Bennett Peak is a elevation summit located on Navajo Nation land in San Juan County of northwest New Mexico, United States. It is a landmark set one mile west of U.S. Route 491, along with Ford Butte on the opposite side of the highway. Bennett Peak is one of the major diatremes of the Four Corners area, and with significant relief as it rises above the high-desert plain.Robert Julyan, The Mountains of New Mexico, 2006, University of New Mexico Press, page 109. It is situated about south of Shiprock, the most famous of these diatremes. Bennett Peak is set in the northeastern part of the Navajo Volcanic Field, a volcanic field that includes intrusions and flows of minette and other unusual igneous rocks which formed around 30 million years ago during the Oligocene.Steven C. Semken, The Navajo Volcanic Field, in Volcanology in New Mexico, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 18, p. 79, 2001. Bennett Peak lies within the Chaco River drainage basin.
History US Army Lt. James H. Simpson of the United States Corps of Topographical Engineers passed here on August 30, 1849, and recorded in his journal about these splendid peaks. Bennett Peak was later named after Major Frank Tracy Bennett (1840–1894), 9th Cavalry, who served as agent to the Navajos from 1869 to 1871 and 1880–81.Robert Julyan, The Place Names of New Mexico, 1998, University of New Mexico Press, page 35. This geographical feature's name was officially adopted in 1915 by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. The Navajo name for this peak, Tsézhin ‘Ií’áhí, means "Trap rocks sticking up".Masterkey, Volume 19, Southwest Museum Publisher, 1945, page 90. The first ascent of this peak was made in 1992 by Cameron Burns and Luke Laeser.Cameron M. Burns, Roaming the Chuska, American Alpine Journal, 1994, page 62. Scenes from the 2014 movie "Beyond the Reach" were filmed at Bennett Peak.
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Climate According to the Köppen climate classification system, Bennett Peak is located in a semi-arid climate zone with cold winters and hot summers. Climate data for Shiprock, New Mexico, 30 miles to the north.
See also Rock formations in the United States Volcanic plug
References
External links Weather forecast: National Weather Service Bennett Peak rock climbing: Mountainproject.com