Lizard Head is a mountain

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

in the

San Miguel 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 o ...

range of the

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 great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

of North America. The 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 ...

, west by south ( bearing 258°) of the town of

Ophir, Colorado Ophir is a Colorado municipalities#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality town governed by a general assembly and is located in San Miguel County, Colorado, San Miguel County, Colorado, United States. It is located two miles from the Ame ...

, United States, on the

drainage divide A drainage divide, water divide, ridgeline, watershed, water parting or height of land is elevated terrain that separates neighboring drainage basins. On rugged land, the divide lies along topographical ridges, and may be in the form of a single ...

separating

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, Montezum ...

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 ...

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, Mesa, San Miguel, Ouray, Gunnison, Hinsdale, San Juan, and Delta ...

and San Miguel County.

Mountain

Lizard Head lies just southeast of a group of three Colorado

fourteener In the mountaineering parlance of the Western United States, a fourteener (also spelled 14er) is a mountain peak with an elevation of at least . The 96 fourteeners in the United States are all west of the Mississippi River. Colorado Co ...

s (mountains over 14,00 feet high), Mount Wilson,

Wilson Peak Wilson Peak is a mountain peak in the U.S. state of Colorado. It is located in the Lizard Head Wilderness of the Uncompahgre National Forest, in the northwestern San Juan Mountains. It is the highest point in San Miguel County, Colorado, San M ...

, and

El Diente Peak El Diente Peak is a high summit in the San Juan Mountains range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The peak is located in the Lizard Head Wilderness of San Juan National Forest, north by east ( bearing 8°) of the Town of Rico in Dolo ...

. 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&nb ...

Lizard Head Pass Lizard Head Pass, elevation , is a mountain pass in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, on the border between Dolores and San Miguel counties. It is also on the divide between the watersheds of the Dolores River and San Miguel River. The 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 gauge railways, 3 ft (914 mm) Narrow gauge railways, narrow-gauge railroad which ran in the southwestern region of the United States, US s ...

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 volcano, volcanic object created when magma hardens within a Volcanic vent, vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if risi ...

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 contr ...

volcanic

ash flow A pyroclastic flow (also known as a pyroclastic density current or a pyroclastic cloud) is a fast-moving current of hot volcanic gas, gas and volcanic matter (collectively known as tephra) that flows along the ground away from a volcano at average ...

s of

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

age resting on older

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock formed by the cementation (geology), cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or de ...

s of

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

age.

Climbing

Lizard Head is one of the most difficult summits in Colorado to climb. Describing the first ascent, Albert Ellingwood said: The first ascent team completed the climb and descent safely.

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.

Historical names

*Lizard Head *Lizard Head Peak *Lizards Head

References

External links

* * {{Portal bar, Geology, Geography, North America, United States, Colorado, Mountains Mountains of Dolores County, Colorado Mountains of San Miguel County, Colorado Three-thousanders of the United States San Juan Mountains (Colorado) San Juan National Forest Uncompahgre National Forest Tephra Oligocene volcanism Volcanism of Colorado