Fairchild Peak panorama

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From the far left (east). Prominent peak is Mummy Mountain (Lawn Lake sits at its base, hidden). Farther right, down in the valley, is Lake Estes with US 36 visible beyond. Deer Mountain sits just right of Lake Estes. Farther right over the knob above timberline is Marys Lake, and right of there the Twin Sisters reach the skyline with Moraine Park below and to the right. On the skyline to the right is Mt. Meeker just left of flat-topped Longs Peak, which is nearly due south. Trail Ridge Road switchbacks up the nearer Trail Ridge. The peaks beyond Trail Ridge surround The Loch and the Bear Lake area, forming the Continental Divide; the distant skyline includes the Gore Range. Just right of where Trail Ridge Road disappears is Stone Peak, with a small snowpatch near the summit. Hayden Spire is a bit more to the right in the next canyon, then the cliff-bounded summit flat of Terra Tomah is visible. The last peak on the Divide is the helmet of Mt. Ida. The prominent nearby peak is Ypsilon Mtn; part of one of the Spectacle Lakes is visible down its left flank. On the right side of Ypsilon, above the first notch along its western ridgeline, is the Alpine Visitor Center. Beyond that, the Never Summer Range appears across the headwaters of the Colorado River; the rightmost, shaded jagged summit are the Nokhu Crags. Cameron Pass is to the right, allowing views into North Park and the distant Park Range. Down and to the right is a piece of Long Draw Reservoir below the southern part of the Rawah Mountains. In the distance above the Laramie River valley are the more distant Medicine Bow Mountains (the Snowy Range). To the right the Laramie Mountains are beyond the prominent glacial gorge that hosts Mirror Lake.

Geologically, nearby bedrock is the Hagues Peak Granite ("Silver Plume", c. 1.4 Ga) out to about Mummy Mountain. The Longs Peak Granite underlies much of the terrain farther east and south. Older (c. 1.7 Ga) metamorphic rocks are scattered in much of the area and dominate from Ypsilon to the west. The exception are the colorful Laramide volcanic and intrusive rocks in the Never Summers. North Park is a Laramide structural low in the footwall of east-dipping thrusts under the Front Range. One of these thrusts placed Precambrian gneiss over Cretaceous Pierre Shale, which was then deformed and metamorphosed in the Nokhu Crags. Nearby landforms strongly reflect glacial erosion, though the gentle summits (including the low-relief hill comprising the summit of Fairchild) reflect a pre-glacial landscape.