The Arkansas Hills are a mountain range in

Central Colorado Central Colorado is a region of the U.S. state of Colorado. Central Colorado is home to most of the population of the state and its geography is dominated by the Rocky Mountains, their foothills, mesas, and canyons, the rivers that run through ...

located between the upper

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United Stat ...

Valley and the upper

South Platte River The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwestern United States, Midwest and the American Sout ...

Valley. This landmass is a continuation of the ridge known as the

Mosquito Range The Mosquito Range (elevation approximately 14,000 ft) is a high mountain range in the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado in the United States. The peaks of the range form a ridge running north–south for roughly 40 mi (64 km) fr ...

north of

Trout Creek Pass Trout Creek Pass, elevation , is a mountain pass located in the Rocky Mountains of south-central Colorado in the United States. The pass sits atop the southern end of the Mosquito Range on the Park- Chaffee county line, between South Park (the h ...

. The range continues for roughly 60 miles south-southwest from Trout Creek Pass to the town of Texas Creek. Few perennial streams flow out of the Arkansas Hills, as the area is arid. The range is in the rain shadow of the much higher Sawatch to the west across the Arkansas River Valley. The City of

Salida, Colorado The City of Salida ( ; spanish language, Spanish: , "exit") is the Colorado municipalities#Statutory city, Statutory city that is the county seat and the List of cities and towns in Colorado, most populous municipality of Chaffee County, Colorado ...

is the most notable municipality near the Arkansas Hills. To the south is the town of

Cotopaxi, Colorado Cotopaxi is an unincorporated town, a post office, and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Fremont County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Cañon City, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area. The Cotopaxi post ...

. To the east is the town of

Guffey, Colorado Guffey is a census-designated place (CDP) and post office in and governed by Park County, Colorado, United States. The Guffey post office has the ZIP Code 80820. At the United States Census 2020, the population of the Guffey CDP was 111. The C ...

. The highest points in the Arkansas Hills tend to be between 11,000 and 12,000 feet elevation. The practice of naming mid-elevation upland areas in central and southern Colorado using the word hills was also illustrated by the naming of the similar uplands between the southern terminus of the Sawatch Range and the northern terminus of the La Garita Range: the Cochetopa Hills.

External links

* * * {{coord missing, Colorado Mountain ranges of Colorado Landforms of Fremont County, Colorado