GEORGIA PASS PASS PERFECT Embrace the essence of Summit’s endless summer on these high-alpine escapes. BY DEVON O’NEIL PHOTOS BY LIAM DORAN 22 COLORADO SUMMIT /// WINTER/SPRING 2014 COLORADO SUMMIT /// SUMMER/FALL 2014 23 BOREAS PASS opographically speaking, a mountain pass represents little more than a low point between two high points. Some are glorified game trails. Others have footpaths or dirt roads running over them—or even an interstate. Yet as the word suggests, passes serve as portals, the gatekeepers of an undiscovered somewhere that’s as alluring as it is mysterious, until you reach the crest and peer over the other side. Summit’s thirteen mountain passes are, as a whole, less famous than its fourteeners, but the experience of reaching the pinnacle of one can be just as satisfying as bagging a peak. You feel like you’ve gotten some- Twhere, that you’re going somewhere. Because if you’re on wheels, chances are you’re about to start a ripping descent with a mind-altering view. More than a means to get from valley to valley and county to county, passes are where locals play. Not every pass included herein is well trodden, like Vail and Loveland, or difficult to get to, like Red Buffalo and Wheeler. But they are all world-class recreation zones surrounded by 13,000- and 14,000-foot peaks—a worthy domain for any adventure. Consider this your ticket—your season pass— to the places where high-country freedom awaits. HOOSIER PASS 11,542 FEET* BEST FOR: HIKING, CAR CAMPING BOREAS PASS One of the high points on our list, where the 11,481 FEET* mighty Continental Divide sags just enough to BEST FOR: SIGHTSEEING BY CAR, MOUNTAIN BIKING allow for vehicular passage, Hoosier Pass sits on the border of Summit and Park Counties, marks If there is one pass on this list that makes the pinnacle of Highway 9, and affords access to for a perfect Sunday afternoon drive, Boreas a broad range of high-altitude adventures some is it. To reach the top, simply follow the old 25 miles south of downtown Breck. narrow-gauge railroad route 6.6 miles east From the pass parking lot, it feels like you of downtown Breckenridge, first on a paved could fling a Frisbee and hit either 14,265-foot road then on a gravel-and-dirt road that Quandary Peak to your north or 14,295-foot can easily be driven with two-wheel-drive Mount Lincoln to your south. But you’re better vehicles. off stowing the disc, donning hiking boots, and From 1882 to 1937, the road served as the setting out west on the dirt road toward North railway from Como to Breck; now it’s a sight- Star Mountain. Because you start at such a high seer’s paradise. Take time to park at the top of elevation (more than 250 feet higher than the the pass, visit the Section House backcountry summit of Oregon’s Mount Hood), the views ski hut, and hike west on the quick spur trail on every step of your journey will be mesmer- to the top of the knoll for a panoramic view of izing—yet the hiking is relatively easy. Continue Red, Bald, and Boreas Mountains, as well as up the road, winding past mine tailings, to the craggy southern portion of the Tenmile North Star’s long, undulating summit ridge, Range. The aspen tunnels on the Brecken- which proceeds an additional mile west toward ridge side of the pass, near the Baker’s Tank the true top of the peak. trailhead, are particularly gorgeous in mid- Given the complex ridge terrain, chances are September. you’ll want to quit before you reach the summit, but you will still have eclipsed 13,000 feet on ALSO TRY: Local mountain bikers like to incor- a route forgiving enough that you can take the porate Boreas Pass into their larger loops, kids. and given the road’s 3 percent grade and the number of offshoots via Indiana Creek ALSO TRY: Mountain biking the dirt-road loop and Baker’s Tank, it’s a pleasant addition to around the treed knob just west of the park- any ride. In fact, it’s part of the annual Tour ing lot, car camping in the trees, or setting off Divide race, which sends bikers 2,475 miles east for the less-frequented but still impressive from Canada to Mexico. Mount Silverheels (13,829 feet). Hoosier also makes a great turnaround point on a road-bike ride from downtown Breckenridge. DENOTES PASSES THAT TRANSIT THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE 24 COLORADO SUMMIT /// SUMMER/FALL 2014 COLORADO SUMMIT /// SUMMER/FALL 2014 25 ECCLES PASS UTE PASS ECCLES PASS 11,900 FEET BEST FOR: TRAIL RUNNING, BACKPACKING UTE PASS The most majestic mountains are often the 9,568 