Wild Basin, a broken and glaciated region of 

 twenty-five square miles, lies immediately south 

 of the Peak. This basin is almost encircled 

 by eight towering peaks, and the enormous 

 St. Vrain Moraine thrusts out of its outlet and 

 shows where the united ice-rivers formerly 

 made their way from this basin. Within this 

 wild area are lakes, forests, waterfalls, and a 

 splendid variety of wild and lovely scenes. 



The glacier lakes and wild tarns of this Park 

 are one of its delights. Though most of these 

 water fountains are small, they are singularly 

 beautiful. They are in the middle-mountain 

 zone, in a belt which lies between the altitudes 

 of ten thousand and twelve thousand feet. There 

 are more than a hundred of these, and their 

 attractiveness equals that of any of the moun- 

 tain lakes of the world. 



The best known and most popular of these 

 lakes are Fern and Odessa. These lie about 

 twelve miles west of the village of Estes Park. 

 Chasm Lake, on the east side of Long's Peak, 

 is set in an utterly wild place. Its basin was 

 gouged from solid granite by the old Long's 



3 SO 



