Ward Mountain is a 6,926-foot summit on the west side of the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend National Park, rising sharply about 2,500 feet above Cottonwood Creek in just 1.25 miles. Formed of rhyolite and other volcanic materials of the Chisos Formation laid down during the Oligocene, it stands within the Rio Grande watershed in a hot arid setting whose lower slopes support juniper, oak, and piñon. Its official name was adopted on March 9, 1939, honoring Johnny Ward, a cowboy associated with the nearby G4 ranch who, in the late 1880s, helped one of the Big Bend country’s early large ranching operations acquire cattle.