sfarson
Registered user
One must be patient for the weather window to open wide enough during winter for a ride over nearby Kenosha Pass. Tried to see if it was wide enough last March in a report here, but turned around when seeing conditions from the Pass down below.
The 10,000ft. high meadows of South Park (one of three major named Colorado "parks"), defended on three sides by snowcapped peaks, with Pikes Peak as a sentinal to south, are often seen from a saddle during more "accomodating" months. With fairly calm weather the past few days, and knowing the Hoosier Pass destination has a southern facing approach, cast fate to the wind and packed the cam gear... an opportunity to see The Park mid-January.
Numerous images, and a ride video from Alma to Hoosier Pass follow.
Here's the map of the ride...
While on the way, at the base of the northern approach to Kenosha Pass, I come across these bighorn sheep, finding the warmth near the road and ice abating chemicals on its surface irresistible...
As the map above notes, we start with a pause at 10,001ft. Kenosha Pass. One hundred years ago the only motorized access to The Park was on two rails...
Today, two wheels can take us to the same place. We're gazing at a spur of the Mosquito Range, and the meadows of South Park are below. Poet Walt Whitman wrote these words from this location in 1879...
I jot these lines literally at Kenosha summit, where we return, afternoon, and take a long rest, 10,000 feet above sea-level. At this immense height the South Park stretches fifty miles before me. Mountainous chains and peaks in every variety of perspective, every hue of vista, fringe the view...so the whole Western world is, in a sense, but an expansion of these mountains...
We enjoy a two wheeled descent to The Park. Here was a typical descent 100 years ago...
This was the first train stop in The Park. Read an account once of a train facing white out snow conditions, decided to shut down for the night and hope for better weather in the morning. Well, better visibility on the morning revealed the train had left the tracks a long ways back and had been churning across the frozen meadows!
Today, the wind is brisk, the temps are more brisk, but conditions are dry and a quick pic is taken...
This small town of Jefferson (est. pop. 50) has a market ranchers and cabin dwellers will stop by to pick up their mail, talk politics, talk the weather, etc. Heard the other day of a mountain lion taking horses at a nearby ranch. BTW, if passing through Jefferson some day, pick up some of their famous fudge...
We wander down the Michigan Creek Road for a couple of Continental Divide pics. Mt. Guyot at 13,370ft. was named after Henri Guyot, a famous Swiss geologist. One typically climbs it via the ridgeline at the right...
Bald Mtn. at 13,684ft. has a long ridgeline with many false summits as one heads back and towards the right. Guess it was named after the many with thinning hair? Eh?
BTW, with brisk winds, and temps in the mid-30's, just hopping off the bike for a quick pic, the bike is kept idling, keeping those heated grips heated!
One more Divide pic. While the backside of the GS is shown 13,829ft. Mt. Silverheels, the bike should be turned around in tribute. The peak was named after a dance hall lady who cared for the miners in nearby Fairplay when a smallpox epidemic swept through the town and nearby mining camps, and she wore silver heels.
See that faint road line through the wintry cluster of Aspen trees? That's the Boreas Pass road built on top of an old rail bed. It leads from Como to Breckenridge. Here's a vid ride over it.
On the way to Fairplay there is the modest Red Hill Pass, named after the red rocks at its summit. You can see the grade ascending it. Behind it are the monstrous peaks (from left to right) of Horseshoe (apt), and the 14,000ft. + granite ramparts of Mt. Bross and Mt. Lincoln. This can be a wide open and lonely place, and even more so when winter is on the stage. One can see ribbons of tarmac straighten themselves out, and one can can be tempted to twist the throttle grip a little more...
Just below the Red Hill summit we look back at where we have come from...
Well, the lunch destination of Fairplay, the county seat, is reached. Back when miners found graft, corruption, and greed the rule versus exception, city founders declared the community would be one where we "play fair". This is a high altitude town, but not as high as Alma, where we go next. The main steet, highway heading north to Alma, Hoosier Pass, and Breckenridge...
A little further, to the right, the historic Park County Courthouse can be seen. Today it is a place of quiet study and reading. Years ago it was a boisterous place of court activity and judgment. Executions by hanging were facilitated by the trees in the yard, but I'm not so sure it was these trees...
We're on the outskirts of Alma. Can see it barely to the left. This is currently the second highest incorporated town in the U.S. at 10,361ft. Actually, this is a moving number, and I mention "currently". A few years ago city leaders thought it would be good for business to have Alma be the highest town in the U.S., taking the crown from nearby Leadville. So they annexed a few homes on a hillside. Leadville responded by annexing a nearby mine on a slope. Alma said, "Oh yeah?", and annexed a cemetery on a higher hill. Leadville responded with their own cemetery acquisition. I think this is where it is at, and believe Alma has raised the white flag of surrender.
This is where I paused to connect the helmet cam gear. Mt. Bross at 14,172ft. looms to the NW. Can see a faint zig zag of an old mine road ascending the slopes. It actually leads all the way to the top, making this one of the highest navigable roads in NA....
OK, the cams are connected. Record is pressed. From here we ride the southern approach to Hoosier Pass at 11,539ft. Peter Kater on the piano and R. Carlos Nakai - Native American flute accompany... "All Souls Waltz"...
January Ascent of Hoosier Pass - Streaming Video
Arrival at the Pass summit! At the top we see the 14,286ft. nipple summit of Mt. Lincoln, another 3,100ft higher than where we are. An old mining road also skirts its SE slopes...
To the north is the Blue Creek drainage and the highest points of the Continental Divide in NA. The Breckenridge ski area isn't far...
