The San Juan Skyway's Dolores County leg: Highway 145 over Lizard Head Pass

You do not have to drive the whole loop to get the good part. The San Juan Skyway runs 236 miles around the San Juans, and one of its quietest, prettiest legs starts right in Dolores County. From Rico, Highway 145 climbs north and tops out at Lizard Head Pass, 10,222 feet up, on the line between Dolores and San Miguel counties.

What makes the pass worth the climb is what opens up at the top. The Wilson group of fourteeners stands to the west: Mount Wilson at 14,246 feet, El Diente Peak at 14,159, and Wilson Peak at 14,017. Off to the side is the blunt rock spire that gave the pass its name, Lizard Head Peak, at 13,113 feet. On a clear morning the meadows at the summit make an easy place to pull over and just look.

This is the same drive the winter note warns about, and both things are true. In summer and fall the pass is a relaxed hour of open country and big peaks; in storm season it asks for traction and a weather check first. Either way, it is a full byway experience you can start and finish without leaving the county’s reach, then turn around at Telluride or keep going on the loop.

For the route, the byway’s history, and current notes on the drive, see the Colorado Department of Transportation’s San Juan Skyway page.