There are a lot of mountain passes around here. The one we approached yesterday, Mosquito Pass, was once a busy connector between Alma and Leadville. Today we aimed for Weston Pass, another connector between nearby Fairplay and Leadville.
This was once a busy toll road, made busy by the silver strike in Leadville in 1877. Stagecoaches, cargo wagons, and other means of transportation came over that pass in such numbers that traffic jams were a common occurrence, and bloody stagecoach accidents were all too common. Having been on Mosquito Pass and not even making it to the top, it’s amazing that a single stagecoach made it over the pass at all. Much of the trip is driving over basketball-sized rocks (and larger).
Today’s pass was a little tamer. And we made it all the way over. It took us a while, as we stopped a couple times to hike the trails in the area, but it was a delightful journey with some amazing scenery.
First stop was the Rich Creek Trailhead, on the way up to Weston Pass. This provided a pleasant walk in the woods next to Rich Creek and gave us a chance to stretch our legs after being in the Jeep for 25 minutes.
A little farther up the road is the Weston Campground and the Ridgeview Trail starts from there and climbs steadily for 500 feet until it ends at an overlook. We initially took a wrong turn and added a little over a half mile to the hike because of a missing sign.
But the overlook was worth it. Although the tall trees obscured some of the view, we could see down the Weston Pass Road in both directions. And the breezes at the top were deliciously cool after hiking in partial sun for the better part of an hour.
I launched my drone to get some aerial photos. After taking a drone selfie and a couple pictures above the trees, I suddenly lost control of the drone. The controller went dead. Nothing I could do would wake it back up. The drone eventually activated its return-to-home mode and came flying back. Trouble was, I had launched it under a tall tree and flown it out from under the tree before gaining altitude. Now it came back to its home position and started to descend. It stopped when it detecting something beneath it and just hovered there, 12 feet above ground and next to some small pine tree branches. Its little silicon brain did not know what to do. All I could do was just watch. It then descended very slowly until one of the propellers hit a pine branch, severing it and sending the drone off in an unexpected direction. It hit another branch and then another in a crazy fall that eventually ended upright on the ground. No damage, other than severed pine branches scattered about, but I no longer have an eye in the sky.
Back at the trailhead, we ate lunch in the campground, then continued up the road towards Weston Pass. This section of road got rather technical, with rocks and potholes jarring the passengers of the Jeep. We were once again grateful that we had insisted on a Jeep. It got us to some amazing areas. The narrow valleys between the ridges were breathtaking.
We stopped at the summit of Weston Pass, elevation 11,921 feet. More amazing views of the road we had just traveled. We admired the view for a bit before pressing on.
The descent into Leadville had some equally technical spots, although there were some people dispersed camping along this route who towed campers up this bumpy road. Not sure I would do that to my RV.
Unfortunately, there is only so much time in a day and we were running a bit short. We walked around a little bit in Leadville, then headed back. We chose to take the northern route up through Breckenridge. The pass was amazingly beautiful, but the passengers, particularly those in the back seat, had been jostled around quite a bit of the day and needed a break.
Tomorrow, we will probably do another pass on the way to the family get-together in Keystone. These have been a blast.
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