Lizard Head

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Mountain in Colorado, United States

title: "Lizard Head" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["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"] description: "Mountain in Colorado, United States" topic_path: "technology/web" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lizard_Head" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Mountain in Colorado, United States ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox mountain"]

Field	Value
name	Lizard Head
photo	Lizard Head 2019.JPG
elevation_ft	13119
elevation_ref
prominence_ft	1134
prominence_ref
isolation_mi	1.93
isolation_ref
range	San Miguel Mountains
location	Dolores and San Miguel counties, Colorado, United States
map	Colorado
map_caption	Colorado
coordinates
coordinates_ref
topo	USGS 7.5' topographic map
Mount Wilson, Colorado
type	Ash flow tuff
age	Oligocene
first_ascent	1920 by Albert Ellingwood and Barton Hoag
easiest_route	Technical climb;
::

Lizard Head is a mountain summit in the San Miguel Mountains range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The 13119 ft is located in the Lizard Head Wilderness, 11.0 km west by south (bearing 258°) of the town of Ophir, Colorado, United States, on the drainage divide separating San Juan National Forest and Dolores County from Uncompahgre National Forest and San Miguel County.

Mountain

Lizard Head lies just southeast of a group of three Colorado fourteeners (mountains over 14,00 feet high), Mount Wilson, Wilson Peak, and El Diente Peak. Lizard Head is only the 556th highest peak in Colorado by most standard definitions, | url = http://www.climb.mountains.com/Project_Island_files/CO_13ers.shtml | title = Colorado's Summits – 13,000 to 13,999 feet | publisher = Climb.Mountains.com | access-date = 2007-03-04 }} but its towering spire-like form makes it one of the most spectacular.

Lizard Head lies 2.84 mi northwest of Colorado State Highway 145 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.

Geology

The rock spire of Lizard Head looks like an old eroded volcanic plug but it is actually composed of extrusive volcanic ash flows of Oligocene age resting on older sedimentary rocks of Eocene age.

Climbing

Lizard Head is one of the most difficult summits in Colorado to climb. | editor-last = Jacobs | editor-first = Randy | editor2-first=Robert M. | editor2-last=Ormes | title = Guide to the Colorado Mountains | edition = 10th | publisher = Colorado Mountain Club | year = 2000 | isbn = 0-9671466-0-7 }} 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:

The skyline of the mountains to the southwest of Telluride was changed last night when through some mighty upheaval of nature, the taller spire of Lizard Head fell with a roar to the depths below.

During the night people living on the mesas near Ophir heard a sliding, grinding noise, which disturbed the atmosphere and gave the impression of an earthquake. This morning they discovered that the upstanding rock which had been given the name of Lizard Head was gone.

The smaller spire which was formerly inconspicuous by the side of the head is now standing single and alone, pointing to the sky, a long sentinel of last night’s upheaval. Millions of tons of rocks, conglomerate and earth went down without apparent cause or reason.}}

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

The elevation of Lizard Head includes an adjustment of +1.778 m (+5.83 ft) from [[Sea Level Datum of 1929. NGVD 29]] to [[North American Vertical Datum of 1988. NAVD 88]].
"Lizard Head, Colorado".
{{cite gnis
''Mount Wilson, Colorado,'' 7.5 Minute Topographic Quadrangle, USGS, 1953
Blair, Ron. (1996). "The Western San Juan Mountains: their geology, ecology and human history". University Press of Colorado.
(December 29, 1911). "Lizard Head has fallen". Mancos Times-Tribune.
(1994). "Over the Bridges, Ophir Loop to Rico, Sundance Books".
(1999). "Colorado 1870-2000". Westcliffe Publishers with the Colorado Historical Society.

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