There are 15 paved passes, and many unpaved ones, over the Continental Divide in Colorado. Several times I had invited relatives from Nebraska to come to Colorado and "ride some passes over the Divide with me." The plan was to ride the passes to enjoy the curvy roads and all of the beautiful high altitude Rocky Mountain scenery they offer, but to ride slowly enough to safely appreciate the sights. They hadn't been able to make it so I decided to go ahead and try the ride myself just to see how many passes could be ridden in an easy going manner in a day.

So on a summer Saturday morning I left the southwest side of Denver at 5:35 AM and began my ride on C-470 along the Hogback as the sun was just coming up over the prairie to the east. C-470 intersects I-70 where I turned west into the mountains, weaving up Mt. Vernon Canyon. My first stop was at the old mining town of Idaho Springs where I had to put on an additional flannel shirt and ski gloves because it was getting colder. On another day I could have taken the Virginia Canyon road, a good gravel road to the north which passes many mining sites to Central City. Or I could have turned south on the paved road that goes all the way to the 14,264' summit of Mt. Evans. But I continued on I-70 to the exit for US-40 which was to lead me the 15 miles up to Berthoud Pass, my first pass of the day. US-40 has two climbing lanes much of the way to the summit which makes it easy to pass slower moving traffic. (US-40 up the west side has climbing lanes through all the switchbacks to the top, making it one of best roads around for keeping tires rounded off on the sides.) At 6:50 I reached the pass and paused to read the signs and to give directions to some folks looking for Winter Park (just being a polite motorcyclist). Berthoud Pass is at 11,307' and is named for Captain E.L. Berthoud, who along with the famous mountainman Jim Bridger, crossed the pass in 1861. The pass is also the home of the Berthoud Ski Area which, when it was open, specialized in "extreme" and "adventure" skiing in the winter.

After a short break, I headed back down to I-70, making sure I didn't exceed 35mph through Empire which is notorious for its speed traps. Then west on I-70 almost to Eisenhower Tunnel to the US-6 exit which begins the climb to Loveland Pass. On the way up I stopped at a quiet turnout along one of the switchbacks just to enjoy the great view back down into the valley and the I-70 traffic that had been left far behind. At 7:35 I reached Loveland Pass, elevation 11,990', which was named for John Loveland, an early governor of Colorado. US-6 then descends past Arapahoe Basin and Keystone to Lake Dillon. I turned south there on CO-9 and headed for Breckenridge, known for its skiing and Victorian architecture, a nice place to visit at any time of the year.

I tanked up on gas, switched back to light weight gloves, and headed south up the winding road to Hoosier Pass, elevation 11,542', and reached it at 8:30. This pass was crossed in 1844 by John Fremont, an officer in the Army Corps of Topographical Engineers on his third expedition of the West, along with his scout Kit Carson, a famous mountainman. After talking to some tourists from Ohio about how much fun it was to ride a motorcycle around the Rockies (that made me feel like "Then Came Bronson"), I returned to Breckenridge.

Just south of town I stopped to remove my flannel shirt and the liner from my jacket and then turned back east up the route of the Denver, South Park and Pacific railroad which was active from 1882 to 1937. The road, one of the prettiest in the state, is well maintained dirt and gravel, is only one lane in some places, but can handle Gold Wings and passenger cars with no trouble. At one place it winds through the aspens past a picturesque old railroad watering tank. After about 10 miles of easy 25-30mph riding, the road peaks out above the timber line at Boreas Pass, elevation 11,482', the site of a mining town where several old buildings are still standing. Another good photo opportunity, except in the winter. Boreas Pass was named after Boreas, the Greek god of the north wind. The road descends to the east to Como, once a big commerce and railroad maintenance town, but I returned to Breckenridge again.

From there I continued around the west side of Lake Dillon to Frisco, which features an antique shop with a full-sized steam locomotive inside, and got back onto I-70 for a few miles. I turned south on CO-91 at Copper Mountain and headed up toward Fremont Pass, elevation 11,318', and the Climax molybdenum mine. I crossed the pass, named for John Fremont, at 10:35 and wound down along the headwaters of the Arkansas River to the mining town of Leadville, which at 10,000' is the highest incorporated town in the US. Its past includes a gold strike in 1860, a period of decline until silver was discovered in 1875, then more decline until copper and zinc mining brought prosperity in the 1880s. One of the town's industries now is high altitude flight testing of helicopters.

