Navajo 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 ...

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 is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, United States.

Description

Navajo 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, not ...

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 encounter ...

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 great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

. 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 73,931 acre 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 s ...

, 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 ...

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 w ...

. It is the third-highest summit in the wilderness and fourth-highest in Grand County. Precipitation runoff from the mountain's northeast slope drains into headwaters of South St. Vrain Creek, the southeast slope drains into headwaters of North Boulder Creek, and 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 pass ...

via Arapaho Creek.

Topographic relief Terrain (), alternatively relief or topographical relief, is the dimension and shape of a given surface of land. In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientati ...

is significant as the summit rises above Wheeler Basin in one mile (1.6 km). An ascent of the peak involves hiking (round trip) with of elevation gain, with a 35-foot scramble on the summit block.James Dziezynski (2012), ''Best Summit Hikes in Colorado'', AdventureKEEN, , p. 61.

History

The mountain was named by Ellsworth Bethel and the toponym was officially adopted in 1914 by the

United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a Federal government of the United States, federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geogr ...

. A party of five including Arnold Emch and his two sons climbed to the summit in August 1915. On January 21, 1948, an airplane en route from Denver to Grand Junction crashed at 12,900-foot-elevation on the peak, and the wreckage still remains scattered on the slopes. The crash of the DC-3 was caused by a downdraft in an area of severe turbulence and resulted in the deaths of all three crewmembers. The plane belonged to the Civil Aeronautics Administration and the three men were all employees: Fred Snavely (pilot), Warren Lungstrum (co-pilot), and Ross Brown.Accident Investigation Report (1948), Civil Aeronautics Board
/ref> The accident site was not found until four months later.

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, the mountain is located in an alpine

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

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

Arikaree Glacier Arikaree Glacier is an alpine glacier located in a cirque to the north of Arikaree Peak and south of Navajo Peak, in Roosevelt National Forest in the U.S. state of Colorado. The glacier is just east of the Continental Divide and south of Isab ...

on the southeast slope of the peak.

Climbing

Established climbing routes on Navajo Peak: * Airplane Gully – * West Chimney – class 4 * North Face – class 5.0–5.2

Gallery

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

References

External links

* Navajo Peak
weather forecast
* Navajo Peak climbing
Mountainproject.com
{{Mountains of Colorado Mountains of Grand County, Colorado Mountains of Boulder County, Colorado Four-thousanders of the United States Arapaho National Forest Roosevelt National Forest Great Divide of North America