Centennial Peak is a mountain
summit
A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous.
The term (mountain top) is generally used ...
in
Montezuma County
Montezuma County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,849. The county seat is Cortez.
Mesa Verde National Park, Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, Yucca House National Monu ...
,
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
.
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Description
Centennial Peak is located northwest of the community of Durango
Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...
on land managed by San Juan National Forest. It ranks as the six-highest summit of the La Plata Mountains
The La Plata Mountains are a small subrange of the San Juan Mountains in the southwestern part of Colorado, United States. They are located on the border between Montezuma and La Plata counties, about northwest of Durango. Their name is Spani ...
which are a subrange of the Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...
.runoff
Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to:
* RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program
* Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed
* Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...
from the mountain's west slope drains to the Mancos River
The Mancos River, formerly also El Rio de San Lazaro, is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 21, 2011 northeast tributary of the San Juan River. It flows from the ...
and the east slope drains into the headwaters of Bear Creek which is a tributary of the Dolores River. Topographic relief is significant as the summit rises above Bear Creek in one mile (1.6 km) and above Sliderock Basin in one-half mile (0.8 km). Neighbors include Mount Moss
Mount Moss is a mountain summit on the common boundary shared by La Plata County and Montezuma County in Colorado.
Description
Mount Moss is located northwest of the community of Durango on land managed by San Juan National Forest. It ran ...
, to the south, Lavender Peak, to the south-southwest, and Hesperus Mountain
Hesperus Mountain (Navajo: ) is the highest summit of the La Plata Mountains range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The prominent thirteener is located in San Juan National Forest, northeast by east ( bearing 59°) of the Town of M ...
to the west-southwest.[John Peel, Paul Pixler (2020), ''Hiking Trails of Southwestern Colorado'', Fifth Edition, West Margin Press, , p. 73.]
Etymology
The mountain's toponym was officially adopted on July 8, 1976, by the United States Board on Geographic Names
The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal governm ...
as proposed by the Colorado Centennial-Bicentennial Commission to commemorate 100 years of statehood since it was admitted to the Union on August 1, 1876.[ Prior to that the landform was called "Banded Mountain", a descriptive name attributable to the alternating colored strata of sedimentary rock.]
Climate
According to the Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
system, Centennial Peak has an alpine climate
Alpine climate is the typical weather (climate) for elevations above the tree line, where trees fail to grow due to cold. This climate is also referred to as a mountain climate or highland climate.
Definition
There are multiple definitions of ...
with cold, snowy winters, and cool to warm summers.
See also
*
* Thirteener
References
External links
* Weather forecast
Centennial Peak
{{Mountains of Colorado
Mountains of Colorado
San Juan Mountains (Colorado)
Mountains of Montezuma County, Colorado
North American 3000 m summits
San Juan National Forest