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1967 Map of Medano Pass

Name: 1967 Topographic Map of Medano Pass
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1974
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1974

About this map

Medano Pass serves as a critical geographic divide between the Saguache Co Huerfano Co line, separating the high country of the Rio Grande National Forest from the San Isabel National Forest. The landscape is dominated by high-altitude peaks like Mount Seven and Mount Zwischen, while the western edge of the quadrangle marks the eastern boundary of the Great Sand Dunes National Monument.

Evidence of early exploration and resource extraction is scattered across the high basins, with several Prospect sites and Prospects located near the headwaters of Medano Creek and Hudson Branch. The drainages on the eastern slope, including North Bruff Creek and Pantleon Creek, show a network of primitive routes marked as Jeep Trail, illustrating how this transition zone between the peaks and the sand dunes was accessed in the late 1960s.