Mineral County is a compact but steep piece of southwestern Colorado where Creede provides the clearest settlement anchor and mountain valleys do most of the geographic work. High-resolution JPG originals of every map on this page are available together in the ZIP download below. This Mineral County Colorado Map set helps you locate Creede and the road network, follow the Rio Grande and several mountain tributaries, compare lakes and reservoirs, and see how dramatically elevation changes across the county.
A useful way to start is to separate the county into its inhabited valley around Creede and the much larger high-country landscape around it. The boundary map shows Route 149 approaching Creede while many smaller numbered roads bend through valleys rather than forming a regular grid. The city index is even simpler: Creede is the only ranked major city. South of that settlement, streams, ridges, and reservoir basins become more important landmarks than towns.
Table of Contents
Creede is the practical anchor for reading Mineral County’s roads and boundary
The county map puts City of Creede near the northern part of the county and shows Route 149 as the most obvious numbered route tied to the settlement. Several smaller roads branch away from that corridor, including 509, 522, 523, 527, and 528 to the west and south. Farther east, 600 and 610 appear in a separate mountain-road network, while 380, 390, 430, and 667 mark additional routes in the southeastern and southern high country. The pattern reflects terrain: roads bend with valleys and passes instead of crossing the county in straight lines.
The map also labels Weaver as a historical place near Creede and shows smaller names such as Spar City and Lucky Seven/Summer Homes farther south. Route 160 appears near the southern edge, giving the lower part of the map another useful reference. These labels make the page more useful than a simple county outline because they show where the limited settlement and road network actually sit within a very mountainous boundary.
The official Mineral County website lists county offices in Creede, reinforcing the settlement’s role as the main public-service center on the map. The county also maintains an Underground Mining Museum page describing a museum blasted into a rock cliff by local miners. That local history fits the physical setting visible here: Creede occupies a narrow valley enclosed by steep, rugged terrain rather than a broad urban plain.
A one-city index makes the settlement map unusually simple
The supplied city map ranks only City of Creede, with an index value of 285 printed at the bottom. That number belongs to the map’s supplied city index and should not be treated as a current official population estimate. More important for map reading is the absence of a second ranked city: there are no city-to-city connector lines or straight-line distance labels because the map has only one major city to compare.
Creede sits in the northern portion of the county, while the rest of the page is filled mostly by drainage lines and mountain roads. The frame also identifies neighboring Hinsdale, Saguache, Rio Grande, Archuleta, and Conejos counties. This makes the city map useful for regional orientation even though it is not a dense settlement map. If you need the smaller named places or numbered roads, the boundary map carries much more detail.
For a visitor trying to understand the county quickly, this single-city pattern is useful. Creede can serve as the reference point for roads and public services, while the water and elevation maps explain most of the remaining landscape. That is a better fit for Mineral County than trying to describe the county as a chain of towns.
The Rio Grande, mountain forks, and reservoirs reveal several distinct high-country valleys
The terrain-and-water map is dominated by the Rio Grande across the north-central part of Mineral County. Its valley cuts through steep relief and provides a broad low corridor compared with the surrounding ridges. Santa Maria Reservoir lies to the west, while Goose Creek rises from the south-central part of the county toward the Rio Grande system. Hay Press Lake and Lake Humphreys sit close to that Goose Creek corridor, adding smaller water features to the same mountain basin.
Farther south, the drainage pattern becomes more divided. East Fork Piedra River occupies the southwestern side, West Fork San Juan River runs through the south-central high country, and East Fork San Juan River crosses the southeastern edge. Big Meadows Reservoir and Alberta Park Reservoir appear in the southern half, while Goose Lake, Shaw Lake, and Metroz Lake occupy separate valleys. The map therefore shows several mountain watersheds rather than one continuous lowland river corridor.
This is a reference map for relative water locations and surrounding terrain. It is not a flood-hazard map, parcel map, navigation chart, or statement about water depth or public access. Mountain roads and stream access can also change seasonally, so anyone planning field travel should check current information from the relevant land or road manager.
An actual range of about 2,334 to 4,215 meters explains the county’s steep relief
The elevation map reports an actual Mineral County range of roughly 2,334–4,215 meters, with a mean near 3,203 meters. Even the lower end is high by ordinary U.S. standards. Green tones follow lower river and creek valleys, especially around the Rio Grande corridor, while yellow, orange, and brown tones cover the high ridges surrounding them. The color pattern makes Creede’s valley position easier to understand than the road map alone.
The southern half is equally rugged. Narrow lower corridors follow the San Juan and Piedra river forks while high ridges rise between them, creating a repeated valley-and-ridge pattern. This explains why the road network bends and branches so frequently. Comparing the water and elevation maps also shows that the major streams generally occupy the lowest continuous corridors through otherwise high terrain.
The elevation layer is intended for county-scale comparison, not survey or engineering work. It can help explain where valleys, ridges, and travel corridors lie, but it should not replace point-specific elevation data for construction, property surveying, or road design. For those uses, consult the underlying USGS elevation products or professional survey data.
Choose the map by the question: roads, Creede, water, or relief
Use the county map when you need Creede, numbered roads, the county boundary, and smaller named places on one page. The city map is the fastest way to see that Creede is the only ranked major city in the supplied index. The terrain-and-water map is better for the Rio Grande, Goose Creek, mountain lakes, reservoirs, and the Piedra and San Juan forks. The elevation map is the clearest choice when the main question is how a river valley compares with the high ridges around it.
The WebP versions on the page are optimized for quick viewing. For closer inspection, printing, or offline use, the original high-resolution JPG files are more practical. The ZIP below contains the four JPG originals corresponding to the four maps shown on this page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does the Mineral County city map show only Creede?
The supplied ranked-city index contains only City of Creede, so the city map has one major settlement marker and no city-to-city connector distances. Smaller named places still appear on the county map, which is the better choice when you want more local labels and roads.
Which map is best for the Rio Grande, Big Meadows Reservoir, and mountain lakes?
Use the terrain-and-water map. It shows the Rio Grande, Goose Creek, East Fork Piedra River, West and East Fork San Juan River, Santa Maria Reservoir, Big Meadows Reservoir, and several smaller lakes. It is a location reference only and should not be used for flood risk, water depth, parcel boundaries, or navigation.
Can the elevation map be used for surveying a property or road project?
No. The map summarizes county-scale relief across an actual range of about 2,334–4,215 meters and is useful for comparing valleys with surrounding ridges. Surveying, engineering, or construction work requires point-specific elevation data from USGS products or professional survey sources.
Map File Information
This ZIP contains the original high-resolution JPG files for the Mineral County boundary map, city map, terrain-and-water map, and elevation map shown on this page.
- Included Files: 4 high-resolution JPG maps
- Printable Size: 3,638 × 2,572 pixels per JPG
Related Maps
Sources and References
- Mineral County official website – official county offices, services, and Creede-based contact information.
- Mineral County Underground Mining Museum – official county information about Creede’s mining history and the underground museum.
- U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line Shapefiles – authoritative county boundary, road, and place-reference data.
- USGS National Hydrography – authoritative hydrography reference for rivers, streams, lakes, and reservoirs.
- USGS 3D Elevation Program – authoritative elevation and terrain reference data.
Green Map creates custom-edited map images using open geographic data sources such as geoBoundaries, Natural Earth, OpenStreetMap, and government open data.
These maps are edited visual materials, not raw data files, and are provided for education, documents, presentations, and graphic reference.
