Rollins Pass
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Rollins 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 ...
and active
archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...
LaBelle, Jason M. & Pelton, Spencer R. "Communal hunting along the Continental Divide of Northern Colorado: Results from the Olson game drive (5BL147)", 2013 in the
Southern Rocky Mountains The Southern Rocky Mountains are a major subregion of the Rocky Mountains of North America located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Wyoming, the central and western portions of Colorado, the northern portion of New Mexico, and ex ...
of north-central
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 ...
in the United States. The pass is located on and traverses the
Continental Divide of the Americas The Continental Divide of the Americas (also known as the Great Divide, the Western Divide or simply the Continental Divide; ) is the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas. The Continental Divide extends from t ...
at the crest of the
Front Range The Front Range is a mountain range of the Southern Rocky Mountains of North America located in the central portion of the U.S. State of Colorado, and southeastern portion of the U.S. State of Wyoming. It is the first mountain range encountere ...
southwest of
Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...
and is located approximately five miles east and opposite the resort in Winter Park—in the general area between Winter Park and Rollinsville. Rollins Pass is at the boundaries of
Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...
, Gilpin, and
Grand Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and commu ...
counties. Over the past 10,000 years, the pass provided a route over the Continental Divide between the Atlantic Ocean watershed of South Boulder Creek (in the basin of the
South Platte River The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwestern United States, Midwest and the American Sout ...
) with the Pacific Ocean watershed of the
Fraser River The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual d ...
, a
tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...
of the
Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...
. The abandoned rail route over Rollins Pass was nominated for and accepted into the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1980 because of significant events and engineering feats accomplished by railroading efforts in the early 20th century. In 1997, additional areas on the pass were added to the National Register of Historic Places to include achievements made by John Q.A. Rollins and his toll wagon road that traversed the pass. In 2012, Rollins Pass was listed as one of the most endangered sites in Colorado.


Naming

''Rollins Pass'' is the sole, official name recognized by both the
United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
and the United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN); a decision card was issued on Wednesday, December 7, 1904. The pass was first known as ''Boulder Pass''—one of two variant names accepted by the BGN—the other being ''Rogers Pass''. The pass was also known infrequently as Rollinsville Pass. In Grand County, Rollins Pass is sometimes given the
sobriquet A sobriquet ( ), or soubriquet, is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another, that is descriptive. A sobriquet is distinct from a pseudonym, as it is typically a familiar name used in place of a real name, without the need of expla ...
of ''Corona Pass'', named for the apex station at the summit, Corona. This nomenclature dispute provoked the ire of former railroaders; in fact, Frederick Bauer remarked, " ollins Pass isincorrectly called Corona Pass by neophytes and some locals." It is inconsistent, as well as atypical, to refer to mountain passes by the names of their apex stations. Fremont Pass, for example, is not named ''Climax Pass''; nor is
La Veta Pass La Veta Pass is the name associated with two nearby mountain passes in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of south central Colorado in the United States, both lying on the boundary between Costilla and Huerfano counties. Old La Veta Pass (officiall ...
referred to as ''Fir Pass''.


Elevation

The elevation of '11,660 feet' commonly attributed to Rollins Pass (note the McClure sketch later in this article) "reflects what might have been an original survey value obtained during either the late wagon road era or early railroad construction. ... The actual benchmarked survey elevation value of the summit of Rollins Pass is 11,671 feet (
NGVD29 The National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 is the official name since 1973 of the vertical datum established for vertical control surveying in the United States, United States of America by the General Adjustment of 1929. Originally known as S ...
), obtained during a 1952 second-order level line run from
State Bridge State Bridge is an unincorporated community in Eagle County, Colorado, Eagle County, in the U.S. state of Colorado. History A post office called State Bridge was established in 1909, and remained in operation until 1915. The community is named for ...
to Denver by the US Coast and Geodetic Survey (predecessor to the
National Geodetic Survey The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) is a List of federal agencies in the United States, United States federal agency that defines and manages a national coordinate system, providing the foundation for transportation and communication; mapping an ...
). When adjusted to
NAVD88 The North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88) is the vertical datum for orthometric heights established for vertical control surveying in the United States of America based upon the General Adjustment of the North American Datum of 1988. ...
, the elevation is, without doubt, 11,676.79 feet."


Description

Rollins Pass has been in continuous use for millennia: first as a sprawling and internationally significant game drive complex that was hand-constructed and used by Paleoindians more than 10,000 years ago through the mid-19th century; followed by nearly two decades as a wagon road from 1862–1880; as a rail route (under
survey Survey may refer to: Statistics and human research * Statistical survey, a method for collecting quantitative information about items in a population * Survey (human research), including opinion polls Spatial measurement * Surveying, the techniq ...
, construction, and later operational) from 1880 to 1928; as a primitive automobile road from 1936 to 1956; and since September 1, 1956 as a seasonal, unpaved motor vehicle road. The pass is traversed by Paleoindians and Native American game drive complexes, hiking trails, including 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 ...
; an airway radial (V8), a 10"
Xcel Energy Xcel Energy Inc. is an American utility holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving more than 3.7 million electric customers and 2.1 million natural gas customers in Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico in 2019. It consists of four ope ...
high-pressure
natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
pipeline, and two roads: * The first dirt road is the ''Rollinsville and Middle Park Wagon Road'', created in the early 1860s and this route predates the rail line. This road employed much of what would later become Rollins Pass, particularly above timberline. This original wagon route, now called the ''Boulder Wagon Road'', took a steep counterclockwise route up Guinn Mountain encircling Yankee Doodle Lake before continuing to head west/northwest to proceed over the summit and down into the Middle Park valley near present-day Winter Park and Fraser, Colorado. * The second dirt road is mostly the former roadbed of the Denver, Northwestern, and Pacific Railway, that later became the
Denver and Salt Lake Railway The Denver and Salt Lake Railway (D&SL) was a U.S. railroad company located in Colorado. Originally incorporated in 1902 as the Denver, Northwestern and Pacific (DN&P) Railway, it had as a goal a direct connection of Denver, Colorado, with Sa ...
. This high-altitude railroad grade was part of the Moffat Road and this route was replaced (and later abandoned) by the opening of the
Moffat Tunnel The Moffat Tunnel is a railroad and water tunnel that cuts through the Continental Divide in north-central Colorado. Named after Colorado railroad pioneer David Moffat, the tunnel's first official railroad traffic passed through in February 192 ...
in 1928; the rails and ties were removed from Rollins Pass in 1936; however, some rail segments as well as ties, made of
pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...
,
oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
, and
walnut A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...
, can still be seen, along with planking used for snowsheds.Griswold, P.R. "The Moffat Road"Bollinger, Rev. Edward T., "Rails that climb"


Geology

The
Front Range The Front Range is a mountain range of the Southern Rocky Mountains of North America located in the central portion of the U.S. State of Colorado, and southeastern portion of the U.S. State of Wyoming. It is the first mountain range encountere ...
was created by the
Laramide Orogeny The Laramide orogeny was a time period of mountain building in western North America, which started in the Late Cretaceous, 70 to 80 million years ago, and ended 35 to 55 million years ago. The exact duration and ages of beginning and end of the o ...
, the last of three major mountain-building events, which occurred between 70 and 40 million years ago. Tectonic activity during the
Cenozoic Era The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configu ...
changed the Ancestral Rocky Mountains via block uplift, eventually forming the Rocky Mountains as they exist today. The geologic make-up of Rollins Pass and the surrounding areas were also affected by deformation and erosion during the Cenozoic Era. Many
sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...
s from the
Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...
and
Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceo ...
eras exist in the
basins Basin may refer to: Geography and geology * Depression (geology) ** Back-arc basin, a submarine feature associated with island arcs and subduction zones ** Debris basin, designed to prevent damage from debris flow ** Drainage basin (hydrology), a ...
surrounding the pass.


