The La Plata Mountains are a small subrange of the San Juan Mountains

San Juan Mountains

The San Juan Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Colorado. The area is highly mineralized and figured in the gold and silver mining industry of early Colorado. Major towns, all old mining camps, include Creede, Lake City, Silverton, Ouray, and...

 in the southwestern part of Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. They are located on the border between Montezuma

Montezuma County, Colorado

Montezuma County is the southwesternmost of the 64 counties of the state of Colorado of the United States. The county population was 23,830 at U.S. Census 2000...

 and La Plata

La Plata County, Colorado

La Plata County is the fourteenth most populous of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. The county was named for the La Plata River and the La Plata Mountains. "La plata" is the Spanish language word for "silver". The United States Census Bureau estimated that the...

 counties, about 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Durango

Durango, Colorado

The City of Durango is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of La Plata County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau said that the city population was 16,887 in 2010 census.-History:...

. Their name is Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 for silver

Silver

Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...

.

The peaks of the range are easily visible from U.S. Route 160

U.S. Route 160

U.S. Route 160 is a 1,465 mile long east–west United States highway in the Midwestern United States. The western terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 89 five miles west of Tuba City, Arizona. The eastern terminus is at U.S...

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

Mancos River

Mancos River is an tributary of the San Juan River. It flows from the confluence of West Mancos River and East Mancos River near Mancos, Colorado and joins the San Juan near Four Corners Monument in New Mexico.-See also:*List of rivers of Colorado...

 have their headwaters in the range. The Colorado Trail

Colorado Trail

The Colorado Trail is a long trail running 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...

 accesses even towards the northern peaks.

The best-known and highest peak in the La Plata Mountains is Hesperus Mountain

Hesperus Mountain

Hesperus Mountain or Hesperus Peak is the highest summit in the La Plata Mountains, a small subrange of the San Juan Mountains, which in turn are a subrange of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, United States...

, which is the Navajo

Navajo people

The Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...

 sacred

Sacred

Holiness, or sanctity, is in general the state of being holy or sacred...

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

Five highest peaks

• Hesperus Mountain, 13232 ft (4,033 m)

• Lavender Peak, 13228 ft (4,032 m)

• Mount Moss, 13192 ft (4,021 m)

• Babcock Peak, 13180 ft (4,017 m)

• Burwell Peak, 12664 ft (3,860 m)