Cottonwood Peak is a 13,588-foot mountain in Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo Range, along the boundary of Custer and Saguache counties within the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness. Managed by San Isabel and Rio Grande national forests, it is known for its dramatic local relief, rising more than 3,200 feet above Garner Creek in only 1.5 miles. Though a thirteener rather than a fourteener, it ranks among the higher summits in both county and state terms. The peak also marks a drainage divide between waters flowing east toward the Arkansas River and west toward the San Luis Valley, and its alpine subarctic climate brings snow, summer storms, and monsoon weather.