Review by Ed Quillen
Hiking – March 1996 – Colorado Central Magazine
Hiking the Highest Passes of Colorado
by Bob Martin
second edition, published in 1988 by Pruett
ISBN 0-87108-756-1
Almost every summer, someone breaks the time record for racing up all of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks, and meanwhile, land managers are trying to cope with the exponential growth of trash and traffic in the highest country.
Bob Martin, author of many guides to various aspects of the Rockies, would like some of this attention to go to the highest passes in the state. He points out, though, that “reaching all of the twelve-thousand-foot passes is a reasonable goal for many more people. We think that this goal is every bit as interesting and satisfying as climbing all of the Fourteeners.”
With that in mind, and with his wife, Dotty, as a partner, he compiled a list of named crossings, ascended them, and produced this guide. He found 60 passes above 12,000 feet. Of these, 16 could be crossed in a vehicle, and this is a hiking guide, which leaves 44. He added six more that are over 11,000 feet because they’re good hikes, for 50 detailed routes.
The details are aimed straight at the hiker — explicit directions to the trailhead, marked topo maps, distances and elevations, difficulty ratings, estimated times, nearby towns and campgrounds, etc.
You won’t find much, if anything, about the history of the pass, which disappointed me. Once we hiked up the south side of Chalk Creek Pass between Garfield and Hancock. Remnants of a wagon road appeared from time to time. I wondered who had built it, when and why. Although this book has a fine description of the ascent from the Hancock side, I found no lore about the pass.
Nor is there much geology or biology here. If you’re curious about what sharp rocks you’re cursing, or what plants you’re trampling, you should look elsewhere.
In theory, a pass is any crossing of a low point on a ridge. Martin stuck to those with official USGS names, and noted that pass elevations are often rather imprecise — surveyors put their monuments and their measurements on the rises, not the dips.
By his reckoning, Electric Pass, south of Aspen, is the highest pass in the state at 13,500 feet. Central Colorado can claim second place with 13,220-foot Elkhead Pass (named because surveyors in 1956 found an elk’s skull near the top) which sits south of Vicksburg up Clear Creek Road. It’s a popular route because it goes between two Fourteeners, Missouri and Belford.
Highest Passes is organized geographically, with a section for each high range. Its appendices provide three lists: All Colorado passes 11,000 feet and above, high passes with unofficial names, and the passes over 12,000 feet (such as Mosquito, Tin Cup, Cottonwood, Independence, and Cumberland) that he didn’t cover because they have roads, rather than hiking trails.
If you’re looking for new high trails to explore when the weather gets good, Highest Passes will give you some ideas and help you reach and navigate the trails.
But if you also want some idea why they’re there, you should consult The Great Gates by Marshall Sprague, The Colorado Pass Book by Don Koch, or The Passes of Colorado by Ed and Gloria Helmuth.
–Ed Quillen
