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100 years of US routes: 1926-2026
Headwaters Hill is a mountain in central Colorado. It is geographically significant because its summit sheds water into three divergent river basins that reach sea-level at three separate places in two different oceans. In other words, Headwaters Hill forms a major triple divide: a special kind of hydrological apex. (There are only five places in the continental US that can make this claim, including Three Waters Mountain in WY and Triple Divide Peak in MT.)
Elevation: 11,862 feet above sea-level
Geographic coordinates: 38.34763 -106.25296
If you would like a good, solid overview of Headwaters Hill -- the geography, the history of the naming effort, the people involved, and so forth -- then please read what is probably the best and most-comprehensive single article ever written on the topic. It is called "Playing the Name Game", by Ed Quillen, and it was published in Colorado Central Magazine in September 2001, shortly after Headwaters Hill had been officially named. (In case that link ever becomes non-functional, I have saved the text here.)
However, I do have a few things to add -- mainly photos and maps, but also several updates since 2001, plus my own perspective as one of the insiders who worked to give the mountain a name -- hence this webpage.
In 1997 I independently discovered (but was not the first to discover) the hydrological significance of this mountain. I had reasoned that a triple-divide should exist somewhere in the area, but when I found it on the topo map, I was surprised to see that this mountain did not have a name. I thought we should be able to refer to this special place by a name more descriptive than simply "unnamed point 11,862", so I started learning about what the U.S. Board on Geographic Names required in terms of naming a landform. Before sending in an application, I figured I should at least be able to say I have been there, and to be able to provide some photos, so in 1998 my father and two friends joined me for a hike up to the summit. The closest vehicle access is the trailhead at the top of Marshall Pass; from there it's a 4.3-mile hike southward along the Continental Divide Trail (which coincides with the Colorado Trail in this area). In this first photo, we were stopped on the trail so I could consult my topo map to confirm that this was, in fact, the mountain we were looking for (visible in the background):
Sanderson, 1998 (L-R: Van Denend, Sanderson, Vanden Broeke)
The following year I was fortunate to connect with Ed Quillen (a well-known Colorado writer and columnist for multiple publications), and he in turn put me in touch with George Sibley (a professor nearby at what is now Western Colorado University), who a few years earlier had also begun advocating for a name for this mountain. The three of us began working together to accomplish this goal. Sibley had been leading groups of college students up to the summit every fall, so on the 1999 hike Quillen and I joined him. In this photo, Sibley was pointing out the three basins into which this mountain sheds water:
Sanderson, 1999 (Sibley at left)
During that hike we decided that "Headwaters Hill" would be perhaps the most appropriate name for this mountain, so that is the name we submitted on our application to the USBGN in 2000. On July 12, 2001, the toponym "Headwaters Hill" was accepted and made official.
A couple months later we did a commemorative hike to celebrate the recent naming of this unassuming but significant mountain. My father was there again, as was my ever-supportive wife. This photo was taken at the summit of Headwaters Hill during that 2001 hike:
Quillen, Sep. 2001 (L-R: Sibley, Quillen, Sanderson)
As a result of the USBGN's decision, the placename "Headwaters Hill" is now included in the Geographic Names Information System database, and its label is being included on an increasing variety of maps. The first published maps to show Headwaters Hill were printed works, both copyright 2006:
Benchmark, Colorado Road and Recreation Atlas, first edition
National Geographic, La Garita / Cochetopa Hills Trails Illustrated Map
The corresponding USGS printed topo map quads were last updated in 2001, but unfortunately the name "Headwaters Hill" was not approved quite soon enough to be included in that revision. (The preceding link will display a default map, where a crosshair in the center of the screen marks the summit of Headwaters. Go to the layer menu to display the USGS topo map.) Although Headwaters Hill is not labeled, the National Forest Ranger District boundaries are shown... and because those boundaries are defined by watersheds, three boundary lines converge at the summit of Headwaters.
Furthermore, online geodata for the USGS National Map has been updated, and Headwaters Hill is labeled there.
In 2007 a geocache was placed upon the summit of Headwaters Hill, in recognition of its interesting geography.
Google Maps has labeled Headwaters Hill since 2008; here is the default view:
If you zoom in, Google shows the Colorado Trail going to the summit of Headwaters (latest check in 2026), but note: that has actually not been true for decades. Long ago the trail was rerouted across the north slope of Headwaters, crossing the saddle to the south slope of Windy Peak. The original trail to the summit of Headwaters has been re-seeded and almost entirely hidden by the Forest Service... and anything they were not able to accomplish, deadfall has nearly finished the job (particularly to the northeast of the summit). The customized Google map below more accurately illustrates the current trails which provide access to Headwaters Hill.
If Google Maps is working properly, you should see a shaded-relief map with a red "X" in the center, marking the location of Headwaters Hill. The three faces of the mountain are highlighted in order to differentiate the three watersheds that are common to its summit. The lines represent more accurate locations of the trails. The full version of this map is more functional than the embedded version shown here; access the full map by clicking on the "view larger map" icon, upper right:
In 2008, from the top of Monarch ski area, I took this photo which shows Headwaters in the distance (click for full photo and description):
Sanderson, 2008
In 2009 my wife and I made the trek up to Headwaters Hill again, this time with our kids, and we apparently became the third party to find the recently-placed geocache:
Sanderson, 2009
In 2010 I climbed Antora Peak with one of my friends from the 1998 hike, along with our oldest sons...
Sep. 2010 (Sandersons, Vanden Broekes)
...so that I could get this photo which looks down on Headwaters from the southeast (click for full photo and description):
Sanderson, Sep. 2010
Quillen passed away in 2012. In 2026, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the naming of Headwaters Hill, I returned to the summit with the same friends who had accompanied me on my initial hike in 1998. (By that time we were a little older than my father had been in 1998. Both he and Sibley were still alive and well, although understandably no longer interested in a nine-mile hike.) The geocache was still there, and inside the container we left a poem about Headwaters Hill, written by Sibley, and displayed below with permission.
Sanderson, 2026 (L-R: Sanderson, Van Denend, Vanden Broeke, White)
La Madre de los Rios
(aka ‘Headwaters Hill’)
Out along sky's ridge we went
In search of the source of life,
And finally found – almost missed –
A humble roundbacked mother
Whose lap begat three errant offspring.
Her first child left for the sunrise
Ran off to the broad blessed bowl
Of a rich vast land now all drained
To feed the growing confusing hordes
Clustering in miraginous floating cities.
Her second child left for the sunset
Ran off to the dry ripped skin
Of a spare red land all bled bare
By the wet dreams of restless people
Trying again in the ancient desert sinks.
Her third child left for el sol real,
Ran off to the rippled hot mirage
Of a larger leaner land made waste
By the revolutions of the running blood
Calling from the once and future Cibolas.
But their hill mother stays where she is
Cumbent in the cool rise and fall
Of our jumbled mountain hope,
Weeping life for those in the dry lands below
And wishing her children home with their tales.
Research and/or image credits: Martha Quillen, Dale Sanderson
Page originally created 1998;last updated Oct. 7, 2026.
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