Parika Peak

Parika Peak is a 12402 ft mountain summit in Colorado, United States.

Description
Parika Peak is situated on the Continental Divide along the boundary shared by Grand County and Jackson County. It is the 13th-highest peak of the Never Summer Mountains which are a subrange of the Rocky Mountains. The west side of the peak is in the Medicine Bow–Routt National Forest and the east side is in the Never Summer Wilderness. Precipitation runoff from the mountain's slopes drains to Jack Creek and the Illinois River, with the exception of the southeast slope which drains to the Colorado River via Baker Gulch. 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 2400. ft above Jack Creek in 1.6 mi and 1000. ft above Parika Lake in one-half mile (0.8 km). The summit can be reached from Parika Lake by hiking the south slope (class 1) or the east ridge (class 2).

Etymology
The mountain's toponym has been officially adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names, and has appeared in publications since at least 1919. The name Parika is from the Pawnee language "paariiku" (puh REE kuh) and means "horn."

Climate
According to the Köppen climate classification system, Parika Peak is located in an alpine subarctic climate 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.