Cumbres Pass, elevation , is a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human a ...

in the

San Juan Mountains The San Juan Mountains is a high and rugged mountain range in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. The area is highly mineralized (the Colorado Mineral Belt) and figured in the gold and silver mining industry ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, United States. The pass is traversed by State Highway 17 and the

Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, often abbreviated as the C&TSRR, is a narrow-gauge heritage railroad that operates on of track between Antonito, Colorado, and Chama, New Mexico, in the United States. The railroad is named for two geogra ...

. The highway has a moderate 5.8% approach on the north side and a gentler, 4% approach on the south side. It is rarely closed in winter and does not normally cause problems for vehicles, since the road is not a major through highway.

Railroad

The railroad line was built in the early 1880s by the

Denver & Rio Grande Railroad The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad , often shortened to ''Rio Grande'', D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a narrow-gauge line running south from De ...

as part of its San Juan Extension line from Alamosa, Colorado to Durango, Colorado. The railroad has a steep (for a railroad) 4% grade approaching from the west, so additional helper locomotives were usually run (and often still are) on trains from Chama to Cumbres Pass. The facilities at the pass were built by the railroad to support the turning of the helper locomotives for their return to Chama, and provide water to locomotives after the climb. Some of the structures at the pass, including the station building, were demolished when the highway was realigned. Regular passenger service was provided by the ''San Juan Express'', running from Alamosa to Durango, which was discontinued in 1951, although numerous rail-fan specials operated over the line until the Fall of 1967. Freight service on the line ended in 1968 and since 1970 the railroad from Chama to Antonito has been owned and operated by the

, which operates trains over the pass during the tourist season. The original section house, car inspectors house, and part of the old snowshed remain on Cumbres Pass and are maintained by the Friends of the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad. At present, no one lives at the summit of Cumbres Pass, though when the railroad operated as a common carrier line, railroad personnel were stationed at the pass full-time.

Hiking

The Pass is on the

Continental Divide Trail The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail (in short Continental Divide Trail (CDT)) is a United States National Scenic Trail with a length measured by the Continental Divide Trail Coalition of between the U.S. border with Chihuahua, Mexico a ...

and represents a transition between states. Northbound hikers head toward Colorado's San Juan Mountain Wilderness while southbound hikers enter New Mexico's

Carson National Forest Carson National Forest is a national forest in northern New Mexico, United States. It encompasses 6,070 square kilometers (1.5 million acres) and is administered by the United States Forest Service. The Forest Service's "mixed use" policy allows ...

References

Mountain passes of Colorado Rail mountain passes of the United States Landforms of Conejos County, Colorado Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad San Juan Mountains (Colorado) {{Colorado-geo-stub

Railroad

Hiking

See also

References