Then, a few summers ago my good friend and I got on a hiking kick to get in
shape. She was an experienced hiker and I was not. I was curious about the
Lizard Head area, so I did some Internet research on the trails in the region
and found a few I thought we could handle on our own. Our first expedition was
a hike on the Lizard Head Trail. It is part of a system of trails that
crisscross the region. They all seem to intersect one another at some point, so
it seems conceivable that a person could spend a summer wondering around the
backcountry of the San Juan National
Forest. We only had one day, however, so we
planned a trip up the trail and back along the same route.
The trailhead (U.S. Forest Service Road #409) is just off hwy. 145 about 40
miles northeast of Cortez and 10 miles south of Telluride at an elevation of
10,000 feet. There is a large parking area and restrooms at the base of the
trailhead. The trail begins with slight slopes through mountain meadows, full
of summer wildflowers. Then it begins to climb into the aspens. After some
climbing through the trees, the trail opens up to some spectacular views of nearby
Trout Lake,
Sheep Mountain
and Yellow Mountain.
Next, the trail really begins to climb through the first set of switchbacks.
At the top of this climb lies a junction where the trail meets the Wilson
Meadows Trail, which is a one way, two mile spur leading to more mountain
meadows. Continuing on the Lizard Head Trail, there is a small meadow, then
more switchbacks through dense pine and aspen trees up to Blackface ridge and
an elevation of about 11,700 feet. Soon, the trail is at timberline as the traverse
of the ridge continues. The trail becomes quite rugged as it is covered in the
black shale of Blackface Mountain.
Finally, just as I cannot believe I am climbing over the jagged stuff, I look
out and realize we are at the summit and it feels like we are on top of the
world, or as close to it as I’ve ever been.
The views are spectacular from the 12,147-foot elevation. We are within
about two miles from the actual Lizard Head and all around us are the enormous Rocky
Mountains. To the north is Sunshine
Mountain, to the northwest is Cross
Mountain and one of Colorado’s
“fourteeners,” Wilson Peak
is visible just beyond it. To the northwest is San
Bernardo Mountain
and we think we can see way into the distance to the edge of Telluride.
When we started our hike, I had no idea that we would end up so high. As we
took in the amazing panoramic views, I realized that I was standing atop the
black faced rock formations at the top of the peaks that I had seen so often
from the road below. I was shocked that we were way up there. The pain of
hiking those switchbacks was definitely worth it.
From the summit, there are several options for continued hiking. Lizard Head
Trail continues on several more miles between Sunshine Mountain and Wilson
Peak before it dead ends into the
Wilson Mesa Trail, which eventually leads out of the Wilderness Area. It also
junctions with the Bilk Creek Trail which runs north through the Silver Pick
Basin or with the Cross Mountain Trail which treks south until it meets up with
hwy.145 about a mile south of the main Lizard Head trailhead.
On our hike, we opted to go back the same way we came in so as to avoid the
mile long highway walk, but theoretically, we could have just done the loop
back to our starting point. All total, we hiked about 10 or 12 miles, depending
on which trail guide you read and it took us about six hours total. The loop or
the up and back version is about the same in distance and time.