Hesperus Mountain is the highest summit of Colorado’s La Plata Mountains and the highest point in Montezuma County, rising prominently above the surrounding country near the southern edge of the San Juan Mountains. Beyond its striking physical presence, it holds profound cultural and spiritual importance. In Navajo tradition, it is Dibé Ntsaa, or Big Mountain Sheep, the Sacred Mountain of the North that marks the northern boundary of the traditional Navajo homeland, Dinetah. Navajo belief associates it with black and jet and teaches that First Man created it as a replica of mountains in the Fourth World. The area also lies within the traditional homeland of the Ute people.