Off The Beaten Path

Four-wheelers, ORVs (Off-Road Vehicles), and ATVs (All Terrain Vehicles) are increasingly popular. They cover terrain quickly and offer an alternative to hiking for outdoor exploration. Around Basalt, there are a number of great four-wheeling trips that can be accessed in warmer months (and for the experienced four-wheeler, even some in the winter). It’s important to be both safe and prepared, as well as sensitive to the fragile back-country environment. Before you go, check out some good tips to tread lightly here.

Cottonwood Pass

This road travels from Colorado Hwy. 82 at Cattle Creek to Gypsum, through Bureau of Land Management property. The route meanders through gentle, rolling hills before climbing to White River National Forest and the summit of the pass. The top of the pass provides views of several Elk Range fourteeners, including Snowmass Mountain and Mt. Sopris.

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Hagerman Pass

Hagerman Pass, elevation 11,939 ft (3,639 m), is a high mountain pass that crosses the continental divide in the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado in the United States.

The pass was named for James J. Hagerman, builder of the Colorado Midland Railroad. The Colorado Midland railroad crossed the continental divide through one of two tunnels (initially the Hagerman Tunnel, later the Busk-Ivanhoe Tunnel at lower altitude) near the top of Hagerman pass. It traverses the Sawatch Range west of Leadville, connecting the headwaters of the Arkansas River on the east with the upper valley of the Fryingpan River above Basalt, in the basin of the Colorado River.

The pass is traversed by an unimproved road that is passable only with four-wheel drive vehicles and on foot. Two-wheel drive vehicles will find it difficult due to some stream crossings and rocky sections. It is open from approximately late May through the arrival of the first heavy snow in mid or late autumn. The road has occasionally been blocked by fallen trees.

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