Never Summer Wilderness Panorama

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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. The wilderness has seven mountains over 12,000 feet in elevation, with the highest being Howard Mountain at 12,810 feet . In the northern section, a series of ponds and bogs provide rare habitats for species seldom seen so far from north-country muskegs: wood frogs, bog bean, pygmy shrew, perhaps even a wolverine or two. Moose have been reintroduced and are faring well. Several lakes and streams shelter trout. Straddling the Continental Divide, Never Summer has about 20 miles of trails that lead up gulches and cross the divide on two high passes.

Never Summer Wilderness gets hit with large amounts of rain and snow that collect on its storm-wracked peaks, which offer relatively gentle terrain and bear names that hint at their cloud-kissed heights: Cirrus, Cumulus, Stratus, and Nimbus. Seventeen summits rise above 12,000 feet, with Howard Mountain towering over all at 12,810 feet. Never Summer supplies water to three main rivers: the Colorado, the North Platte, and the Cache la Poudre. The Top 5 Highest Peaks in this Wilderness, Mt. Richthofen 12,940 ft. Howard Mountain 12,810 ft, Mount Cirrus 12,797 ft, Mount Cumulus 12,725 ft and Mount Nimbus 12,706 ft.