Cloud Peak | |
Elevation Ft: | 13171 |
Elevation Ref: | [1] |
Prominence Ft: | 7067 |
Prominence Ref: | [2] |
Map: | Wyoming |
Location: | Big Horn / Johnson counties, Wyoming, U.S. |
Range: | Bighorn Mountains |
Coordinates: | 44.3821°N -107.1739°W |
Topo: | USGS Cloud Peak |
First Ascent: | 1897 |
Easiest Route: | Hike/scramble |
Cloud Peak is the highest peak within the Bighorn Mountains in the U.S. state of Wyoming.
It rises to an elevation of 13171feet and provides onlookers with dramatic views and vistas. The mountain can be climbed most easily from the western side, accessed by either the Battle Park or West Tensleep trail-heads and is roughly 24 miles round-trip from both. The peak is located in the 189,000 acre (765 km2) Cloud Peak Wilderness within Bighorn National Forest. The northeast slope of Cloud Peak is a deep cirque which harbors Cloud Peak Glacier, the last active glacier in the Bighorn Mountains.
Cloud Peak is on the border between Johnson County and Big Horn County in Wyoming and is the high point of both counties.[2] As the high point of an isolated range, Cloud Peak has the greatest topographic prominence in the state,, one foot more than the state's highest mountain, Gannett Peak,[3] and fifteenth greatest in the contiguous United States.[4]
Cloud Peak has an Alpine climate (ET).Cloud Peak Reservoir is a mountain lake below Cloud Peak on its eastern slopes. The weather station there has a subalpine climate (Köppen Dfc).