History


Rollins Pass as a prehistoric Paleoindian & Native American hunting complex

Paleoindians and early Native Americans were the first to utilize Rollins Pass as a natural, low crossing over the Continental Divide for the purposes of communal hunting of large game, including
bighorn sheep The bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') is a species of sheep native to North America. It is named for its large horns. A pair of horns might weigh up to ; the sheep typically weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates three distinct subspec ...
and
elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...
. There are more than 96 documented game drives, including the Olson game drive, found largely above timberline and near the summits of multiple mountain ridges. Handmade rock walls drove prey toward hunters waiting in blinds. These unique high-altitude constructs were built, refined, and continually used over millennia. The game drives built on—and over—Rollins Pass have international significance.


The Olson game drive

The Olson site (5BL147) is a multi-component rock walled game drive and is but one part of a much larger game drive complex located on Rollins Pass. Byron Olson and James Benedict conducted work at the site in the late-1960s. Present-day archaeology teams built on Olson and Benedict's work to expand the overview of the site using modern techniques. As of 2013, at least 45 blinds as well as 1,307 meters of rock walls are present across the Olson site; the purposes of which were to funnel game upslope to waiting hunters. Both
radiocarbon Carbon-14, C-14, or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and coll ...
and lichenometric dating suggest occupation by Native Americans spanning the last 3,200 years, with diagnostic tools suggesting even older use of the site, dating back to more than 10,000 years ago.


Other significant game drives

Game drives at other locations on Rollins Pass yield hundreds of additional blinds and miles of rock walls.


Rollins Pass as a late-prehistoric and historic Native American route

Rollins Pass has a documented history as a migratory route, hunting trail, and
battlefield A battlefield, battleground, or field of battle is the location of a present or historic battle involving ground warfare. It is commonly understood to be limited to the point of contact between opposing forces, though battles may involve troops ...
among the late prehistoric and contact-period Indians of Colorado.


Rollins Pass as an historic wagon road

The first recorded use of the pass (then known as ''Boulder Pass'' or ''Rollinsville Pass'') by a
wagon train ''Wagon Train'' is an American Western series that aired 8 seasons: first on the NBC television network (1957–1962), and then on ABC (1962–1965). ''Wagon Train'' debuted on September 18, 1957, and became number one in the Nielsen ratings. It ...
was in 1862, nearly 14 years before Colorado became a state. Directions for wagons traveling from Rollinsville to Winter Park were published in newspapers. John Quincy Adams Rollins, a Colorado
pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and de ...
from a
family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
of pioneers, constructed a toll wagon road over the pass in the 1873, providing a route between the Colorado Front Range and Middle Park; subsequently, Rollins Pass was named after John Q.A. Rollins.


John Quincy Adams Rollins

John Q.A. Rollins was born on Sunday, June 16, 1816 in
Gilmanton, New Hampshire Gilmanton is a town in Belknap County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,945 at the 2020 census. Gilmanton includes the villages of Gilmanton Corners and Gilmanton Ironworks. The town became well known in the 1950s after it was ...
and was the son of a New England minister. Rollins is described as being a strong man and an extensive character, popular with almost everybody whom he did not owe and his one predominating fault was his failure to pay his debts. Newspapers cited that he was so careless about his credit that he could not keep track of all his creditors, and in turn, they had trouble keeping track of him. Rollins died on Wednesday, June 20, 1894 and is buried in Colorado's oldest operating cemetery,
Riverside Riverside may refer to: Places Australia * Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania Canada * Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon * Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta * Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...
, in block 5, lot 12. His simple tombstone reads, "John Q.A. Rollins , Colorado Pioneer of Rollinsville and Rollins Pass."
Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
Rollins' newspaper
obituary An obituary ( obit for short) is an article about a recently deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life, this is not always the case. Ac ...
mentions, "No man in Northern Colorado was better known nor counted more warm friends than John Q.A. Rollins."


Middle Park and South Boulder Wagon Road Company

John Rollins capitalized on this and received approval for his toll wagon road on Tuesday, February 6, 1866. The Council and House of Representatives of
Colorado Territory The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Colorado. The territory was organized in the w ...
passed an act signed by the governor approving the wagon road as the "Middle Park and South Boulder Wagon Road Company." Records reflect the incorporators as "John Q.A. Rollins, Perley Dodge, Frederic C. Weir." Yet, the "Rollins road" through Boulder Pass was not completed until the first half of August 1873. While the newspaper articles cited "wagons can now be taken over this route without the slightest trouble," other articles countered, "the trail ... is splendid for horses but fearful for wagons" and "the rocks, mud-holes, bogs, creeks, boulders and sidling ledges of that road, can only be appreciated by being seen, the only wonder is that a wagon can be taken over at all." Other articles were a bit more grim, referring to the wagon road as a "little more than the rocky ridge of a precipice along which lurked death and disaster." Newspaper records reflect on Friday, June 12, 1874, James Harvey Crawford along with his wife, Margaret Emerine Bourn Crawford, made pioneer history as the first (nonindigenous) couple to cross Rollins Pass by wagons, and Mrs. Crawford is credited as the first woman to cross the pass. That day held many challenges, including a two-hour blizzard, "which was of terrific violence" and she remarked in a newspaper article, "the bumping was so hard I thought I was nearly dead." As there was no formal road constructed from "Yankee Doodle Camp on up, only an Indian trail, she and the children had been left behind while her husband took the wagon pulled by a pair of mules, a team of horses and a yoke of oxen on up and camped. Then he came back for her with the team and the running gear only of the wagon, and she had to hold the children on someway, despite the dreadful bumping" with the "wagon almost standing on end." The pass was used heavily in the latter half of the 19th century by
settler A settler is a person who has human migration, migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a ...
s and at one time as many as 12,000 cattle at a time were driven over the pass. The wagon road had one tollgate and the following rate structure: "For each vehicle drawn by two animals, two dollars and fifty cents; for each additional two animals, twenty-five cents; each vehicle drawn by one animal, one dollar and fifty cents; horse and rider and
pack animal A pack animal, also known as a sumpter animal or beast of burden, is an individual or type of working animal used by humans as means of transporting materials by attaching them so their weight bears on the animal's back, in contrast to draft anim ...
s, twenty-five cents; loose stock, five cents per head ... horse with rider, or pack animal with pack, ten cents." The cost for nonpayment of a toll was the same as causing intentional damage to the road: $25. According to the manuscript of Martin Parsons, "Twistin Dogies Tails Over ''Rollins Pass''", each summer, Mr. Rollins would "build a cribbing of logs ... and would fill the center with rocks and earth, which helped reduce the grade between the hills." The original log cribbing can be seen today on the narrow ridge of Guinn Mountain, north of Yankee Doodle Lake. Rollins also built ''The Junction House'', "a large, two-story hewd-log structure" as a hotel, "at the point of intersection of the Berthoud and Rollins roads." The road began to fall out of use and into disrepair in 1880, approximately one year before early railroading attempts over the pass begun.


Mining efforts on Guinn Mountain at Yankee Doodle Lake

Guinn Mountain, encircling Yankee Doodle Lake, was used for mining from the early 1870s through the establishment of the railroad in 1904. This area held at least "four silver lodes" or "five patented lode claims, one patented placer claim, several prospect pits and the dump of one caved
adit An adit (from Latin ''aditus'', entrance) is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, ventilated, and minerals extracted at the lowest convenient level. Adits ...
." This caved adit, once , then lengthened to , is still shown as a mine on United States Geological Survey topographic maps as the ''Blue Stones Mine''. This tunnel exposed a "five-foot vein of ore varying in values from $16 to $25 per ton." It was concluded that the "Guinn Mountain area has little or no economic potential," despite listings of important mineral strikes in period newspapers. Further, "ten samples collected in the area contained only negligible amounts of any metal. Samples from the Avalon placer claim, located on the South Fork fMiddle Boulder Creek north of Guinn Mountain, and from the creek bottom were collected and panned; no gold was found." Despite this record, gold claims were nevertheless worked nearby with no published record of success.


