15 | Collegiate Peaks

Length: 57 miles (one way). Driving time: 90 minutes
Motor Coaches Highly Discouraged, Steep Grades
Open All Year

You could call this byway “the Avenue of Fourteeners”— along its entire length, the Collegiate Peaks continuously rise above the 14,000-foot marker, and include such summits as Mt. Princeton, Mt. Yale and Mt. Harvard. Take a detour up Cottonwood Pass Road in fall for an explosion of autumnal color.

No matter where you begin your tour of the Collegiate Peaks Byway, you will be ushered into one of Colorado’s most scenically spectacular, historically rich and recreationally diverse areas. This paved 57-mile route parallels the Continental Divide at the foot of the Sawatch Range, the highest concentration of 14,000+ foot peaks in the country. The greater part follows the Arkansas River, the most commercially rafted river in the nation, a world-class kayaking destination, and one of the state’s premier trout fishing resources.

Features include:

• Main Towns: Salida; Buena Vista; Northrup
• Densest concentration of 14,000 foot peaks from Alaska to Panama.
• Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area
• San Isabel National Forest
• Collegiate Peaks Wilderness Area
• Historic downtown districts