The Collegiate Peaks Scenic Byway frames the drive through the valley

The everyday drive through the heart of Chaffee County, linking Poncha Springs, Salida, and Buena Vista, is also an official route: the Collegiate Peaks Scenic Byway. Colorado names certain roads as scenic byways to mark drives with standout views and stories, and this one earns it by running alongside the Sawatch Range, the wall of fourteeners that includes the Collegiate Peaks.

For someone new to the area, the byway label is useful in a practical way. It tells you the road is worth slowing down for, and it points to pullouts, visitor centers, and viewpoints set up for it, including information stops in Poncha Springs and Buena Vista. The same drive also passes the Arkansas River, a heavily rafted river, so the byway ties together the peaks, the water, and the valley towns in one route.

It is worth remembering that a scenic byway is a normal highway, not a park road. You share it with trucks, commuters, and winter weather, so the same traction rules and conditions that apply on any Colorado mountain road apply here too.

To plan the drive and find the marked stops, see the Colorado Department of Transportation’s page for the Collegiate Peaks Scenic Byway.