Rollins Pass as an historic railroad route


Early railroad endeavors

There were multiple prior efforts to build a railroad over Rollins Pass in the 19th century and all attempts were met with impassable engineering challenges, financing issues, or both: ''GHS, Jefferson, & Boulder County Railroad and Wagon Road'' (A.N. Rogers' line) in 1867; ''U.P.'' in 1866; ''Kansas Pacific'' in 1869; ''Colorado Railroad'' (B. & M. subsidiary) in 1884—two tunnels located; '' Denver, Utah & Pacific'' in 1881 (construction started and tunnel located). The remains of the latter tunneling attempt can still be seen on the northern slope of the rock wall at Yankee Doodle Lake and the detritus from the attempted excavation of the tunnel was placed at the northernmost part of the lake where pulverized granite tailings can be seen rising out of the water. These tailings were definitively from the 1880s tunneling efforts as they are not visible in the early
stereoscopic Stereoscopy (also called stereoscopics, or stereo imaging) is a technique for creating or enhancing the depth perception, illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word ''stereoscopy'' derives . Any stere ...
images from the wagon road era of Yankee Doodle Lake; further, the attempted tunnel was not part of the later rail line that ultimately summited Rollins Pass.


The Moffat Road over Rollins Pass

In the early 20th century,
David Moffat David Halliday Moffat (July 22, 1839 – March 18, 1911) was an American financier and industrialist. Moffat was one of Denver's most important financiers and industrialists in late 19th and early 20th century Colorado, and he was responsible fo ...
, a
Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
banker, established the Denver, Northwestern and Pacific Railway with the intention of building a railroad from Denver toward
Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
by way of a tunnel under the Continental Divide. Surveys began in April 1902 and construction was started in January 1903, beginning on the east side of Rollins Pass."Engineering News-record"
McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. April 22, 2019 – via Google Books.
However, the railway only reached
Craig, Colorado Craig is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Moffat County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 9,060 at the 2020 United States Census. Craig is the principal city of the Craig, CO ...
. This entire line from Denver to Craig was known as the Moffat Road. The line included a stretch over the top of the Continental Divide, at Rollins Pass, with a two to four percent grade and switchbacks along many sections; the result was one of the highest adhesion (non-cog)
standard-gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...
railroads ever constructed in North America. This corridor over Rollins Pass was always intended to be temporary until what would later become the Moffat Tunnel was constructed and opened; therefore this overmountain route was constructed with more cost-effective materials: using wooden trestles (made of all Oregon fir) instead of iron bridges or high fills and wyes instead of
turntables A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...
. Construction of this route was exceptionally dangerous and deadly: in a single day, 60 Swedish workers were killed when a powder charge exploded prematurely during the construction of ''Needle's Eye Tunnel''. Along this route were three tunnels: Tunnel #31 (''the tunnel at Ladora''), Tunnel #32 (''Needle's Eye Tunnel''), and Tunnel #33 (''the Loop Tunnel at Riflesight Notch''). All three tunnels today are either completely caved in or have had multiple partial cave-ins. Other notable landmarks on the route included the ''Riflesight Notch'' Loop, located at Spruce Mountain: a spiral or loop where trains crossed over a trestle, made a ~90 degree gradual turn to descend , and passed through Tunnel #33 underneath the trestle.Bollinger, E. T. & Crossen, Forrest "The Moffat Road (Former 'Hill' Route): A Self-Guiding Auto Tour" A rail station, Corona, was established at the summit of the pass, with a red
brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...
and green roofed dining hall, weather station,
power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...
, and lodging. In summers, the train ride from Denver to Corona was advertised as a trip, "from sultry heat to Colorado's north pole;" tourists could stand in snowdrifts in the middle of July or August. Tours launched from the Moffat Depot, a small building constructed in the Georgian Revival style, featuring two-story tall windows, intricate exterior brickwork, and roofline pommels. This building, located several
city block A city block, residential block, urban block, or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. A city block is the smallest group of buildings that is surrounded by streets, not counting any type of thoroughfare within t ...
s northwest from
Denver Union Station Denver Union Station is the main railway station and central transportation hub in Denver, Colorado. It is located at 17th and Wynkoop Streets in the present-day LoDo district and includes the historic station house, a modern open-air train shed, ...
, was added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1976, and lay dormant for many decades after it was shuttered in 1947; in 2015, it was made the focal point of a
senior living Senior living is a concept that encompasses a range of housing and lifestyle options for ageing persons adapted to the challenges of health issues associated with ageing, such as limited mobility and susceptibility to illness. Common forms Based o ...
community center, after it was meticulously restored.


Weather and operational difficulties

Despite the fact that the line was enclosed in almost continuous snowsheds (wooden tunnels) near the summit of the pass, trains were often stranded for several days (and in some cases up to 30–60 days)"Oak Creek Times October 6, 1923 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"
''Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org''.
during heavy snowstorms because snow could fall or be blown through the wood planking of the sheds. Delays affected the timeliness of both
newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
and postal
mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...
deliveries. Coal smoke and toxic gasses collected in the snowsheds causing temporary blindness, loss of consciousness, and sometimes death. Workers on the Moffat Road had an adage: "There's winter and then there's August", reflecting the fact that in the high mountains of Colorado, snow will often cover the area for more than six months and very cold and snowy weather may occur nearly year-round. It was these heavy snowstorms that led to the financial demise of the Moffat Road and served as the incentive for construction of a permanent railroad tunnel through the Rocky Mountains and into Middle Park. Following scuba dives, no evidence exists that locomotive, rotary, or wreck debris rests at the bottom of Yankee Doodle Lake or Jenny Lake. However, many derailments, wrecks of
Mallet locomotives The Mallet locomotive is a type of articulated steam railway locomotive, invented by the Swiss engineer Anatole Mallet (1837–1919). The front of the locomotive articulated on a bogie. The compound steam system fed steam at boiler pressur ...
, accidents resulting in injury and/or death, and/or the loss of portions of rail manifests occurred on both sides of the pass: Despite the challenges documented above, by 1918, it was reported that 45 or 46 engines were part of the motive power of the railroad along with 3 rotary snowplows.


The Moffat Tunnel

Several locations for the Moffat Tunnel were scouted prior to the selection of the present-day location; one possible location was identified at high altitude between Yankee Doodle Lake and the Forest Lakes. Plans to build a longer tunnel at a lower elevation were better planned and financed; the single-track
Moffat Tunnel The Moffat Tunnel is a railroad and water tunnel that cuts through the Continental Divide in north-central Colorado. Named after Colorado railroad pioneer David Moffat, the tunnel's first official railroad traffic passed through in February 192 ...
opened just south of Rollins Pass on Sunday, February 26, 1928. The Moffat Tunnel eliminated 10,800 degrees of curvature along the Rollins Pass route; the tunnel resulted in considerable time savings as well as money that was used for snow removal atop Rollins Pass. After the first year of operations, an annual report to stockholders showed "marked savings in operating costs" by 24.86%. Savings were seen in other areas, including in fuel reductions ($89,074.45 savings; $1.3 million in 2018 when adjusted for inflation), engine servicing ($156,188.89 savings); whereas gross tons per train hour increased by 34.84%. After the Moffat Tunnel opened, the tracks over Rollins Pass remained in place and were maintained at least as late as July 1929 as an emergency route. This emergency route was needed only once for a several day-long closure: on Thursday, July 25, 1929,
dry rot Dry rot is wood decay caused by one of several species of fungi that digest parts of the wood which give the wood strength and stiffness. It was previously used to describe any decay of cured wood in ships and buildings by a fungus which resul ...
of wooden timbers caused a collapse and of rock caved-in and blocked the Moffat Tunnel near the East Portal. It took until Tuesday, July 30, 1929 for the tunnel to be cleared of debris. Permission to dismantle the rails on Rollins Pass was granted by the
Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later trucking) to ensure fair rates, to eliminat ...
on Saturday, May 18, 1935 and the rails were removed the following summer: the west side was cleared by Tuesday, August 11, 1936, and the east side 14 days later; contractors toiled non-stop, including overnight to remove both the rails and ties. A wye on the passing siding at the East Portal of the Moffat Tunnel is currently utilized for short-turning some modern services and marks the spot where the Rollins Pass line, if it still existed, would have merged into the modern route. The route through the Moffat Tunnel became part of the mainline across Colorado for the
Denver and Salt Lake Railroad The Denver and Salt Lake Railway (D&SL) was a U.S. railroad company located in Colorado. Originally incorporated in 1902 as the Denver, Northwestern and Pacific (DN&P) Railway, it had as a goal a direct connection of Denver, Colorado, with Sa ...
, later the
Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...
, and now the
Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
. The Moffat Tunnel continues to be used for both the
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
's
California Zephyr The ''California Zephyr'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area (at Emeryville), via Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno. At , it is Amtrak's longest daily route, and second-longest overal ...
that provides service between Chicago, Illinois and
Emeryville, California Emeryville is a city located in northwest Alameda County, California, in the United States. It lies in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, with a border on the shore of San Francisco Bay. The resident population was 12,905 as o ...
as well as for the winter and sometimes summer
Ski Train The ''Winter Park Express'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on winter weekends between Denver Union Station and Winter Park Resort, Colorado. The scenic route uses the same line as the ''California Zephyr'', climbing into the Front R ...
that operated between Denver and Winter Park from 1940 to 2009; in March 2015 and from 2017–present, the service was rebranded the ''Winter Park Express''. The original 1922 law that authorized the construction of the Moffat Tunnel specified that it should also be used for automobile traffic, with automobiles being placed on a ferry of flatbed railcars. To date, this has not happened. The pioneer bore used to originally construct the Moffat Tunnel was later converted into the
Moffat Water Tunnel The Moffat Tunnel is a railroad and water tunnel that cuts through the Continental Divide in north-central Colorado. Named after Colorado railroad pioneer David Moffat, the tunnel's first official railroad traffic passed through in February 1 ...
by
Denver Water Denver Water serves 1.4 million people in the City and County of Denver, Colorado, and a portion of its surrounding suburbs. Established in 1918, the utility is a public agency funded by water rates and new tap fees, not taxes. It is Colorado's ...
.


