Highway of Legends
Highway of Legends is a National Scenic Byway in Colorado. Within Colorado it covers roughly 80 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along Highway of Legends with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
State Route 12 loops about 82 miles through the Spanish Peaks country of southern Colorado, between Trinidad and La Veta. The twin Spanish Peaks rise abruptly from the plains, ringed by hundreds of great volcanic dikes — walls of hardened magma that radiate outward like spokes. The route passes the resort village of Cuchara and old coal-mining camps steeped in regional legend.
- Spanish Peaks
- volcanic dikes
- Cuchara
- Trinidad & La Veta
- SR-12
Designated for its natural qualities
Plan a drive on Highway of Legends → Drive this route in Road SortiesTurn-by-turn on iPhone · App Store
Places to stop along Highway of Legends
Stonewall Gap
Where the highway squeezes through a tilted sandstone wall that juts from the valley floor like a fence, near the hamlet of Stonewall.
Cuchara
A small mountain village in the upper Cuchara Valley, near the base of a long-closed ski area that the county reopened as a mountain park.
Spanish Peaks
Twin volcanic peaks rising from the plains, ringed by hundreds of radiating dikes, walls of hardened magma visible from the road.
WebsiteGoemmer Butte
A dark volcanic plug standing alone outside La Veta, one of the most striking of the area's igneous landmarks.
Where to Stay along Highway of Legends
5 campgrounds and RV parks sit within about 5 miles of Highway of Legends.
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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.