Mount Moss

Mount Moss is a mountain summit on the common boundary shared by La Plata County and Montezuma County in Colorado.

Description Mount Moss is located northwest of the community of Durango on land managed by San Juan National Forest. It ranks as the third-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, the southeast slope drains to the La Plata River, and the northeast 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 the La Plata River in two miles (3.2 km) and above Owen Basin in one-half mile (0.8 km). Neighbors include Centennial Peak, to the north, Lavender Peak, to the northwest, and Hesperus Mountain to the northwest.

Etymology The mountain's toponym has been officially adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names. The name was applied by Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden circa 1875 to honor John Thomas Moss (1839–1880), an American frontiersman, prospector, and miner.Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden (1877), Ninth Annual Report of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, Embracing Colorado and Parts of Adjacent Territories, US Government Printing Office, p. 268. John Moss was the founder of Parrott City which was six miles south of the peak. Moss and E.H. Cooper platted the townsite in 1874 and by 1876 it had 50 buildings, a courthouse and two sawmills.Parrott City, Animasmuseum.org Retrieved May 21, 2023

Climate According to the Köppen climate classification system, Mount Moss has an alpine climate with cold, snowy winters, and cool to warm summers. Due to its altitude, it receives precipitation all year, as snow in winter and as thunderstorms in summer, with a dry period in late spring.

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Mount Moss

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