Rollins Pass as an air route and navigational waypoint

In the era of powered flight, Rollins Pass provides an attractive way to cross the Continental Divide between west and east at a relatively low point for aircraft. Not only does the enroute airway radial, ''Victor Eight'', cross the pass; but also a rotating
airway beacon An airway beacon (US) or aerial lighthouse (UK and Europe) was a rotating light assembly mounted atop a tower. These were once used extensively in the United States for visual navigation by airplane pilots along a specified airway corridor. ...
was established in the mid-to-late 1940s and first appeared on aeronautical sectional charts in March 1948 as a star, indicating a beacon. The beacon and its supporting infrastructure have since been removed due to the introduction of the
Low-Frequency Radio Range The low-frequency radio range, also known as the four-course radio range, LF/MF four-course radio range, A-N radio range, Adcock radio range, or commonly "the range", was the main Radio navigation, navigation system used by aircraft for instrument ...
systems to replace visual
navigational aid Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...
s. The rough road that was once used to service and reach Beacon Peak at the Continental Divide, branches off of the Rollins Pass road, and is closed to all forms of motorized traffic per the current Motor Vehicle Use Maps.


Rollins Pass as an historic automobile road

Plans to convert Rollins Pass into an historic automobile road were first published in November 1949. Several years later, on Saturday, September 1, 1956, Colorado
lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
, Steve McNichols, opened Rollins Pass as a non-vital and seasonal recreational road. Each summer, from 1956–1979, Rollins Pass served as a complete road over the mountain pass for automobiles until a substantial rock fall in ''Needle's Eye Tunnel'' in 1979 closed the path over the pass. In 1989, after several engineering studies and structural strengthening of ''Needle's Eye Tunnel'' were accomplished, the complete road was re-opened only to close permanently in 1990, due to a rockfall injuring a sightseer. For the past years—since July 1990—no motorized route connects across the Continental Divide, effectively making each side a dead-end uphill route that must be traveled again, downhill, to leave the pass.


Rollins Pass as a natural gas pipeline route

In 1969, a natural gas pipeline was placed on Rollins Pass. In the mid-1990s, Rollins Pass was closed for the installation of a diameter
Xcel Energy Xcel Energy Inc. is an American utility holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving more than 3.7 million electric customers and 2.1 million natural gas customers in Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico in 2019. It consists of four ope ...
high-pressure
natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
pipeline. The pipeline, not always under marker, still is in existence and uses the low pass to reach the Front Range by loosely following County Road 8 in
Fraser Fraser may refer to: Places Antarctica * Fraser Point, South Orkney Islands Australia * Fraser, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb in the Canberra district of Belconnen * Division of Fraser (Australian Capital Territory), a former federal ele ...
, utilizing much of Ranch Creek towards the Middle Fork of Ranch Creek below Mount Epworth, climbing the pass near Ptarmigan Point, and following much of the old railbed past Corona at the summit of Rollins Pass. The pipeline continues across the railbed towards and under the twin trestles, down the old wagon route on the spine of Guinn Mountain, and then towards Eldora. The pipeline undergoes internal inspections "at least" every seven years with the deployment of a
smart pig In pipeline transportation, pigging is the practice of using pipeline inspection gauges or gadgets, devices generally referred to as pigs or scrapers, to perform various maintenance operations. This is done without stopping the flow of the pr ...
inside the pipeline.


Artifacts and features


Preservation of both prehistoric and historic records

A majority of Rollins Pass is located within the boundaries of two national forests—
Roosevelt National Forest The Roosevelt National Forest is a National Forest located in north central Colorado. It is contiguous with the Colorado State Forest as well as the Arapaho National Forest and the Routt National Forest. The forest is administered jointly with ...
and
Arapaho National Forest Arapaho National Forest is a National Forest located in north-central Colorado, United States. The region is managed jointly with the Roosevelt National Forest and the Pawnee National Grassland from the United States Forest Service office in ...
—and as such, is federal land. The
Archaeological Resources Protection Act The Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 ( as amended, , codified at ), also referred to as ARPA, is a federal law of the United States passed in 1979 and amended in 1988. It governs the excavation of archaeological sites on federal and ...
along with the
Antiquities Act The Antiquities Act of 1906 (, , ), is an act that was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt on June 8, 1906. This law gives the President of the United States the authority to, by presidential procla ...
, among other federal and cultural laws, recognizes the nonrenewable and vulnerable nature of cultural resources and these laws protect and make it illegal to collect artifacts, including but not limited to:
arrowhead An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetrating a target, as well as to fulfill some special purposes such as sign ...
s,
horseshoe A horseshoe is a fabricated product designed to protect a horse hoof from wear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface (ground side) of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall that is anatomically akin to the human toen ...
s,
button A button is a fastener that joins two pieces of fabric together by slipping through a loop or by sliding through a buttonhole. In modern clothing and fashion design, buttons are commonly made of plastic but also may be made of metal, wood, ...
s, cans, glass or ceramic
bottle A bottle is a narrow-necked container made of an impermeable material (such as glass, plastic or aluminium) in various shapes and sizes that stores and transports liquids. Its mouth, at the bottling line, can be sealed with an internal stopp ...
s, dishware and utensils,
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...
, railroad spikes, snowshed wood,
railroad tie A railroad tie, crosstie (American English), railway tie (Canadian English) or railway sleeper (Australian and British English) is a rectangular support for the rails in railroad tracks. Generally laid perpendicular to the rails, ties transfer ...
s, and telegraph poles from Rollins Pass. All artifacts—from the prehistoric to the historic—on the pass are objects of antiquity and are being studied and documented by universities and government agencies. The material record of Rollins Pass is illegally carried away each year—some by poachers—others in the backpacks of well-intentioned visitors who want a
souvenir A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a m ...
; but once artifacts are removed, a place can never again reveal the mysteries of the past. Each artifact has important scientific and cultural value and theft harms the
historical record Recorded history or written history describes the historical events that have been recorded in a written form or other documented communication which are subsequently evaluated by historians using the historical method. For broader world his ...
. Visitors are encouraged to preserve the area for future generations by leaving items in place and sharing photographs and
GPS coordinates The World Geodetic System (WGS) is a standard used in cartography, geodesy, and satellite navigation including GPS. The current version, WGS 84, defines an Earth-centered, Earth-fixed coordinate system and a geodetic datum, and also descri ...
(if available) with researchers dedicated to telling the story of Rollins Pass and an internet resource has been setup to aid with this project.


