Lizard Head Pass, elevation , is a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human a ...

in the

San Juan Mountains The San Juan Mountains is a high and rugged mountain range in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. The area is highly mineralized (the Colorado Mineral Belt) and figured in the gold and silver mining industry ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, on the border between

Dolores Dolores, Spanish for "pain; grief", most commonly refers to: * Our Lady of Sorrows or La Virgen María de los Dolores * Dolores (given name) Dolores may also refer to: Film * ''Dolores'' (2017 film), an American documentary by Peter Bratt * ' ...

and San Miguel counties. It is also on the divide between the watersheds of the

Dolores River The Dolores River is a tributary of the Colorado River, approximately long, in the U.S. states of Colorado and Utah. The river drains a rugged and arid region of the Colorado Plateau west of the San Juan Mountains. Its name derives from the S ...

and San Miguel River. The pass lies in the saddle between

Lizard Head Lizard Head is a mountain summit in the San Miguel Mountains range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The thirteener is located in the Lizard Head Wilderness, west by south ( bearing 258°) of the Town of Ophir, Colorado, United Stat ...

and Sheep Mountain.

History

The pass is named for a prominent nearby peak that is said to look like the head of a lizard, the spire of

. The pass is currently traversed by State Highway 145, about 12 miles south of the Telluride turnoff. It was also used by the historic

Rio Grande Southern Railroad The Rio Grande Southern Railroad (reporting mark RGS, also referred to as "The Southern") was a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge railroad which ran in the southwestern region of the US state of Colorado, from the towns of Durango to Ridgway, ...

until 1952. Although the grades on both sides of the pass are mild for automobile traffic, this was a significant obstacle for the railroad, and this was a factor leading to the use of the Galloping Goose railcars.

References

External links

* Mountain passes of Colorado Landforms of Dolores County, Colorado Landforms of San Miguel County, Colorado San Juan Mountains (Colorado) Rail mountain passes of the United States {{Colorado-geo-stub

History

See also

References

External links