FEET most difficult to access, and the Gore Range BEST FOR: ROAD BIKING, SIGHTSEEING BY CAR is no exception. Eccles Pass, which serves as a FRENCH PASS LOVELAND PASS SEARLE PASS RED BUFFALO PASS pseudo gateway to the interior Gore just north- 12,046 FEET* 11,990 FEET* 12,027 FEET Although Summit County isn’t known for its road 11,700 FEET biking, largely because our asphalt shoulders west of Frisco, delivers breathtaking value for BEST FOR: HIKING, MOUNTAIN BIKING BEST FOR: ROAD BIKING, DAY HIKING BEST FOR: MOUNTAIN BIKING, HUT TRIPPING BEST FOR: TRAIL RUNNING, BACKPACKING your summer sweat. aren’t as wide as in other regions, Highway 9 north of Silverthorne is an exception. There’s plenty of Flanked on both sides by vast, open mead- Wedged between two monstrous peaks just east The top of Loveland Pass serves as a point of Perhaps the most overlooked of Summit’s In the late 1960s, Colorado highway planners room to feel comfortable pedaling on the shoul- ows that are blanketed by brilliant wildflowers of Breckenridge—13,684-foot Baldy and 13,370- demarcation: geographically, it’s here that Sum- named alpine portals, Searle is nonetheless considered what now seems unthinkable: rout- der, and it accesses a crown jewel: Ute Pass. come July, Eccles inspires a feeling of escape, foot Guyot—French Pass is the day hiker’s mit County ends and Clear Creek County be- a stunning destination for mountain bikers, ing Interstate 70 over Red Buffalo Pass in the Ute offers a number of pluses. The pass itself as though you’ve left civilization somewhere dream trek. Few trails provide a sense of alpine gins, where the Atlantic watershed becomes the hikers, and runners. You have to earn your visit heart of the untrammeled Gore Range between is substantially lower than many other roadie far behind. It’s a steady climb from the Meadow grandeur comparable to the route that starts at Pacific, and locally where contenders ditch the to this saddle between Jacque Ridge and Elk Silverthorne and Vail. Thankfully, they elected destinations in Summit, traffic is light once Creek trailhead (from I-70, take Frisco Exit 203 the end of French Gulch Road and continues as pretenders. It is no coincidence that many of Mountain, just southwest of Copper Mountain to steer it through Tenmile Canyon and over you get off the highway, and the view of the and follow the dirt road on the west side of the a doubletrack then singletrack up to the wind- the country’s top road cyclists come to Summit Resort, but the views into Mayflower Gulch and Vail Pass instead. Gore Range is as striking as any in Colorado. roundabout to the trailhead; from there, it’s 4.7 swept saddle. County to train each spring and summer, and the Mosquito Range make it worthwhile. That decision preserved the most pristine Depending on where you start in Silverthorne miles and 2,800 vertical feet one way) into the It’s an attainable objective for almost anyone it’s no accident that when they do, they teach If you start from the Corn parking lot on means of traveling from Summit to Eagle (we recommend the Silverthorne Elementary Eagles Nest Wilderness (which means no bikes (especially vacationers from sea level), a forgiv- their legs how to suffer on Loveland Pass. the east side of Highway 91, you will take the County. Start in Frisco at the Meadow Creek parking lot on the north end of town), this or motors allowed), but worth every step ing grade that only steepens for a few hundred Starting at Keystone, the two-lane Highway 6 Colorado Trail 9.4 miles each way, which is why trailhead, proceed over Eccles Pass, then take a ride works out to be about 35 miles with 2,050 feet near the top. You climb along bubbly snakes up to Arapahoe Basin and continues on to most travelers do it on a mountain bike and left on the Gore Creek Trail and continue over feet of climbing. It won’t destroy you, in other ALSO TRY: Trail run to the pass as part of a French Creek much of the way, rarely seeing an- a series of switchbacks that lead to the pass, 2,600 allot a half-day for the round trip. The ascent Red Buffalo down to East Vail, where you can words. Simply head north on Highway 9 and spectacular, thirteen-mile loop around Buffalo other soul once you leave the maintained road. vertical feet and 8.7 hard-earned miles from the meanders through Copper, then up the Guller either stash a car or arrange a pickup from a watch for Ute Pass Road on your right, about 13 Mountain, or backpack in and camp in the Watch for moose and elk along the way.