Enforcement

County
sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...
s as well as United States Forest Service Law Enforcement personnel and staff routinely patrol and enforce natural and cultural resources on Rollins Pass as well as in other areas within the National Forest System.


Artifacts affecting the road prism

On both sides of Rollins Pass, the road prism contains both prehistoric and historic artifacts buried under the surface. Any improvements to the rough road through regrading, including paving, would first require extensive sectional archaeological excavations by the
United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...
. In several places, on or just under the surface, historical artifacts are covered with
geotextile Geotextiles are permeable fabrics which, when used in association with soil, have the ability to separate, filter, reinforce, protect, or drain. Typically made from polypropylene or polyester, geotextile fabrics come in two basic forms: woven (re ...
stabilization fabrics having characteristics that match the soil and permeability of the existing roadbed.


Drystacks

There are several drystack retaining walls on both sides of the pass, built without mortar, helping ensure they retain soil but not water.


Ghost towns, settlements, and gravesites

There are several
ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...
s on or near Rollins Pass, the most notable being Arrow, Corona, Ladora, the East Portal construction camp, Mammoth, and Tolland. There are also at least a half-dozen other established settlements, dating back to both the wagon road and railroad eras, scattered across Rollins Pass. There are also several historic gravesites across Rollins Pass. One
granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
headstone at Arrow reads, "R.M. Smith , June 28, 1842 , Nov. 12, 1909." One marker near the Eldora Ski Area states that it holds two members of
John C. Frémont John Charles Frémont or Fremont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was an American explorer, military officer, and politician. He was a U.S. Senator from California and was the first Republican nominee for president of the United States in 1856 ...
's third expedition in 1845–1846, although this is disputed.


Environment


Leave No Trace

Rollins Pass has unique floral, faunal, and riparian zones that spread across multiple Colorado counties; to best preserve the native environment of Rollins Pass, leave no trace and
trail ethics Trail ethics define appropriate ranges of behavior for hikers on a public trail. It is similar to both environmental ethics and human rights in that it deals with the shared interaction of humans and nature. There are multiple agencies and grou ...
apply to all visitors. Trundling is discouraged for safety and environmental concerns as well as to preserve artifacts.


Flora

Rollins Pass consists of several distinct floral environments including
lodgepole pine ''Pinus contorta'', with the common names lodgepole pine and shore pine, and also known as twisted pine, and contorta pine, is a common tree in western North America. It is common near the ocean shore and in dry montane forests to the subalpine, ...
and quaking
aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the ''Populus'' genus. Species These species are called aspens: *'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China ...
at lower elevations, and
krummholz ''Krummholz'' (german: krumm, "crooked, bent, twisted" and ''Holz'', "wood") — also called ''knieholz'' ("knee timber") — is a type of stunted, deformed vegetation encountered in the subarctic and subalpine Montane ecosystems are fou ...
at tree line. Above tree line, the landscape consists largely of small perennial wildflowers, cryptobiotic soils, and
alpine tundra Alpine tundra is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees because it is at high elevation, with an associated alpine climate, harsh climate. As the latitude of a location approaches the poles, the threshold elevation for alp ...
. The latter being extremely fragile and if damaged, can take 100–500 years to recover. Leaving the trail can cause
erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...
,
land degradation Land degradation is a process in which the value of the biophysical environment is affected by a combination of human-induced processes acting upon the land. It is viewed as any change or disturbance to the land perceived to be deleterious ...
, possible species
extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
, and
habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
destruction and it is for these reasons vehicles, including
off-road vehicle An off-road vehicle, sometimes referred to as an overland or adventure vehicle, is considered to be any type of vehicle which is capable of driving on and off paved or gravel surface. It is generally characterized by having large tires with dee ...
s, are not allowed to leave the established road. There are at least two marked
revegetation Revegetation is the process of replanting and rebuilding the soil of disturbed land. This may be a natural process produced by plant colonization and succession, manmade rewilding projects, accelerated process designed to repair damage to a lan ...
areas on Rollins Pass: one at Yankee Doodle Lake; the other at the summit leading to the historic dining hall foundation.


Pine beetle epidemic

The
mountain pine beetle The mountain pine beetle (''Dendroctonus ponderosae'') is a species of bark beetle native to the forests of western North America from Mexico to central British Columbia. It has a hard black exoskeleton, and measures approximately , about the siz ...
epidemic, beginning in 1996 and continuing through present day, affects many forested areas in Colorado, including those on Rollins Pass. One out of every 14 trees in Colorado is dead. Trees affected by the beetles contain 10 times less water than a healthy tree and crown fires can quickly spread.


Fauna

The top predator in the area are black bears (''Ursus americanus''), generally below timberline; however, they occasionally venture above the krummholz. The bears prey on bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') and
mountain goat The mountain goat (''Oreamnos americanus''), also known as the Rocky Mountain goat, is a hoofed mammal endemic to mountainous areas of western North America. A subalpine to alpine species, it is a sure-footed climber commonly seen on cliffs and ...
s (''Oreamnos americanus''), as well as
yellow-bellied marmot The yellow-bellied marmot (''Marmota flaviventris''), also known as the rock chuck, is a large, stout-bodied ground squirrel in the marmot genus. It is one of fourteen species of marmots, and is native to mountainous regions of southwestern Cana ...
(''Marmota flaviventris'') in the region. Above timberline,
pika A pika ( or ; archaically spelled pica) is a small, mountain-dwelling mammal found in Asia and North America. With short limbs, very round body, an even coat of fur, and no external tail, they resemble their close relative, the rabbit, but wi ...
s (''Ochotona princeps'') are common. At or below timberline, both
elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...
(''Cervus canadensis'') and
mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whit ...
(''Odocoileus hemionus'') are common. The presence of migratory bighorn sheep and other large game is the reason why Native Americans constructed sprawling yet intricate game drive complexes on Rollins Pass. The
porcupine Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two families of animals: the Old World porcupines of family Hystricidae, and the New World porcupines of family, Erethizont ...
can be seen at all elevations on Rollins Pass, including at (and above) the summit. The porcupine begins its rounds at sunset, as it is
nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...
; this member of the rodent family also has the ability to adroitly climb trees. Among birds, the
white-tailed ptarmigan The white-tailed ptarmigan (''Lagopus leucura''), also known as the snow quail, is the smallest bird in the grouse family. It is a permanent resident of high altitudes on or above the tree line and is native to Alaska and the mountainous parts ...
(''Lagopus leucurus'') are present on Rollins Pass, especially above treeline. Their seasonal camouflage is effective in the summer against the exposed blocks of granite as well as against snow in the winter, rendering them virtually undetectable. Brown-capped rosy finches (''Leucosticte australis''),
rock wren The rock wren (''Salpinctes obsoletus'') is a small songbird of the wren family native to western North America, Mexico and Central America. It is the only species in the genus ''Salpinctes''. Description Measurements: * Length: 4.9-5.9 i ...
s (''Salpinctes obsoletus''), and
pipit The pipits are a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan genus, ''Anthus'', of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. Along with the wagtails and longclaws, the pipits make up the family (biology), family Motacillidae. The genus is wide ...
s are also seen or heard at timberline and near the summit.


Riparian zones

Nutrient-rich ecosystems exist on Rollins Pass where water, and bodies of water, meet the alpine and
subalpine Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...
tundras.


Lakes

There are three lakes on the west side of Rollins Pass: ''Deadman's Lake'', ''Pumphouse Lake'', and ''Corona Lake''. On the east side of Rollins Pass are ''King Lake'', ''Yankee Doodle Lake'', and ''Jenny Lake''. Historically, Yankee Doodle Lake was referred to as ''Lake Jennie'' by John Quincy Adams Rollins, but modern archaeologists have re-interpreted this to be the modern day Yankee Doodle Lake; the railroad and period newspapers occasionally referred to this lake as ''Dixie Lake''. Also in the vicinity: ''Bob Lake'', ''Betty Lake'', the ''Forest Lakes'', ''Skyscraper Reservoir'', ''Lost Lake'', and ''Woodland Lake''. In 2010, Pumphouse Lake and Ranch Creek were assessed by the
Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...
and were determined to be
polluted Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...
.


