The Sawatch Range or Saguache Range is a high and extensive mountain range in central Colorado which includes eight of the twenty highest peaks in the Rocky Mountains, including Mount Elbert, at 14,440 feet (4,401 m) elevation, the highest peak in the Rockies.
Sawatch Range seen from Monarch Pass
Mt. Aetna (13,746 feet (4,190 m)) and Taylor Mtn.
Mount Elbert, the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains.
Sawatch Range near Buena Vista, Colorado.
Mount Elbert is the highest summit of the Rocky Mountains of North America. With an elevation of 14,440 feet (4401.2 m), it is also the highest point in the U.S. state of Colorado and the second-highest summit in the contiguous United States after Mount Whitney, which is slightly taller. The ultra-prominent fourteener is the highest peak in the Sawatch Range, as well as the highest point in the entire Mississippi River drainage basin. Mount Elbert is located in San Isabel National Forest, 12.1 miles (19.4 km) southwest of the city of Leadville in Lake County, Colorado.
Mount Elbert seen from Turquoise Lake
Panoramic view of Mount Elbert in June
Platanthera hyperborea
The north-east ridge