Temps are 31f, but I think I'm warmed by this weather window gift. You all can relate eh? Good riding for us all in '09!
The 10,000ft. high meadows of South Park (one of three major named Colorado "parks"), defended on three sides by snowcapped peaks, with Pikes Peak as a sentinal to south, are often seen from a saddle during more "accomodating" months. With fairly calm weather the past few days, and knowing the Hoosier Pass destination has a southern facing approach, cast fate to the wind and packed the cam gear... an opportunity to see The Park mid-January.
Numerous images, and a ride video from Alma to Hoosier Pass follow.
Here's the map of the ride...
While on the way, at the base of the northern approach to Kenosha Pass, I come across these bighorn sheep, finding the warmth near the road and ice abating chemicals on its surface irresistible...
As the map above notes, we start with a pause at 10,001ft. Kenosha Pass. One hundred years ago the only motorized access to The Park was on two rails...
Today, two wheels can take us to the same place. We're gazing at a spur of the Mosquito Range, and the meadows of South Park are below. Poet Walt Whitman wrote these words from this location in 1879...
I jot these lines literally at Kenosha summit, where we return, afternoon, and take a long rest, 10,000 feet above sea-level. At this immense height the South Park stretches fifty miles before me. Mountainous chains and peaks in every variety of perspective, every hue of vista, fringe the view...so the whole Western world is, in a sense, but an expansion of these mountains...
We enjoy a two wheeled descent to The Park. Here was a typical descent 100 years ago...
This was the first train stop in The Park. Read an account once of a train facing white out snow conditions, decided to shut down for the night and hope for better weather in the morning. Well, better visibility on the morning revealed the train had left the tracks a long ways back and had been churning across the frozen meadows!
Today, the wind is brisk, the temps are more brisk, but conditions are dry and a quick pic is taken...
This small town of Jefferson (est. pop. 50) has a market ranchers and cabin dwellers will stop by to pick up their mail, talk politics, talk the weather, etc. Heard the other day of a mountain lion taking horses at a nearby ranch. BTW, if passing through Jefferson some day, pick up some of their famous fudge...
We wander down the Michigan Creek Road for a couple of Continental Divide pics. Mt. Guyot at 13,370ft. was named after Henri Guyot, a famous Swiss geologist. One typically climbs it via the ridgeline at the right...
Bald Mtn. at 13,684ft. has a long ridgeline with many false summits as one heads back and towards the right. Guess it was named after the many with thinning hair? Eh?
BTW, with brisk winds, and temps in the mid-30's, just hopping off the bike for a quick pic, the bike is kept idling, keeping those heated grips heated!
One more Divide pic. While the backside of the GS is shown 13,829ft. Mt. Silverheels, the bike should be turned around in tribute. The peak was named after a dance hall lady who cared for the miners in nearby Fairplay when a smallpox epidemic swept through the town and nearby mining camps, and she wore silver heels.
See that faint road line through the wintry cluster of Aspen trees? That's the Boreas Pass road built on top of an old rail bed. It leads from Como to Breckenridge. Here's a vid ride over it.
On the way to Fairplay there is the modest Red Hill Pass, named after the red rocks at its summit. You can see the grade ascending it. Behind it are the monstrous peaks (from left to right) of Horseshoe (apt), and the 14,000ft. + granite ramparts of Mt. Bross and Mt. Lincoln. This can be a wide open and lonely place, and even more so when winter is on the stage. One can see ribbons of tarmac straighten themselves out, and one can can be tempted to twist the throttle grip a little more...
Just below the Red Hill summit we look back at where we have come from...
Well, the lunch destination of Fairplay, the county seat, is reached. Back when miners found graft, corruption, and greed the rule versus exception, city founders declared the community would be one where we "play fair". This is a high altitude town, but not as high as Alma, where we go next. The main steet, highway heading north to Alma, Hoosier Pass, and Breckenridge...
A little further, to the right, the historic Park County Courthouse can be seen. Today it is a place of quiet study and reading. Years ago it was a boisterous place of court activity and judgment. Executions by hanging were facilitated by the trees in the yard, but I'm not so sure it was these trees...
We're on the outskirts of Alma. Can see it barely to the left. This is currently the second highest incorporated town in the U.S. at 10,361ft. Actually, this is a moving number, and I mention "currently". A few years ago city leaders thought it would be good for business to have Alma be the highest town in the U.S., taking the crown from nearby Leadville. So they annexed a few homes on a hillside. Leadville responded by annexing a nearby mine on a slope. Alma said, "Oh yeah?", and annexed a cemetery on a higher hill. Leadville responded with their own cemetery acquisition. I think this is where it is at, and believe Alma has raised the white flag of surrender.
This is where I paused to connect the helmet cam gear. Mt. Bross at 14,172ft. looms to the NW. Can see a faint zig zag of an old mine road ascending the slopes. It actually leads all the way to the top, making this one of the highest navigable roads in NA....
OK, the cams are connected. Record is pressed. From here we ride the southern approach to Hoosier Pass at 11,539ft. Peter Kater on the piano and R. Carlos Nakai - Native American flute accompany... "All Souls Waltz"...
January Ascent of Hoosier Pass - Streaming Video
Arrival at the Pass summit! At the top we see the 14,286ft. nipple summit of Mt. Lincoln, another 3,100ft higher than where we are. An old mining road also skirts its SE slopes...
To the north is the Blue Creek drainage and the highest points of the Continental Divide in NA. The Breckenridge ski area isn't far...
Temps are 31f, but I think I'm warmed by this weather window gift. You all can relate eh? Good riding for us all in '09!
