Mount Cumulus 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 topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the 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 western edge of t ...

, United States.

Description

Mount Cumulus is situated 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 ...

along the boundary shared by Grand County and Jackson County. It is the fourth-highest peak of the

Never Summer Mountains The Never Summer Mountains are a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains in north central Colorado in the United States consisting of seventeen named peaks. The range is located along the northwest border of Rocky Mountain National Park, forming t ...

which are 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 situated on the western boundary of

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 ...

and is visible from

Trail Ridge Road Trail Ridge Road is the name for the stretch of U.S. Highway 34 that traverses Rocky Mountain National Park from Estes Park, Colorado in the east to Grand Lake, Colorado in the west. Together with the connecting Beaver Meadow Road (U.S. Highw ...

within the park. The west side of the peak is in the

Never Summer Wilderness The Never Summer Wilderness is a U.S. Wilderness Area located immediately west of Rocky Mountain National Park in the Never Summer Mountains of Arapaho National Forest in northern Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mou ...

, on land managed by

Medicine Bow–Routt National Forest Medicine Bow–Routt National Forest is the official title to a U.S. Forest Service managed area extending over in the states of Wyoming and Colorado, United States. What were once three separate areas, Medicine Bow National Forest, Routt Nat ...

. 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's west slope drains into headwaters of the South Fork

Michigan River The Michigan River is a tributary of the North Platte River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 21, 2011 in north central Colorado in the United S ...

and the east slope drains into the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...

except a portion which is diverted by the

Grand Ditch The Grand Ditch, also known as the Grand River Ditch and originally known as the North Grand River Ditch, is a water diversion project in the Never Summer Mountains, in northern Colorado in the United States. It is long, wide, and deep on avera ...

. The counterintuitive direction of water flow is because the Continental Divide forms a loop in this area, whereby the peak's west slope runoff flows to the Atlantic Ocean and the east slope to the Pacific. Topographic relief is significant as the summit rises above the

Kawuneeche Valley Kawuneeche Valley, also known as Kawuneeche or Coyote Valley, is a marshy valley of the Colorado River near its beginning. It is located on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. The axis of the valley runs almost directly no ...

in and over above the South Fork Michigan River in .

Etymology

The mountain's toponym was applied in 1914 by

James Grafton Rogers James Grafton Rogers (January 13, 1883 - April 23, 1971) was the Assistant Secretary of State for the United States. Biography Rogers was born on January 13, 1883 in Denver, Colorado to Edmund James Armstrong Rogers (1852-1922) and Maria Georgina ...

, and was officially adopted in 1932 by the

United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal governm ...

. Rogers also named Mount Cirrus and

Mount Nimbus Mount Nimbus is a mountain summit in Grand County, Colorado, Grand County, Colorado, United States. Description Mount Nimbus is set along the Continental Divide of the Americas, Continental Divide and is the fifth-highest peak of the Never Su ...

, with the three names referring to different types of common

clouds In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may com ...

. As President of the Colorado Geographic Society, Chairman of the Colorado Geographic Board, and President of the American Alpine Club, Rogers participated in naming many of Colorado's mountains.Stephen H. Hart (1972), ''James Grafton Rogers, 1883–1971'', Americanalpineclub.org
/ref>

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, notabl ...

system, Mount Cumulus is located in an alpine

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a 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 an ocean, ge ...

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.

Gallery

File:Mount Cumulus 12,729 ft.jpg File:Mt. Cumulus, Rocky Mountain National Park.jpg, Mt. Cumulus, with cumulus clouds File:Fall River Pass to Milner Pass 7-25 (20296769382).jpg, Mt. Cumulus (left), Howard Mountain (right)

References

External links