One hour west of Denver the roads thin out, the altitude climbs, and history shows up

Colorado’s scenic byways start right outside the city

Denver sits at exactly the right spot on the map. The Rockies rise to the west and the plains stretch east, and in between, a web of two-lane roads cuts through canyons, climbs over mountain passes, and drops into towns that still carry the weight of the gold rush.

You don’t need to drive far.

Several of Colorado’s best scenic routes start less than an hour from downtown, and the state has more designated byways than anywhere else in the country.

The Lariat Loop ties three mountain towns together

The Lariat Loop runs 40 miles through Golden, Morrison, and Evergreen, and you can do the whole thing in about two hours without stopping.

The city of Denver built it between 1912 and 1914, making it one of the oldest scenic drives in the country. It later earned designation as a National Scenic Byway.

The road climbs through foothills, passes through red rock country, and connects enough history and geology to fill an entire day if you let it.

Lookout Mountain Road gains 1,300 feet in under five miles

Just outside Golden, a road starts climbing and doesn’t stop.

Lookout Mountain Road rises about 1,300 feet in less than five miles, topping out at 7,379 feet above sea level. From the summit, you can look back east and see Denver spread across the plains below.

Buffalo Bill is buried up here.

His grave sits at the top with views he apparently requested, and the museum next door covers his life from frontier scout to showman.

Dinosaur Ridge puts 1877 fossil discoveries at your feet

The first Stegosaurus bones ever found came out of this ridge in 1877, and the site hasn’t been forgotten since.

Dinosaur Ridge sits right along the Lariat Loop between Golden and Morrison, and more than 70,000 people walk it each year.

You can see fossilized dinosaur tracks pressed into the rock along a short interpretive path that follows the hogback. The bones are gone, but the tracks stay right where they landed, millions of years and counting.

Bear Creek Canyon follows the water all the way down

The southern half of the Lariat Loop runs through Bear Creek Canyon, winding alongside the creek as it descends from Evergreen toward Morrison.

The canyon sits on the National Register of Historic Places and was part of Denver’s original mountain parks system, which puts it in unusual company for a road.

The walls close in as you drive, the creek runs beside you most of the way, and by the time the canyon opens up near Morrison’s small downtown, you’ve covered some of the prettiest pavement in the foothills.

Peak to Peak Highway has been running since 1918

Colorado’s oldest scenic byway stretches 55 miles from Black Hawk north to Estes Park.

The state designated it in 1918, and the road still runs along the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park, passing through Nederland, Allenspark, and a handful of other mountain towns along the way.

On clear days, you can see the Continental Divide and Longs Peak from the road.

The drive takes you through country that shifts from pine forest to open ridgeline and back again before you reach Estes Park.

The gold rush still echoes through Black Hawk and Central City

Gold turned up here in 1859, and the two towns that grew around the discovery never quite let go of that history.

Black Hawk and Central City sit just off the Peak to Peak, connected by streets still lined with Victorian-era buildings. The Central City Opera House dates to 1878 and still runs productions.

At its peak, the area carried the nickname “the richest square mile on earth.”

The buildings are still standing, and the old mining country surrounding both towns gives you something to look at long after the gold ran out.

Virginia Canyon Road rewards the brave with tight curves and old mines

If the paved byways feel too smooth, Virginia Canyon Road offers a different kind of drive.

This gravel backroad cuts between Idaho Springs and Central City through old mining territory, climbing through tight curves past abandoned mine shafts and scattered tailings piles.

The road is much narrower than anything nearby, and it connects to the Peak to Peak at its southern end. It’s not glamorous, but the drive puts you in the middle of terrain that hasn’t changed much since the 1800s.

Nederland sits at 8,230 feet with a carousel and a wilderness trailhead

Halfway through the Peak to Peak, the town of Nederland grew up as a mill site for silver ore coming out of the Caribou mines. Now about 1,500 people live there at 8,230 feet.

The Carousel of Happiness spins inside a converted building downtown, all 56 animals hand-carved by one man over 26 years.

Eldora Mountain Resort sits just down the road, and the Indian Peaks Wilderness starts at the edge of town, feeding trails into backcountry that most drivers on the Peak to Peak never reach.

Guanella Pass crosses alpine meadows between two 14ers

The 22-mile paved drive between Grant and Georgetown gains enough elevation to cross open alpine meadows full of wildflowers in summer.

The pass puts you within sight of two of Colorado’s highest peaks: Mount Bierstadt at 14,065 feet and Mount Blue Sky at 14,265 feet.

The road ends in Georgetown, a silver mining town that still has most of its 19th-century architecture intact. The whole drive runs short enough to finish before lunch and leave the afternoon for the town.

Deer Creek Canyon keeps things quiet on the southwest edge of town

Not every scenic drive needs a famous name. Deer Creek Canyon sits on the southwest edge of the Denver metro area, paired with South Turkey Creek Road to form a loop through foothills thick with scrub oak and aspens.

The route connects to Conifer and Highway 285 and draws far fewer drivers than the main byways. It’s quieter out here.

The canyon walls rise around you, and most of the people you pass are locals who already know the road.

Colorado leads the country with 26 designated scenic byways

No other state has more. Colorado’s 26 designated scenic and historic byways include 13 that carry federal recognition as America’s Byways, the highest designation in the national program.

The program started in 1989 and covers roads that range from high alpine passes to open prairie drives. Many of the best ones sit within an hour of downtown Denver.

The Moffat Tunnel adds an unusual detour near Rollinsville: built in 1927, it runs 6.2 miles straight through the mountain and still carries trains today, its east portal sitting above 9,200 feet.

Drive the Lariat Loop west of Denver, Colorado

Start the Lariat Loop in Golden or Morrison, both easy to reach from Denver in under an hour. The 40-mile loop is open 24 hours a day and free to drive.

Along the way, you’ll pass Red Rocks Park, Dinosaur Ridge, and Lookout Mountain.

If you want to stop at the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave on Lookout Mountain Road in Golden, plan your visit for Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Give yourself two to three hours for the full loop with a few stops.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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