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 states, 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 wes ...
,
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 territori ...
. They are located on the border between
Montezuma and
La Plata counties, about northwest of
Durango. 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 Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...
''.
The peaks of the range are easily visible from
U.S. Route 160, which skirts the range on the south. The
La Plata River and the
Mancos River have their headwaters in the range. The
Colorado Trail accesses even towards the northern peaks.
The best-known and highest peak in the La Plata Mountains is
Hesperus Mountain, which is the
Navajo 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 ( ...
mountain of the north. The six of the highest summits are listed below.
Six highest peaks
*
Hesperus Mountain,
*
Lavender Peak,
*
Mount Moss,
*
Babcock Peak,
* Centennial Peak, 13,062 ft (3,981 m)
*
Burwell Peak,
See also
*
Mountain ranges of Colorado
This is a list of the major mountain ranges in the U.S. State of Colorado. All of these ranges are considered subranges of the Southern Rocky Mountains.
As given in the table, topographic elevation is the vertical distance above the reference g ...
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
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