The Butte That Named a County

Huerfano County Road 103 and Huerfano Butte. The view is towards the northeast.

Huerfano Butte, pictured here, is the small mountain for which Huerfano County is named. You probably know that huérfano in Spanish means orphan, and the isolated butte was so named because it prominently sticks out of an otherwise smooth, rolling area of high desert.

The butte has an elevation of 6,158 feet. It is often mistaken for a remnant of a volcano. However, it's a plug, and it never erupted at the surface, so it cannot be classified as a volcano. More information about the butte is here.

The area around the butte is a high desert, and the land in the area is privately held. 

The butte's location just east of Interstate 25 means that millions of travelers view it each year, but few exit the freeway to examine it more closely. There are other similar plugs around here, but they are not isolated or close to a freeway, so they remain largely unknown.

The Huerfano River flows just north of the butte on its way to a confluence with the Arkansas east of Pueblo.⚒