Creeks and rivers

On the west side, in addition to the Fraser River at the start of Rollins Pass are the following creeks: the South Fork of Ranch Creek, the Middle Fork of Ranch Creek (fed by Deadman's Lake), and Ranch Creek (fed by Pumphouse and Corona Lakes). On the east side of Rollins Pass, the South Fork of the Middle Boulder Creek is fed by Bob and Betty Lakes and Jenny Creek is fed by both Jenny and Yankee Doodle Lakes; further downstream, Antelope Creek feeds into Jenny Creek. The South Boulder Creek runs at the start of Rollins Pass on the eastern side; but first flows through ''Buttermilk Falls'', a large waterfall, near King Lake, visible from the summit and upper eastern portions of Rollins Pass.


Improvements

A summer 2006 project led by the
United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...
and having the participation of both environmental and user groups saw improvements made to wetlands, lakeshore, and upland habitats at Yankee Doodle Lake and Jenny Creek. Fencing was installed to restrict vehicle travel to designated routes and improve degraded areas. Before work could begin, sectional excavations by archaeologists took place to document the wagon road era settlements of the "Town of Yankee Doodle at Lake Jennie," located at present day Yankee Doodle Lake.


Wildfires

In the summers,
wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...
danger increases due to various environmental factors: low moisture, lightning strikes, high winds, and human-caused factors. As the pass is a recreational area, wildfires can also be caused by unmanaged, unattended, and/or uncontrolled campfires.


Fire restrictions

At present, fire restrictions apply to the areas comprising Rollins Pass. Typically, these protective restrictions tend to be enacted starting as early as mid-late July or later in August: * On Friday, July 10, 2020, the east side of Rollins Pass, located in both Boulder and Gilpin counties, went under Stage 2 Fire Restrictions. * On Friday, July 10, 2020, the west side of Rollins Pass, located in Grand County, went under Stage 1 Fire Restrictions on USFS lands only.


Nature caused

* On Saturday, August 3, 1996, a lightning strike caused one of the easternmost wooden trestles near the summit to catch fire; the blaze was extinguished by fire crews before the trestle's integrity could be compromised. The wooden trestle was likely saved by the use of
coal-tar Coal tar is a thick dark liquid which is a by-product of the production of coke and coal gas from coal. It is a type of creosote. It has both medical and industrial uses. Medicinally it is a topical medication applied to skin to treat psoriasis ...
creosote applied to treat and preserve the wood, as part of the Bethell process.


Human or equipment caused

* On September 27, 1915, Mart Wolf, owner of the Elk Creek Saloon, set fire to his establishment in the town of Arrow on the west side of Rollins Pass in the hopes of collecting insurance money totaling $1,000. Due to high winds, the fire quickly spread and Arrow was all but snuffed out of existence. * On Wednesday, October 30, 1918, a fire started at or near the boiler house (on the south side of the Corona shed) and fanned by winds claimed the power station, telegraph system at the summit,"Steamboat Pilot October 30, 1918 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"
''Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org''.
along with several miles of track, snowsheds, as well as buildings at Corona, including the destruction of the water tank upon which the Weather Bureau's observation station was mounted. Train service over the pass, after the rails were relaid, resumed on Friday, November 1, 1918; snowshed reconstruction caused delays, yet continued through November and December. A new electric lighting system was installed at the summit the next year (1919)."Routt County Sentinel November 29, 1918 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"
''Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org''.
Box cars were used as temporary buildings as the workers' quarters (for watchmen and operators), the depot, telegraph office, eating house (not to be confused with the dining hall), and more were destroyed. * In 1923, a train caused a wildfire on the east side of Rollins Pass on Giant's Ladder. * On Thursday, October 15, 1925, passenger train No. 2, including
caboose A caboose is a crewed North American railroad car coupled at the end of a freight train. Cabooses provide shelter for crew at the end of a train, who were formerly required in switching and shunting, keeping a lookout for load shifting, damag ...
, was completely destroyed by a fire in the Corona snowshed; the fire consumed roughly of snowshed. * On Wednesday, January 26, 1927, the town of Rollinsville was nearly destroyed by a fire believed to have been started by a spark from a locomotive. Five buildings were destroyed and 20 guests in the Rollinsville hotel lost their personal belongings when the hotel burned to the ground. * On Friday, August 19, 1938, a manmade fire started and was spread by high winds near the East Portal of the Moffat Tunnel. More than 700 men helped to fight the fire that consumed at least 800 acres near Tolland. * On Wednesday, August 4, 2010, a plane crash on the east side of the pass caused a small wildfire.


Unknown cause

* On Tuesday, July 30, 2019, a small sub-acre fire ignited behind the Lakota subdivision on the lower portions of Rollins Pass; the fire was extinguished by the following evening.


Climate


Seasons


Winter

Arctic conditions are prevalent during the winter, with sudden blizzards, high winds, and deep snowpack. High country overnight trips require gear suitable for or below. The subalpine region does not begin to experience spring-like conditions until June. Wildflowers bloom from late June to early August.


Summer

Due to high-elevation above timberline in a backcountry setting, there is neither
lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...
protection nor lightning mitigation from sudden thunderstorms resulting in a high-risk, extremely dangerous situation for visitors. The most suitable—but not best—refuge available from electrical storms would be in a metal-topped vehicle as it would serve as a mobile
Faraday cage A Faraday cage or Faraday shield is an enclosure used to block electromagnetic fields. A Faraday shield may be formed by a continuous covering of conductive material, or in the case of a Faraday cage, by a mesh of such materials. Faraday cage ...
.


Weather equipment and historical records


Historical

During the railroad era, a
United States Weather Bureau The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the p ...
observation station was mounted atop the large water tank at the townsite of Corona. Records from this station show "the prevailing wind direction was west, the lowest temperature recorded was (in February 1910), and the most monthly snowfall was in March 1912 with of snow." Newspaper reports mention winds in excess of , including at least one instance of , and temperatures of . Both these temperatures and wind speeds are in line with today's conditions in Colorado's high mountains.


Present day

A small,
solar-powered Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic ef ...
weather station exists on the west side of Rollins Pass, located above Ptarmigan Point.


Atmospheric pressure

While temperature, humidity, and other factors influence atmospheric pressure, the atmospheric pressure on the summit measures roughly ; while a standard atmospheric pressure measured at
sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...
is . At this pressure, many people, especially out-of-town visitors from lower elevations, can suffer from rapid
dehydration In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water, with an accompanying disruption of metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds free water intake, usually due to exercise, disease, or high environmental temperature. Mil ...
and
altitude sickness Altitude sickness, the mildest form being acute mountain sickness (AMS), is the harmful effect of high altitude, caused by rapid exposure to low amounts of oxygen at high elevation. People can respond to high altitude in different ways. Sympt ...
, also known as acute mountain sickness. Acute mountain sickness can progress to high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) or high-altitude cerebral edema (HACE), both of which are potentially fatal. Historically, newspaper reports wrote of both visitors and railroad workers experiencing
heart attacks A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tra ...
and
pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
at the summit of Rollins Pass as well as severe frostbite, including in July.


Avalanches

Human-triggered and natural
avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and earth ...
s are possible anywhere on the pass and there have been four notable avalanches—three at Yankee Doodle Lake—on Rollins Pass:


Railroad era

* On Tuesday, January 27, 1914, sliding snow from Tunnel #32 "completely covered the track for a long distance" caused a multi-day blockage at or near Yankee Doodle Lake. * On Monday, December 10, 1917, an avalanche near Yankee Doodle Lake swept a rotary and assisting engine off of the tracks. The engineer of the assisting engine was "scalded about the head so badly that the bones of the face were exposed and he is not expected to live." Other railroad workers died and several were injured.


