Colorado River Headwaters Scenic Byway
Colorado River Headwaters Scenic Byway is a National Scenic Byway in Colorado. Within Colorado it covers roughly 70 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along Colorado River Headwaters Scenic Byway with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
This byway follows the infant Colorado River from Grand Lake — the largest natural lake in Colorado, at the western edge of Rocky Mountain National Park — downstream through Hot Sulphur Springs and into Gore Canyon. In its first miles the river is small enough to step across, a striking contrast to the great river it becomes downstream. The route mixes ranchland, river, and the deep walls of Byers and Gore canyons.
- Grand Lake
- headwaters of the Colorado
- Gore Canyon
- Hot Sulphur Springs
- Rocky Mountain NP edge
Designated for its historic qualities
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Places to stop along Colorado River Headwaters Scenic Byway
Grand Lake
A wooden-boardwalk resort town on Colorado's largest natural lake, at 8,369 feet beside Rocky Mountain National Park's west entrance.
WebsiteKawuneeche Visitor Center
Rocky Mountain National Park's west-side visitor center. The meadows of the Kawuneeche Valley beyond, where the Colorado starts as a creek, are prime moose country.
WebsiteHot Sulphur Springs
The Grand County seat, named for the mineral springs that feed a resort with more than twenty soaking pools beside the river.
Website
Where to Stay along Colorado River Headwaters Scenic Byway
12 campgrounds and RV parks sit within about 5 miles of Colorado River Headwaters Scenic Byway.
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Photos of Colorado River Headwaters Scenic Byway
What is a National Scenic Byway?
National Scenic Byways are roads recognized at the federal level for at least one outstanding quality — scenic, natural, historic, cultural, archaeological or recreational — that gives travelers a reason to seek them out rather than just pass through.