.
It looks a lot more like "hogback" (or better yet "hogs' backs") from above. The picture below was taken from a trail at Mt Falcon Park.
There are numerous hiking opportunities in and near the Hogback. Trails on the eastern side afford sweeping views of the Great Plains. Trails on the western side look up into the Rocky Mountains. All along the Hogback are geologically interesting canyons, valleys and rock outcroppings. To find hiking trails rated on this blog, click on the Hogback label below or on the right.Have fun!
