Mount Sniktau

Mount Sniktau
Mount Sniktau viewed from Point 13152.
Highest point
Elevation	13,240 ft (4,036 m)
Prominence	520 ft (158 m)
Isolation	2.41 mi (3.88 km)
Coordinates	39°40′42″N 105°51′28″W / 39.6783202°N 105.8577885°W / 39.6783202; -105.8577885Coordinates: 39°40′42″N 105°51′28″W / 39.6783202°N 105.8577885°W / 39.6783202; -105.8577885
Geography
Mount Sniktau Show map of Colorado Mount Sniktau Show map of the US Colorado
Location	Clear Creek County, Colorado, U.S.
Parent range	Front Range
Topo map	USGS 7.5' topographic map Grays Peak, Colorado
Climbing
Easiest route	Trail hike

Mount Sniktau is a high mountain summit in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The 13,240-foot (4,036 m) thirteener is located in Arapaho National Forest, 1.6 miles (2.5 km) northeast (bearing 48°) of Loveland Pass in Clear Creek County, Colorado, United States.

The name "Sniktau" refers to the pen name of Edwin H. N. Patterson, a journalist in the Clear Creek County area during the 1860s. Patterson was a close friend of the famous poet, Edgar Allan Poe, and the two men are known to have exchanged letters in the 1840s.

Patterson claimed to have received the nickname "Sniktau" from Native Americans, although it may simply have been adopted from a fellow journalist named W. F. Watkins, who had reversed the letters of his own name to create the pen name "Sniktaw." Patterson had moved to Colorado from his native Oquawka, Illinois, in 1875 to become editor of the Colorado Miner, a newspaper printed in Georgetown, roughly 15 miles from the mountain. He is buried in Alvarado Cemetery, located near Georgetown.

Mount Sniktau sits immediately east of the Continental Divide on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The summit is located less than a mile south of Interstate 70 and east of the Eisenhower Tunnel. The larger Grays Peak, Torreys Peak, and Mount Parnassus sit within a 5-mile (8 km) radius of Mount Sniktau, and the closest major town is Silver Plume. By car, Mount Sniktau sits within the Arapaho National Forest and is roughly one hour west of Denver.