Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we give our opinions on the best that Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems.)
Like a lot of the best parts of Colorado, the joys of Independence Pass are short-lived and difficult to reach. But at least it’s paved, as my mom recently pointed out to me.
With an apex at 12,095 feet above sea level – higher than timberline – the windy road over the pass is only open from June through October each year due to the snow that piles up in the Sawatch mountain range. That means skiers and other visitors coming from the south or the east have to go the long way around if they want to get from Twin Lakes up over the Continental Divide and down into Aspen along State Highway 82 during the winter months.
But in the summer and early fall, it’s well worth the trip, offering sweeping pine- and aspen-covered views of the mountain range and the valleys below.
Following Lake Creek on the east side and the Roaring Fork River on the west, the dirt road over the pass was originally built in 1882 for gold and silver miners who were chasing fortunes. (About 1,000 people lived in what is now the ghost town of Independence around that time.)
I wasn’t chasing a fortune when I drove over the pass a few weekends ago, though. Rather, I was trying to avoid spending one in Aspen, where the only things more lofty than the scenery are the restaurant and hotel prices. (We camped at Difficult Campground, just outside the town.)
It had been a while since I’d driven it, and memories came back to me of being in the backseat of my parents’ car in the 1970s as they made the journey every year for summer break. The switchbacks, the drop-offs, the narrow curves … the carsickness.
Interstate 70 through Glenwood Canyon was under construction at the time, so the best way to get to town was often along U.S. Route 285 through Fairplay to Buena Vista, and then north to Twin Lakes.
How long ago was that? Well, Highway 82 over Independence Pass wasn’t accessible to cars until the 1920s when “Aspen boosters paid to improve the road to attract automobile tourists,” according to an informational sign that sits above the ghost town.
That means it has been as many years between then and when my parents drove it in the ‘70s as it has between the ‘70s and now. Guard rails were added (thankfully) by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, and the road was finally paved in 1968, according to the sign.
But my mom remembers driving it before that time, and if you think it is treacherous or frightening now, imagine how it was back then. Still beautiful, of course, just a little muddier.
You’ve only got another two months to drive over Independence Pass before it closes for the season this year, so enjoy it while you can.