Post-railroad era

Backcountry skiers, snowshoers, and snowmobilers are advised to check daily avalanche forecasts, practice diligent terrain management, and always carry and know how to use rescue gear, including Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs). • On Wednesday, November 28, 2001, two highly-experienced backcountry skiers triggered a sizable hard-slab avalanche in the Yankee Doodle Lake basin. From the accident report, "The avalanche released from a southeast-facing slope and fell and stopped by crashing through the thick ice of Yankee Doodle Lake. The displaced water resulted in a surge tall along the south shore." The avalanche pushed both men into the lake and one survivor was sent into the center of the lake. The survivor, suffering from
hypothermia Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe h ...
and
frostbite Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when exposed to extreme low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occurs in the han ...
, hiked o to the
Eldora Mountain Resort Eldora Mountain Resort is a ski area in the southwest corner of Boulder County, Colorado, near the unincorporated community of Eldora and west of the town of Nederland. Location Eldora is one of a few Colorado ski resorts on the east side of ...
where he sought help. The search involved ground crews, air crews, avalanche
rescue dogs Pet adoption is the process of transferring responsibility for a pet that was previously owned by another party such as a person, shelter, or rescue organization. Common sources for adoptable pets are animal shelters and rescue groups. Some or ...
, and trained dive-rescuers with specialized rubber suits. The body of the second skier was found offshore. Both skiers were well-equipped, including having
avalanche transceiver An avalanche transceiver or avalanche beacon is a type of emergency locator beacon, a radio transceiver (a transmitter and receiver in one unit) operating at 457 kHz for the purpose of finding people buried under snow. They are widely carrie ...
s. Following the accident, each year in December, the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group holds a ''Joe Despres Memorial Dry Land Transceiver Training'' to include practices for using transceivers, along with avalanche courses, fundraising, and backcountry seminars. • On Sunday, February 14, 2021, a 58-year old male triggered an avalanche on the east-facing slope of Mount Epworth while snowmobiling and perished at Pumphouse Lake. • On Saturday, January 7, 2023, two snowmobilers triggered a fatal avalanche on the eastern slope of Mount Epworth. One snowmobiler, age 58, was wearing an avalanche beacon—his body was recovered the same day; the other man, age 52, was not wearing an avalanche beacon and the recovery operation was postponed until the following day. The recovery operating involved the Grand County Sheriff’s Office, Grand County Search and Rescue, Grand County EMS - Mountain Medical Response Team, Winter Park Ski Patrol Dog Team, Flight For Life Colorado, and the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC).


Access


General information and seasonal recreation

Rollins Pass is managed by the
United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...
as a recreational location and can be accessed from roads on both west and east sides; however, no motorized route connects across the Continental Divide. The entire road is unpaved (dirt and rock), has no guardrails, and has a
speed limit Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed - expres ...
of . Current-year Motor Vehicle Use Maps (MVUMs) should be reviewed to determine which trails and roads are open to vehicles. Violators are subject to
fines Fines may refer to: * Fines, Andalusia, Spanish municipality * Fine (penalty) * Fine, a dated term for a premium on a lease of land, a large sum the tenant pays to commute (lessen) the rent throughout the term *Fines, ore or other products with a s ...
up to $5,000—"regardless of the presence or absence of signs" and operating a vehicle in wilderness areas is prohibited. Buck and rail fences have been placed at select areas on the pass to indicate routes or areas closed to motor vehicles. There are no facilities, shops, restrooms, call boxes, water fountains, trash receptacles, nor shelters located on either side of the pass. The only exception is the Årestua Hut, located on the northern side of Guinn Mountain at on the east side of Rollins Pass. The small
hut A hut is a small dwelling, which may be constructed of various local materials. Huts are a type of vernacular architecture because they are built of readily available materials such as wood, snow, ice, stone, grass, palm leaves, branches, hid ...
was constructed years ago and is open year-round. A series of hand-constructed stone
windbreak A windbreak (shelterbelt) is a planting usually made up of one or more rows of trees or shrubs planted in such a manner as to provide shelter from the wind and to protect soil from erosion. They are commonly planted in hedgerows around the edges ...
s exist above timberline north of ''Needle's Eye Tunnel''—these structures date to the railroad era on Rollins Pass and are not prehistoric. These windbreaks currently lack upper coverings or roofs and serve only as aerodynamic dampeners for wind and wind gusts.


Winter

Both sides of the pass can be traveled by
snowmobile A snowmobile, also known as a Ski-Doo, snowmachine, sled, motor sled, motor sledge, skimobile, or snow scooter, is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. It is designed to be operated on snow and ice and does not ...
when at least of snow cover the road in the
winter Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultures ...
—generally beginning in late November or early December and lasting through early April.


Spring

Both sides of the pass are ''closed'' in spring—including several weeks in June—to any form of motorized traffic: snowmobiles, automobiles,
Off-road vehicle An off-road vehicle, sometimes referred to as an overland or adventure vehicle, is considered to be any type of vehicle which is capable of driving on and off paved or gravel surface. It is generally characterized by having large tires with dee ...
s (ORVs),
All-terrain vehicle An all-terrain vehicle (ATV), also known as a light utility vehicle (LUV), a quad bike, or simply a quad, as defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI); is a vehicle that travels on low-pressure tires, with a seat that is stra ...
s (ATVs), or motorcycles for the prevention of road damage.


Summer and early autumn

Both sides of the pass can be traveled—in good weather—by motorized vehicles in the
summer Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, wit ...
and early
autumn Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September ( Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Sou ...
. Rollins Pass is scheduled open for vehicular summer traffic from June 15 through November 15; however, it is generally not possible given typical snowfall accumulations and slower melt rates in southerly-shaded areas, to drive higher than Sunnyside (site of the old block station) or Ptarmigan Point on the western side, or Yankee Doodle Lake on the eastern side before early-to-mid July. In 2019, and in other summers when the prior season's snowfall has been late and/or considerable, mid-elevation gates on the west side of Rollins Pass remained closed on June 15 due to an order, "''Extended closure due to snow, runoff, and road damage 36 CFR 261.54a.''" The first high-country snowstorms bring fierce
wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...
s and create impassible
snow drifts "Snow Drifts" is the twenty-first episode of the third season of the American fantasy drama series ''Once Upon a Time'', and the show's 65th episode overall, which aired on May 11, 2014. The episode serves as the first of a two part episode for th ...
that are not plowed; this effectively puts higher landmarks—including the summit—out of reach as soon as late September or early October. On average, the near-annual existence of snow at or above timberline, ensures the road is only passable less than 90 days per year. Summer usage of the pass is currently classified as 'heavy' by the
United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...
; as such, parking can be very limited at designated parking sites. While the route mostly has gentle grades with switchbacks between two and four percent and does not contain loose gravel,
four-wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...
higher-clearance vehicles fare better than
two-wheel drive Two-wheel-drive (2WD) denotes Motor vehicle, vehicles with a Powertrain, drivetrain that allows two wheels to be driven, and receive Engine power, power and torque from the engine, simultaneously. Four-wheeled vehicles For four-wheeled vehicles ( ...
vehicles, particularly in certain technical sections: some areas on the east side have up to a 17.63% grade; the west side has some areas with a 15% grade. In all narrow sections, the vehicle heading downhill must yield to the vehicle traveling uphill.


From the north or south (along the Continental Divide Trail)

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 ...
crosses the summit of Rollins Pass from south to north; the trail bisects the former wye at Corona and takes hikers through the Indian Peaks Wilderness past the dining hall foundation at the summit.


