Nature
La Plata Peak is a 14,343-foot summit in central Colorado’s Collegiate Peaks Wilderness and the fifth-highest mountain in both Colorado and the Rocky Mountains of North America. Its Spanish name, meaning “the silver,” reflects the mineral wealth of the surrounding country and ties the peak to nearby silver-mining towns such as Winfield and Hamilton. A Hayden Survey team made the first recorded ascent on July 26, 1873, during the era of federal exploration and naming of the high country. Today the mountain is a major destination for hikers and mountaineers, known for its standard Northwest Ridge route and its place in the upper Arkansas Valley’s mining and exploration history.
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Colorado · United States