mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...
thirteener
In mountaineering in the United States, a thirteener (abbreviated 13er) is a mountain that exceeds above mean sea level, similar to the more familiar "fourteeners," which exceed . In most instances, "thirteeners" refers only to those peaks betwee ...
is located in the
Lizard Head Wilderness
The Lizard Head Wilderness is a wilderness area in southwest Colorado. It contains and is jointly managed by the Uncompahgre and San Juan National Forests. It is southwest of the town of Telluride and is named for a prominent rock formation t ...
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, 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 wes ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
San Juan National Forest
The San Juan National Forest is a U.S. National Forest covering over 1,878,846 acres (2,935.7 sq mi, or 7,603.42 km²) in western Colorado. The forest occupies land in Archuleta, Conejos, Dolores, Hinsdale, La Plata, Mineral, Montezu ...
and
Dolores County
Dolores County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,326. The county seat is Dove Creek.
History
It is thought that the area has been the site of human habitation since at least 2500 B ...
from
Uncompahgre National Forest
Uncompahgre National Forest is a U.S. National Forest covering 955,229 acres (1,492.55 sq mi, or 3,865.68 km2) in (in descending order of land area) parts of Montrose County, Colorado, Montrose, Mesa County, Colorado, Mesa, San Miguel Count ...
Lizard Head lies just southeast of a group of three Colorado fourteeners, Mount Wilson, Wilson Peak, and El Diente Peak. Lizard Head is only the 556th highest peak in Colorado by most standard definitions,
but its towering spire-like form makes it one of the most spectacular.
Lizard Head lies northwest of
Colorado State Highway 145
State Highway 145 (SH 145) is a state highway in western Colorado. It runs for between U.S. Route 160 (US 160) in Cortez and SH 141 near Naturita.
Route description
The route begins in the south at its intersection with US ...
at Lizard Head Pass. Lizards Head Trail climbs west from Trout Lake along Black Face Mountain ridge and past the south face of Lizard Head toward Wilson Peak.
The peak was used in a logo by the
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, ...
.
Geology
The rock spire of Lizard Head looks like an old eroded
volcanic plug
A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcanic object created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if rising volatile-charged ma ...
but it is actually composed of
extrusive
Extrusive rock refers to the mode of igneous volcanic rock formation in which hot magma from inside the Earth flows out (extrudes) onto the surface as lava or explodes violently into the atmosphere to fall back as pyroclastics or tuff. In contra ...
volcanic
ash flow
A pyroclastic flow (also known as a pyroclastic density current or a pyroclastic cloud) is a fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter (collectively known as tephra) that flows along the ground away from a volcano at average speeds of b ...
sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...
s of
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...
age.
Climbing
Lizard Head is one of the most difficult summits in Colorado to climb.
The story of the
first ascent
In mountaineering, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books) is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First mountain ascents are notable because they en ...
makes a memorable and harrowing tale. In the words of Albert Ellingwood:
Despite the serious and daunting objective hazards, the first ascent team completed the climb and descent safely in a feat of mountaineering skill.
Appearance
The appearance of the peak is reported to have changed significantly due to a landslide in 1911. From the December 29 edition of the ''Mancos Times-Tribune'' of that year:
There are several photographs of the peak from before the landslide. Before-and-after photographs taken from the north and shown in ''The RGS Story'' indicate substantial change. The earlier photograph shows a taller squared-off peak that would be more suggestive of a lizard's head.
Before-and-after photos shown in Jackson and Fielder's ''Colorado 1870-2000'' taken from the south do not show as much change in appearance, indicating that the area of collapse was on the northern side.
List of Colorado fourteeners
This is a list of mountain peaks in the U.S. State of Colorado that exceed of elevation.
In the mountaineering parlance of the Western United States, a ''fourteener'' is a mountain peak with an elevation of at least 14,000 feet. This is a co ...
List of the most prominent summits of Colorado
The following sortable table comprises the 100 most topographically prominent mountain peaks of the U.S. State of Colorado.
Topographic elevation is the vertical distance above the reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea le ...
*
List of Colorado county high points
This is a list of all 64 counties of the U.S. State of Colorado by their points of highest elevation. Of the 50 highest county high points in the United States, 30 are located in Colorado. The highest point in Colorado is the summit of Mount ...