El Cocuy National Park

Last updated
El Cocuy National Park
Parque Nacional Natural El Cocuy
IUCN category II (national park)
Cocuy Pico Aguja 22.01.2009.jpg
Pico Aguja (5.000 m), seen from North.
Colombia relief location map.jpg
Red pog.svg
Map of Colombia
Location Andes Mountains, Colombia
Nearest city El Cocuy
Coordinates 6°30′04″N72°07′12″W / 6.501°N 72.12°W / 6.501; -72.12 [1] Coordinates: 6°30′04″N72°07′12″W / 6.501°N 72.12°W / 6.501; -72.12 [2]
Area3,060 km2 (1,180 sq mi)
Established1977
www.parquesnacionales.gov.co/portal/es/ecoturismo/region-andina/parque-nacional-natural-cocuy/

El Cocuy National Park is a national park located in the Andes Mountains within the nation of Colombia. Its official name is Parque Nacional Natural El Cocuy. [3]

Contents

Geology

Because of its high altitude, and although it is located close to the equator, El Cocuy is characterized by post-glacial geological morphology, including steep slopes, cirques, moraines, and glacier-gouged lakes La Pintada and La Cuadrada. The park's topography covers 4,500 meters (15,000 feet) from its lowest point to its highest point. The park is visited by climbers and rockclimbers of all skill levels. [3]

Geography

El Cocuy National Park is located in the Department of Boyacá, near the villages of El Cocuy and Güicán. [3]

Current events

The national park's glacial heritage has made climate change a key element in the park's future. An 1851 watercolor of the "Great Snowfields near Güicán" shows Mount Chita fully capped in snow. [4] As of 2009, the national park's historic icefield has shrunk to scattered snowcaps, and is expected to entirely disappear within a few decades. [3]

Related Research Articles

Snowy Mountains region of New South Wales, Australia

The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", is an IBRA subregion and the highest mountain range on the continent of mainland Australia. It contains the Australian mainland's highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko, which reaches to a height of 2,228 m (7,310 ft) above sea level. The range also contains the five highest peaks on the Australian mainland, all of which are above 2,100 m (6,890 ft). They are located in southern New South Wales and are part of the larger Australian Alps and Great Dividing Range, experiencing large natural snowfalls every winter. Snow normally falls during June, July, August and early September, with the snow cover melting by late spring. The Tasmanian highlands makes up the other (major) alpine region present in Australia.

Boyacá Department Department of Colombia

Boyacá is one of the thirty-two departments of Colombia, and the remnant of Boyacá State, one of the original nine states of the "United States of Colombia".

Serranía de la Macarena mountain

Serranía de la Macarena is an isolated mountain range located in the Meta Department, Colombia. It was named after the Virgin of Hope of Macarena. The mountains are separated by about 40 km (25 mi) at their northern extreme from the East Andes. The range is orientated from north to south and is 120 km (75 mi) in length and 30 km (19 mi) wide. The highest peak reaches 2,615 m (8,579 ft) and is the highest point of the Orinoquía Region. The first national reserve in Colombia was established in the central part of the mountain range in accordance with a Congressional Law promulgated in 1948. The status of National Natural Park was designated in 1971 and the protected area encompasses 6,200 km2 (2,400 sq mi).

Ritacuba Blanco mountain in Colombia

Ritacuba Blanco is the highest peak of Cordillera Oriental, in the Andes Mountains of Colombia. It's also named Ritak'uwa, an ancient name from the U'wa indigenous people that live in the lowlands of the National Park Sierra Nevada del Cocuy y Güicán, where the Ritacuba Blanco is located. The summit is accessible from the west via the town of El Cocuy, the village of Güicán and the hamlet of Las Cabañas. The hike is fairly easy, but weather is not reliable, and a glacier must be crossed. Because of global warming, its glacier is melting at very high rates, backing down 25 linear mts per year; same is happening at amazing speeds to all other snow-covered tropical mountains in Colombia. In 1950, Ritacuba Blanco's glacier extended down to 4,500 metres (14,800 ft) above sea level; in January 2007 its lowest point was at 4,800 metres (15,700 ft) above sea level. If this melting rate continues, the glacier is expected to disappear before 2025.

Mount Peale mountain in United States of America

Mount Peale is the highest point in the La Sal Mountains of San Juan County, in the southeastern part of Utah, United States. It is also the highest point in Utah outside the Uinta Mountains. It is located about 20 mi (32 km) southeast of Moab. The summit is the highest point in the Manti-La Sal National Forest and the Mount Peale Research Natural Area. Mount Peale was named for Albert Peale, a mineralogist on the Hayden Survey of 1875.

