Mount Chapin is a 12,454-foot-elevation (3,796 meter) mountain summit located in

Rocky Mountain National Park Rocky Mountain National Park is an American national park located approximately northwest of Denver in north-central Colorado, within the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The park is situated between the towns of Estes Park to the east and ...

, in

Larimer County Larimer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 359,066. The county seat and most populous city is Fort Collins. The county was named for William Larimer, Jr., the founder of Den ...

, of

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. It is situated 11 miles west-northwest of the community of

Estes Park Estes Park is a statutory town in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 5,904 at the 2020 United States Census. Estes Park is a part of the Fort Collins, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Front Range Urban Cor ...

, one mile east of Chapin Pass, and six miles east of 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 ...

. Mount Chapin is part of the

Mummy Range The Mummy Range (elevation approximately 13,000 ft) is a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado in the United States. The range is a short subrange of the Front Range located in southwestern Larimer County northwest of the ...

which is a subset 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 ...

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 south aspect rises 2,700 feet (823 meters) above Fall River in less than one mile. Neighbors include

Mount Chiquita Mount Chiquita is a mountain summit in the Mummy Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The thirteener is located in Rocky Mountain National Park, northwest by west ( bearing 298°) of the Town of Estes Park in Larimer County, Colora ...

and

Ypsilon Mountain Ypsilon Mountain, elevation , is in the Mummy Range of Rocky Mountain National Park in northern Colorado. The mountain, along with Mount Chiquita, is most easily accessed from a trailhead on Fall River Road to the south. See also * List o ...

to the immediate northeast, and the park's

Alpine Visitor Center Rocky Mountain National Park's Alpine Visitor Center is located at 11,796 feet (3,595 m) above sea level at Fall River Pass, one mile west of the highest point on Trail Ridge Road and four miles east of the Continental Divide at Milner Pass in ...

is three miles to the west.

Etymology

The mountain's name was officially adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names in 1932. The name commemorates Frederick H. Chapin (1852–1900), a mountaineer, photographer, amateur archaeologist, and author who wrote the 1889 book, "''Mountaineering in Colorado: The Peaks about Estes Park.''" He is best known for his exploration of

mesa A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by a ...

s and ancient Pueblo ruins found in the

Mesa Verde Mesa Verde National Park is an American national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado. The park protects some of the best-preserved Ancestral Puebloan archaeological sites in the United States. Establishe ...

area of southwest Colorado. He is also the namesake of Chapin Mesa which shelters the most famous

cliff dwelling In archaeology, cliff dwellings are dwellings formed by using niches or caves in high cliffs, and sometimes with excavation or additions in the way of masonry. Two special types of cliff dwelling are distinguished by archaeologists: the cliff ...

s within Mesa Verde National Park.

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, Mount Chapin 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. Precipitation

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

from the mountain drains north into the

Cache la Poudre River The Cache la Poudre River ( ), also known as the Poudre River, is a river in the state of Colorado in the United States. Name The name of the river () is a corruption of the original Cache à la Poudre, or " cache of powder". It refers to ...

via Chapin Creek, and south into the

Fall River Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...

Gallery

File:Chapin, Chiquita, Ypsilon.jpg, Mt. Chapin, Mt. Chiquita, and Ypsilon Mountain seen from southeast File:Mount Chiquita by RO.jpg, Ypsilon Mountain, Mt. Chiquita, and Mt. Chapin seen from southwest File:Chapin, Chiquita, Ypsilon, Mummy.jpg, Mt. Chapin, Mt. Chiquita, and Ypsilon Mountain lined up. Mummy Mountain to right.

References

External links

* Weather forecast
Mount Chapin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapin, Mount Mountains of Larimer County, Colorado Mountains of Rocky Mountain National Park Mountains of Colorado North American 3000 m summits