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Trail Ridge -- Rock
Cut |
These picture were taken by parking at the snow
field turnout that is just after Rock Cut and hiking back up the road to an
overlook on the west side on the road.
| Rock Cut, a projecting rock formation at 12,110' elevation,
had to be cut through by road crews in order to allow the Trail Ridge Road to
pass. The highly resistant rock was blasted away with large quantities of
explosives; in one case, 178 shots (a half ton of black powder) were wired
together and fired at one time. The workers took special care to preserve the
surviving stone monoliths on the down slope side, wrapping them in timber to
protect them from rocks hurled by the blasting. Rocks thrown beyond the
construction zone were retrieved to avoid marring the landscape. A steam shovel
was employed to excavate the blasted material which was crushed and used in
bench sections for surfacing. The road through the rock cut is supported on
high hand-placed dry-laid stone embankments topped by crenellated parapet
wall. |
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Park Areas