La Uvita Municipality and town in Boyacá Department, Colombia

La Uvita is a town and municipality in the Northern Boyacá Province, part of the Colombian Department of Boyacá. The urban centre is located at an altitude of 2,700 metres (8,900 ft) in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. La Uvita borders San Mateo in the north, El Cocuy and Chita in the east, Chita and Jericó in the south and Boavita in the west.

Güicán Municipality and town in Boyacá Department, Colombia

Güicán is a town and municipality in the Colombian Department of Boyacá. It is close to the national natural park El Cocuy National Park.

Los Nevados National Natural Park protected area

Los Nevados National Natural Park is a national park located in the Cordillera Central of the Colombian Andes. The park sourrounds the northern volcanic complex formed by Nevado del Ruiz, Nevado del Tolima, Nevado de Santa Isabel, the paramillos of Cisne, Santa Rosa and Quindío and the Cerro Bravo and Cerro Machín.

Sierra Nevada del Cocuy hill in Colombia

The Sierra Nevada del Cocuy Chita o Guican National Natural Park (or Sierra Nevada de Chita or Sierra Nevada de Güicán, Spanish: Parque Natural Sierra Nevada del Cocuy Chita o Guican is a national park and a set of highlands within the Cordillera Oriental mountain range in the Andes Mountains of Colombia.

Bahía Portete – Kaurrele National Natural Park National park in Colombia

Bahía Portete – Kaurrele National Natural Park is a national natural park in Uribia, La Guajira, Colombia. The northernmost national park of mainland South America is located at the Caribbean coast of the La Guajira peninsula in Bahía Portete, between Cabo de la Vela and Punta Gallinas. Established on December 20, 2014, it is the most recently designated national park of the country. As of 2017, 59 nationally defined protected areas are incorporated in Colombia. The park hosts a high number of marine and terrestrial species.

Rosario and San Bernardo Corals National Natural Park

The Rosario and San Bernardo Corals National Natural Park is a natural park located in the Sucre and Bolívar Departments on the coast of the Caribbean Region of Colombia, 45 km from the Bay of Cartagena. It was the most visited national park in Colombia in 2009, with 318,473 visitors.

El Tuparro National Natural Park protected area

El Tuparro National Natural Park is a national park located in the Vichada Department in the Orinoquía Region of Colombia. It is the only protected area in the Eastern Plains under Colombia's Natural Parks System.

Las Hermosas National Natural Park protected area

The Las Hermosas National Natural Park is a national park located in the Valle del Cauca and Tolima departments, at the highest elevation of Cordillera Central range in the Andean Region of Colombia. Its main feature is probably the wetlands and 387 glacial lakes.

Tamá National Natural Park protected area

The Tamá National Natural Park is a national park located in the Tamá Massif of the Andean Region of Colombia, between the municipalities Toledo and Herrán, in the department of Norte de Santander, in the northeastern part of the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. One of the main attractions of the park is a 820-metre-high (2,690 ft) waterfall, one of the world's highest.

Puracé National Natural Park Protected area in Colombia

The Puracé National Natural Park is a national park located in the Andean Region of Colombia, southeast of the city of Popayán in the Cordillera Central range. Its main feature is the active stratovolcano Puracé, one of Colombia's most active volcanoes. Four of the country's most important rivers originate within the area: Magdalena River, Cauca River, Japurá River and Patía River.

Chingaza National Natural Park national park

Chingaza National Natural Park is located in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, northeast of Bogotá, Colombia in the departments of Cundinamarca and Meta. The elevation in the park, to the east of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, ranges from 800 metres (2,600 ft) to 4,020 metres (13,190 ft), and the temperature ranges from 4 to 21.5 °C. The park extends over the Cundinamarca municipalities La Calera, Fómeque, Guasca and San Juanito (Meta).

El Tamá National Park

The El Tamá National Park It is a protected area with the status of a national park that is located between the Andes and plains of Venezuela. It protects part of the Tamá Massif. It has an area of 139,000 hectares and is located in the states of Táchira and Apure, near the border with Colombia. Created as a National Park on December 12, 1978, by the then President Carlos Andrés Pérez.

Piedra del Cocuy Natural Monument

The Piedra del Cocuy Natural Monument Is a natural protected area located in the Río Negro municipality, in the state of Amazonas, Venezuela. It received the status of natural monument by decree No. 2,986 dated December 12, 1978, published in Official Gazette 2.417-E dated March 7, 1979.

References

  1. "El Cocuy Natural National Park". protectedplanet.net.
  2. "El Cocuy Natural National Park". protectedplanet.net.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Fishbane, Matthew (2009-08-02). "Above the Clouds in a Secret Colombia". The New York Times . Retrieved 2009-08-01.
  4. Paz, Manuel María. "View of the Snow-capped Mount Chita and of the Great Snowfields near Güicán, Province of Tundama". World Digital Library. Retrieved 2014-05-21.