Colorado Scenic and Historic Byways - 2024/2025

From the beginning, this highway feels wonderfully isolated as it leaves behind Blue Mesa Reservoir and winds through vast tracts of public lands. It eventually enters the San Juan Mountains and the historic town of Lake City. The Hinsdale County Museum offers walking tours along the wood-plank sidewalks of downtown. Another must is the Hinsdale County Courthouse, which hosted a speech by suffragist Susan B. Anthony in September 1877, and held the murder trial of cannibal Alfred Packer in 1883. The highway climbs over Spring Creek Pass and takes in views of the still-moving, slow-as-molasses landslide known as the Slumgullion Earthflow. At Creede — one of the last towns in Colorado to experience a silver boom — travelers can break from the highway and tour the Underground Mining Museum or catch a show at the award-winning Creede Repertory Theater. Drivers then follow the Rio Grande River to the byway’s conclusion at South Fork.

Distance: 117 miles • Allow 3 hours 

Total elevation gain: 7,500-11,361 feet