Ferns Nipple is a 7,065-foot summit in Capitol Reef National Park in southern Utah, about four miles southeast of the visitor center. A distinctive landmark, it sheds runoff into tributaries of the Fremont River and the larger Colorado River system. The peak is made of Navajo Sandstone deposited about 180 million years ago in a vast Jurassic sand sea, with crossbedded layers formed by wind-shaped dunes. Later uplift of the Colorado Plateau and bending of the surrounding terrain in the Waterpocket Fold during the Laramide Orogeny helped shape Capitol Reef’s dramatic landscape. Local folklore also ties the mountain’s unusual name to Butch Cassidy and a woman named Fern.