From Leadville I went north on US-24 for 11 miles to Tennessee Pass, elevation 10,424', near the site of Fort Hale where the Army's 10th Mountain Division trained during WWII. After reading the plaques dedicated to the troops of the 10th that died during the war, I returned to Leadville and a relaxed noon-time lunch at the Golden Burro Cafe.

After lunch I decided to explore another non-paved pass that I hadn't seen so I headed west from Leadville past Turquoise Lake, a beautiful sight when seen from along the road above. The road was gravel with bigger rocks showing themselves from time to time and I wondered if I shouldn't have been on a dual-purpose bike rather than my Windjammer-equipped Honda CB750K road bike, but tourists in small compact cars kept coming past me so I pressed on, figuring to turn back if it got too rough. The road, formerly the railbed of the Colorado Midland Railway, traversed the side of a valley and was what could be called a shelf road but was still fairly wide so I continued. At one switchback where the railroad entered Carlton Tunnel the road became a two-track jeep trail, followed a narrower shelf, passed a small waterfall, but still wasn't too rough. I was down to 5-10mph though standing on the pegs dodging rocks that could upset me or bash the bottom of the bike. (This was not a Gold Wing road and I saw no more compact cars). Finally the trail went up through a large plowed out snow drift and arrived at Hagerman Pass, elevation 11,982'. My bike was all dusty, I was a little tired after the 1 hour, 17 mile bouncy ride from Leadville, but just making it up there on the "wrong kind of bike" put a big smile on my face and gave me a real sense of accomplishment. I took some pictures, had some snacks, and slowly headed back down to Leadville. It was time for more gas before winding south on US-24 along the Arkansas River.

At CO-82 I turned west past Twin Lakes, noted for good fishing, and traveled along another one of the very prettiest drives in Colorado. The road curves along Lake Creek which looks almost jade green as it roars down the valley. Just west of Twin Lakes are several camp grounds where you can turn off the highway, cross the river, and just sit and enjoy watching the cascading water. The road gets to Independence Pass, the second highest paved pass over the Divide at 12,095', about 24 miles and 35 minutes later. A short walk to the south provides great photo opportunities of the tundra area there above the timber line. The road over the pass, which is only open in the summer, continues down to Aspen, but I turned back east to Twin Lakes, then south on US-24 again, to Buena Vista.

Buena Vista, a excellent place to begin some white water rafting, sits in the valley along the Arkansas River at the base of the Collegiate Mountain Range which includes eight "fourteeners", mountains reaching above 14,000'. At the traffic light in Buena Vista I turned west on CO-306 which was paved for about 10 miles, then turned to gravel for 9 miles. It is paved all the way up now. The scenery is really pretty as the road parallels Cottonwood Creek past beaver ponds and wild flowers, but on this ride I didn't enjoy much of that as the road was badly washboarded. I kept hoping it would smooth out but it was rough all the way up to Cottonwood Pass, elevation 12,126', which I reached at 4:40 PM. After taking a few pictures of the panorama looking out over Taylor Park and putting the lining back in my jacket, it was back down the washboards to Buena Vista and a quick "dinner" at 7-11.

Since this was supposed to be an easy day's ride, at 5:30 rather than continue on south to nearby Monarch Pass I headed back home on US-285 through South Park, a large valley roughly 40 miles long by 30 wide with an average elevation of 9000'. There are only about 5000 hardy people living in the valley. Lots of beautiful wide open spaces once the hunting grounds of the Ute Indians. The valley was visited by the Zebulon Pike expedition in 1806. At the north end of South Park I crossed over the 10,000' Kenosha Pass which is just south of the Divide and a good area for camping, hiking, cross country skiing, and snowmobiling. US-285 then descends along the South Platte River and passes through Aspen Park, the home of Coney Island, the hot dog shaped diner once featured "American Motorcyclist". After winding the last 13 miles and 130 turns down Turkey Creek and Deer Creek canyons, I arrived back home at 7:45 PM.

The total trip was about 500 miles covered in about 14 fairly easy hours. I traveled miles of curvy roads to get up onto the Continental Divide on nine different passes and saw lots of pretty scenery. It was too bad none of my relatives were able to make it, but at least I had a good trip and will be able to plan one for them when they do finally get out to "ride the Divide."

- Randy Bishop, Littleton Colorado