La Plata Peak is over fourteen thousand feet in elevation and the fifth highest mountain in the U.S. state of Colorado. It is located in the Sawatch Range in northwestern Chaffee County, approximately 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Leadville, Colorado, just south of Twin Lakes and State Highway 82 on the east side of Independence Pass. La Plata peak is located completely within the San Isabel National Forest and is part of the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness.
The peak's name means 'silver' in Spanish. This comes from the many silver deposits in the area. The nearby ghost towns of Winfield and Hamilton were prominent silver mining towns in the early part of the 20th Century. A Hayden Survey team first climbed the peak on July 26, 1873.
Read more about La Plata Peak: Climbing Routes
Famous quotes containing the word peak:
“In the mountains, the shortest way is from peak to peak: but for that you must have long legs. Aphorisms should be peaks: and those to whom they are addressed, great and lofty.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)