Hunts Peak Explained

Hunts Peak
Elevation Ft:13071
Elevation Ref:[1] [2]
Prominence Ft:871
Prominence Ref:[3]
Isolation Mi:4.21
Parent Peak:Bushnell Peak (13,110 ft)
Country:United States
State:Colorado
Region:Fremont County / Saguache County
Region Type:County
Part Type:Protected area
Part:Sangre de Cristo Wilderness
Range:Rocky Mountains
Sangre de Cristo Range
Map:Colorado#USA
Coordinates:38.3832°N -105.9457°W
Coordinates Ref:[4]
Topo:USGS Wellsville
Type:Fault block
Rock:Metamorphic rock[5]
Easiest Route: hiking[6]

Hunts Peak is a 13071feet mountain summit on the boundary shared by Fremont County and Saguache County, in Colorado, United States.

Description

Hunts Peak is set 17miles east of the Continental Divide in the Sangre de Cristo Range which is a subrange of the Rocky Mountains. It is the second-highest summit in Fremont County and can be seen from Highway 285 near Poncha Pass.[2] The conspicuous mountain is located 11miles south of the community of Salida in the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness, on land managed by San Isabel National Forest and Rio Grande National Forest. Precipitation runoff from the mountain's west slope drains to San Luis Creek and the east slope drains to the Arkansas River. Topographic relief is significant as the summit rises 1726feet above Hunts Lake in 0.57 mile (0.92 km). The mountain's toponym was officially adopted in 1906 by the United States Board on Geographic Names,[4] and has been reported in publications since at least 1892,[7] if not earlier.[5] [8] Alexander Cameron Hunt (1825–1894) was the fourth governor of the Territory of Colorado (1867–1869) who would later own land in the adjacent San Luis Valley.[9]

Climate

According to the Köppen climate classification system, Hunts Peak is located in an alpine subarctic climate zone with cold, snowy winters, and cool to warm summers.[10] 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.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Robert M. Ormes (1992), Guide to the Colorado Mountains, Johnson Books,, p. 186.
  2. Web site: Hunts Peak, Peakvisor.com. April 16, 2023.
  3. 5892. Hunts Peak, Colorado. April 16, 2023.
  4. 191643. Hunts Peak. April 16, 2023.
  5. [Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden|Ferdinand V. Hayden]
  6. Web site: Hunts Peak – 13,061' CO. listsofjohn.com. April 16, 2023.
  7. Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey No. 84, US Government Printing Office, (1892), p. 313.
  8. https://books.google.com/books?id=LlsUAAAAYAAJ&dq=Hunts+Peak+sangre&pg=PA16 Frank Fossett (1880), Colorado, Its Gold and Silver Mines, p. 16.
  9. Virginia McConnell Simmons (1999), The San Luis Valley, Second Edition, University Press of Colorado,
  10. Peel, M. C. . Finlayson, B. L. . McMahon, T. A. . 2007 . Updated world map of the Köppen−Geiger climate classification . Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. . 11 . 1027-5606.