Apache Peak is a mountain

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for a m ...

on the boundary shared by

Boulder County Boulder County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado of the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 330,758. The most populous municipality in the county and the county seat is Boulder. Boulder County comprises th ...

and Grand County, in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, United States.

Description

Apache Peak is set on the

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, no ...

in the

Front Range The Front Range is a mountain range of the Southern Rocky Mountains of North America located in the central portion of the U.S. State of Colorado, and southeastern portion of the U.S. State of Wyoming. It is the first mountain range encountere ...

which is a subrange of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

. The mountain is located west of

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In ...

in the

Indian Peaks Wilderness The Indian Peaks Wilderness is a wilderness area in north central Colorado managed jointly by the United States Forest Service and the National Park Service within the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and small parts of the southern secti ...

, on land managed by

Arapaho National Forest Arapaho National Forest is a National Forest located in north-central Colorado, United States. The region is managed jointly with the Roosevelt National Forest and the Pawnee National Grassland from the United States Forest Service office in F ...

and

Roosevelt National Forest The Roosevelt National Forest is a National Forest located in north central Colorado. It is contiguous with the Colorado State Forest as well as the Arapaho National Forest and the Routt National Forest. The forest is administered jointly with ...

. It is the second-highest summit in the wilderness and third-highest in Grand County. Precipitation runoff from the mountain's east slope drains into headwaters of South St. Vrain Creek, whereas the west slope drains to

Monarch Lake Monarch Lake is a reservoir in Grand County, Colorado located within the Arapaho National Recreation Area. The reservoir is adjacent to the Indian Peaks Wilderness on its north and east sides. The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail passes a ...

thence

Lake Granby Lake Granby is the third largest body of water in Colorado. It was created by the erection of Granby Dam, completed in 1950, as part of the Bureau of Reclamation's Colorado-Big Thompson Project. Water from Lake Granby is pumped via the Farr Pump ...

via Cascade and Arapaho creeks.

Topographic relief Terrain or relief (also topographical relief) involves the vertical and horizontal dimensions of land surface. The term bathymetry is used to describe underwater relief, while hypsometry studies terrain relative to sea level. The Latin w ...

is significant as the summit rises above Wheeler Basin in one mile (1.6 km) and above Triangle Lake in one-half mile. An ascent of the peak involves hiking (round trip) with of elevation gain. The mountain was named by Ellsworth Bethel,James Dziezynski (2012), ''Best Summit Hikes in Colorado'', AdventureKEEN, , p. 64. and the toponym was officially adopted in 1914 by the United States Board on Geographic Names.

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

system, the mountain is located in an alpine subarctic climate zone with cold, snowy winters, and cool to warm summers. Due to its altitude, it receives precipitation all year, as snow in winter and as thunderstorms in summer, with a dry period in late spring. This climate supports the Fair Glacier in the peak's northwest cirque and the

Isabelle Glacier Isabelle Glacier is an alpine glacier located northeast of Apache Peak and southwest of Shoshoni Peak, in Roosevelt National Forest in the US state of Colorado. The glacier is immediately east of the Continental Divide of the Americas, Continent ...

on the northeast slope.

Climbing

Established climbing routes on Apache Peak: * East slope – * Apache Couloir – class 3 * East Ledges – class 3 * Fair Glacier – class 3 * South Ridge – class 3 * ''Queens Way'' – class 2

Gallery

File:Apache, Navajo, Arikaree peaks.jpg, West aspect of Apache Peak (left)
Navajo Peak centered, Arikaree Peak (right). File:Indian Peaks Wilderness, Lake Isabelle.jpg, East aspect of Navajo Peak (left, pyramid shape), Apache Peak (center), and

Shoshoni Peak Shoshoni Peak is a mountain summit on the boundary shared by Boulder County and Grand County, in Colorado, United States. Description Shoshoni Peak is set on the Continental Divide in the Front Range which is a subrange of the Rocky Mountains. ...

(right). Lake Isabelle to left. File:Apache Peak above Lake Isabelle.jpg, East aspect File:LakeIsabelle.jpg, Apache Peak (center) from Lake Isabelle File:Apache Peak from Lake Dorothy.jpg, Apache Peak / Navajo Peak viewed from the southwest at Lake Dorothy. File:Lake Isabelle in Colorado.jpg, Navajo Peak, Apache Peak, and Shoshoni Peak reflected in Lake Isabelle

References

External links