Centennial Peak (Colorado)
Centennial Peak is a mountain summit in Montezuma County, Colorado. Description Centennial Peak is located northwest of the community of Durango on land managed by San Juan National Forest. It ranks as the six-highest summit of the La Plata Mountains which are a subrange of the Rocky Mountains. Precipitation runoff from the mountain's west slope drains to the Mancos River and the east slope drains into the headwaters of Bear Creek which is a tributary of the Dolores River. Topographic relief is significant as the summit rises above Bear Creek in one mile (1.6 km) and above Sliderock Basin in one-half mile (0.8 km). Neighbors include Mount Moss, to the south, Lavender Peak, to the south-southwest, and Hesperus Mountain to the west-southwest. An ascent of Centennial Peak's summit involves hiking with of elevation gain. Etymology The mountain's toponym was officially adopted on July 8, 1976, by the United States Board on Geographic Names as proposed by the Colorado Centennial-Bicentennial Commission to commemorate 100 years of statehood since it was admitted to the Union on August 1, 1876. Prior to that the landform was called "Banded Mountain", a descriptive name attributable to the alternating colored strata of sedimentary rock. Climate According