The La Plata Mountains are a small subrange of the

San Juan Mountains The San Juan Mountains is a high and rugged mountain range in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. The area is highly mineralized (the Colorado Mineral Belt) and figured in the gold and silver mining industry ...

in the southwestern part of

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 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. They are located on the border between Montezuma and

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. According to the , it has a population of 654,324 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 787,294 inhabitants. It is located 9 kilometers (6 miles) inland from th ...

counties, about northwest 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 ...

. Their name is

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

for ''

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

''. The peaks of the range are easily visible from

U.S. Route 160 U.S. Route 160 (US 160) is a 1,465 mile (2,358 km) long east–west United States highway in the Midwestern and Western United States. The western terminus of the route is at US 89 five miles (8 km) west of Tuba City, Arizo ...

, which skirts the range on the south. The La Plata River and 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 ...

have their headwaters in the range. The

Colorado Trail The Colorado Trail is a long-distance trail running for from the mouth of Waterton Canyon southwest of Denver to Durango in Colorado, United States. Its highest point is above sea level, and most of the trail is above . Despite its high elevat ...

accesses even towards the northern peaks. The best-known and highest peak in the La Plata Mountains is

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 ...

, which is the

Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

sacred Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

mountain of the north. The six of the highest summits are listed below.

Six highest peaks

, * Lavender Peak, *

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 ...

, *

Babcock Peak Babcock Peak is a mountain summit in La Plata County, Colorado. Description Babcock Peak is located northwest of the community of Durango on land managed by San Juan National Forest. It ranks as the fourth-highest summit of the La Plata Mo ...

, * Centennial Peak, 13,062 ft (3,981 m) *

Burwell Peak Burwell may refer to: People * Burwell (name) Places * Burwell, Cambridgeshire * Burwell, Lincolnshire * Burwell, Nebraska * Burwell Creek, a stream in Georgia * The Burwell, an NRHP-listed high-rise in Knoxville, Tennessee Ships * USS '' ...

References

* * ''Colorado Atlas and Gazetteer'' (1st ed.), DeLorme Publishing, 1991, . Mountain ranges of Colorado Ranges of the Rocky Mountains San Juan Mountains (Colorado) Landforms of La Plata County, Colorado Landforms of Montezuma County, Colorado {{Colorado-geo-stub

Six highest peaks

See also

References