Venado Peak is one of the major peaks of the Taos Mountains group of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, a subrange of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

. It is located in

Taos County Taos County is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 32,937. Its county seat is Taos. The county was formed in 1852 as one of the original nine counties in New Mexico Territory. Taos County compris ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

, about northeast of the town of Questa. Its summit is the highest point in the

Latir Peak Wilderness Latir Peak Wilderness is a wilderness area located within the Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico, United States. Designated in 1980, the wilderness is composed of dense forest, meadows, and alpine tundra on Latir Mesa in the northern ...

, part of Carson National Forest. The peak's name means "deer" in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

.Robert Julyan, ''The Place Names of New Mexico'' (Revised Edition),

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

Press, 1998, . The high point of the group of peaks north of the Red River and southwest of

Costilla Creek Costilla Creek is a tributary of the Rio Grande in Colorado and New Mexico. Course The creek rises in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in far southern Colorado at the confluence of East Fork Costilla Creek and West Fork Costilla Creek. It then f ...

, Venado Peak ranks tenth by elevation and sixth by

topographic prominence In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...

in the state. Other peaks in the group include Latir Peak, , Virsylvia Peak, , Cabresto Peak, ,

Baldy Mountain There are a number of peaks named Baldy: Canada *Baldy Mountain (Manitoba), , *Big Baldy Mountain (Vancouver Island, British Columbia) Big Baldy Mountain is a mountain on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, located west of Gold River ...

, and Pinabete Peak, . (The origins of the names "Latir" and "Virsylvia" are unknown, while "Cabresto" means "rope" or "halter" and "Pinabete" means "pine tree" in Spanish.) Latir Peak is the most well-known of the entire group, despite not being the highest peak, and is the namesake for the surrounding wilderness area, nine small alpine lakes on the northeast side of the group, and a creek draining those lakes. Despite being significantly lower than the other peaks, Pinabete peak is just as visually prominent, as it is the end of a long ridge jutting out southwest toward the plains near Questa. It rises about above the plain in about .Venado Peak on TopoQuest
/ref> Just south of the group is Cabresto Creek, and also Cabresto Lake, a popular

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

destination with an established Forest Service campground. The Latir Lakes, and the entire northeast side of the group, are owned by the Rio Costilla Cattle Association, which allows recreational access for a fee. On the southeast side of the group lies Heart Lake. The peaks themselves can be accessed from either Cabresto Lake (via the Lake Fork, Bull Creek, and Heart Lake Trails) or Latir Lakes. Geologically, the Taos Mountains have a Precambrian

metamorphic Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causi ...

core, about 1.7 billion years old. However, the region around Venado Peak also includes

Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

rocks such as

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock ...

, as well as the remnants of "a complex and mineral-rich caldera that formed about 25 million years ago."Halka Chronic, ''Roadside Geology of New Mexico'', Mountain Press, 1987, Most of the summit areas are broad, and covered with alpine tundra; the

tree line The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually cold temperatures, extreme snow ...

lies between and . A notable feature of the group is the large, gently sloped Latir Mesa, lying south of Latir Peak at elevations between and .

References

External links

Carson National Forest official site
{{Mountains of New Mexico Mountains of New Mexico Sangre de Cristo Mountains Landforms of Taos County, New Mexico Carson National Forest Mountains of Taos County, New Mexico