I just remembered going from Aspen to Leadville, and camping by Twin Lakes at a forest service campground. A very nice campground, beautiful Lakes, nice canoeing on them. Drove around in our dinghy to Leadville and had pizza at Pizza Hut. We'd driven over from Aspen, very neat drive up and over, extremely narrow at one point on the drive, one lane, it seems now. I remember a lot broken side mirrors by the rock which one had to squeeze around and tucking in the driver's side mirror. In a 22' C-Class MH towing a Geo Metro with a 16' Canoe on it's roof. Made it by without a scratch. Topped out well above tree-line getting over at the pass. Independence Pass very scenic. Very beautiful country. It just reminds me, we do not have to stray too far from home to see some beautiful country. At the time we were returning from a trip which took us up the west coast to Blaine at least at Birch Bay State Park, then over into Canada. To Jasper, Baniff, Watertown, back to US to Glacier, to Idaho to Rock Springs, WY by Flaming Gorge to Aspen. But after Twin Lakes, we got to Heron Lake in New Mexico, but not sure of the route. A neat trip in 1997, our first in the Couchmen. The campground near Aspen was along a river, lots of dense willows between the sites and to the river. Not much around in the way of public campings areas.
Is the one lane pass around the "boulder" or RockFace on CO 82 up from Aspen still there, going to Independence Pass?
Edited to delete reference to Twin Lake State Park, not a state park but San Isabel National Forest Campgrounds. Thanks, DadD45 for pointing out the mistake.
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DesertHawk - Las Cruces, NM USA
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Many, many moon ago I lived in Aspen, just out of college. I spent 3 years there, skiing the winters and cycling Independence pass in the summer.
The spot you're talking about isn't 1 lane but actually 1 1/2 lanes, striped as if it were 2. There's a sign on the downhill lane saying you have to stop for the uphill traffic--definitely a pulse-quickener!
Of course, at that point in my life I felt I was invincible. We used to cycle up and over Independence pass and down to twin lakes, have lunch at that little store, and then ride back again. On the way back down the pass, for some reason we felt compelled to thread the needle between uphill and downhill traffic, in the very spot you're talking about. Everybody's going 10 mph so why not go 30 mph between them?
Thank you for the trip report, it brings back memories. I'm not sure how I would fit an 8-ft wide MH on that narrow section, particularly if one was coming the other way at the same time. But on a bicycle? Shoulder-width was plenty!
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Is the one lane pass around the "boulder" or RockFace on CO 82 up from Aspen still there, going to Independence Pass?