From the east (near Rollinsville & Tolland)

The road up the pass on the eastern side from the
Peak to Peak Highway The Peak to Peak Scenic Byway is a National Forest Scenic Byway and Colorado Scenic and Historic Byway located in Gilpin, Boulder, Larimer counties, Colorado, USA. The Peak to Peak Highway was originally built in 1918 and provides views of th ...
( State Highway 119) begins at the East Portal road running west, parallel to South Boulder Creek and the current
Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
tracks, to the East Portal of the Moffat Tunnel, and then rises on the abandoned railroad grade from Giant's Ladder to the closed ''Needle's Eye Tunnel''. From Rollinsville to East Portal, the road is an all-weather gravel road, with several chattery washboard sections, that can be traveled by regular automobiles. However, beginning at East Portal, at the formal start of Rollins Pass road (Forest Service Road 117), the road prism becomes very rough due to sustained sections of angular cobbles and
potholes A pothole is a depression in a road surface, usually asphalt pavement, where traffic has removed broken pieces of the pavement. It is usually the result of water in the underlying soil structure and traffic passing over the affected area. Water ...
, the latter being several feet in size. The road has a level 2 road maintenance status described as "assigned to roads open for use by high-clearance vehicles" that includes the following attributes: "surface smoothness is not a consideration" and is "not suitable for passenger cars." This former railroad bed is open for ; two miles past Jenny Lake, there is a concrete-filled steel road gate with large rocks and
Jersey barrier A Jersey barrier, Jersey wall, or Jersey bump is a modular concrete or plastic barrier employed to separate lanes of traffic. It is designed to minimize vehicle damage in cases of incidental contact while still preventing vehicle crossovers resu ...
s approximately one half-mile before ''Needle's Eye Tunnel''. A rough trail continues around either side of the tunnel for non-motorized transportation; the road is open for hiking and mountain biking beyond the barricaded portal of the tunnel toward the summit. No motorized route connects across the Continental Divide. A majority of the lower portion of the east side of the pass is posted
private property Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property and personal property, which is owned by a state entity, and from collective or ...
with no trespassing off either side of the road as the properties belong to or are part of a conservation easement, ''Tolland Ranch, LLC'' and the ''Zarlengo Family Partnership,
LLP A limited liability partnership (LLP) is a partnership in which some or all partners (depending on the jurisdiction) have limited liabilities. It therefore can exhibit elements of partnerships and corporations. In an LLP, each partner is not ...
'' as well as smaller land segments belonging to other entities. Shortly before the ''Spruce Wye'', the land ownership transitions back to the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest where it remains uninterrupted up to and including the summit and surrounding areas.


From the west (near Winter Park)

The road up the pass (County Road 80) on the western side from Winter Park starts from U.S. Highway 40 in Winter Park and has several sections of angular cobbles and
potholes A pothole is a depression in a road surface, usually asphalt pavement, where traffic has removed broken pieces of the pavement. It is usually the result of water in the underlying soil structure and traffic passing over the affected area. Water ...
of varying dimensions, some several feet in size. The road has a level 2 road maintenance status described as "assigned to roads open for use by high-clearance vehicles" that includes the following attributes: "surface smoothness is not a consideration" and is "not suitable for passenger cars." The road is open for and terminates at the summit's parking area. Exactly before reaching the summit, capable vehicles can turn right onto County Road 80 and continue via Forest Service Road 501.1—this rough road rises above and bypasses the summit for another before dead-ending overhead Yankee Doodle Lake at Guinn Mountain. No motorized route connects across the Continental Divide. The entrance to and lower portion of Rollins Pass is owned by the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest; after roughly , the land transitions to
private property Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property and personal property, which is owned by a state entity, and from collective or ...
belonging to ''Arrowhead Winter Park Investors, LLC'' and the ''Denver, City & County Board of Water Commissioners'', known more commonly as
Denver Water Denver Water serves 1.4 million people in the City and County of Denver, Colorado, and a portion of its surrounding suburbs. Established in 1918, the utility is a public agency funded by water rates and new tap fees, not taxes. It is Colorado's ...
. Shortly after the ghost town of Arrow and several miles before the ''Ranch Creek Wye'', the land ownership transitions back to the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest where it remains uninterrupted up to and including the summit and surrounding areas.


Guided tours

* Winter: Guided winter snowmobile tours follow much of the summer road from Arrow and terminate shortly after Sunnyside at Ptarmigan Point (located further uphill and past the ''Riflesight Notch'' trestle). Winter tours "top out at nearly 12,000 feet" but do not go higher than Ptarmigan Point and do not reach the summit at 11,676.79 feet. * Summer: Guided summer off-road (off-pavement) tours are also conducted on the west side of Rollins Pass; however, all tours are conducted on-road using off-road capable vehicles and any off-roading is strictly prohibited.


Incidents and accidents

Due to hairpin turns, steep terrain, and inclement weather, there have been several incidents and accidents, some fatal on or near the Rollins Pass road:


Non-motorized

* On Tuesday, March 19, 1968, a young hiker was rescued near the Riflesight Notch trestle after hiking from East Portal to Winter Park without snowshoes, skis, or adequate clothing. * On Wednesday, July 18, 2012, a woman was injured after losing her footing and sliding down a snowfield where she crashed into rocks at the bottom of the slope. The injured woman was taken via a Flight for Life helicopter to Denver. * On Sunday, February 4, 2018, a backcountry skier fell, sustained multiple injuries—including broken bones, and became unconscious. His friend was able to phone for emergency services but a helicopter could not land due to winds and blowing snow. Rescuers could not arrive until 10 hours later. * On Saturday, August 4, 2018, a backcountry skier fell approximately down Skyscraper Glacier on Rollins Pass, impacted rocks, and became unconscious. Search and rescue services were mobilized and the 23-year-old skier was able to hike back to the summit. * On Saturday, July 18, 2020, a backcountry hiker fell approximately 300 feet down a scree slope on Rollins Pass, near Needle's Eye Tunnel, sustained serious injuries, and was found to be unconscious and unresponsive. Search and rescue services were mobilized and the 57-year-old hiker was airlifted to Denver. * On Monday, September 7, 2020, a 17-year-old backcountry skier fell while backcountry skiing on Skyscraper Glacier and smashed into rocks, resulting in a head laceration. Three flights were made over the course of the seven hour rescue and the rescue involved the following agencies: Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, American Medical Response, Nederland Fire Department, Timberline Fire Department, Rocky Mountain Rescue Group, Grand County Search and Rescue, Flight For Life Colorado, Colorado Army National Guard, and the Colorado Search and Rescue Association. * On Sunday, February 21, 2021, a 47-year-old woman became lost while snowshoeing on Jenny Creek Trail towards Yankee Doodle Lake. Fifteen different search and rescue agencies were involved with her rescue, including: Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, Rocky Mountain Rescue Group, Front Range Rescue Dogs, Boulder Emergency Squad, Eldora Ski Patrol, City of Boulder Water Utilities Department, U.S. Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, American Medical Response, Colorado Search and Rescue, Nederland Fire Protection District, Northern Colorado Med Evac, Flight for Life Colorado, Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control, Regional Transportation District and Alpine Rescue Team.


Motorized

* In the winter of 2001–2002, a search and rescue effort to extricate men with 'severe hypothermia' ended with a snowmobile wreck near Corona Lake. The wreck resulted in one man's thigh becoming broken in six places. * On Saturday, August 23, 2003, a car illegally off-roaded on the Riflesight Notch Loop and required towing. The driver was fined $500. * On Saturday, October 8, 2011, a car crashed into the South Boulder Creek off of Rollins Pass road, the driver was pronounced dead at the scene and the passenger was taken to the hospital. * On Monday, February 18, 2013, a snowmobiler on the west side of Rollins Pass, lost control of his machine on a groomed trail and struck a tree where he was pronounced dead by search and rescue services. * On Sunday, August 16, 2015, two girls—ages 11 and 12—were driving ATVs underage, went over a cliff on Rollins Pass road; requiring the services of both an ambulance and a
medical evacuation Medical evacuation, often shortened to medevac or medivac, is the timely and efficient movement and en route care provided by medical personnel to wounded being evacuated from a battlefield, to injured patients being evacuated from the scene of a ...
by helicopter. * On Saturday, May 5, 2018, search and rescue services were called for an ATV rollover accident on the east side of Rollins Pass. * On Saturday, August 17, 2019, sheriffs responded to a motorcycle crash on the east side of Rollins Pass; the driver was transported to the hospital. * There are several motor vehicles that have wrecked on Rollins Pass; yet these instances appear to have been done deliberately as no news articles seem to be associated with these wrecks. Four wrecks are still visible on the east side of Rollins Pass—one car and one snowmobile on the first leg of Giant's Ladder near the start of the Rollins Pass road; one car near Guinn Mountain closer to the summit; and one ATV directly off the summit, downslope from the old
pergola A pergola is most commonly an outdoor garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway, or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are trained. The ...
, on the eastern side of the Continental Divide (recovered in mid-September 2018). On the west side of the pass, a wrecked snowmobile can still be found at the southern slopes of Mount Epworth near the shores of Deadman's Lake.


Routes, trails, and closures

The complete pass is open and accessible for
snowshoe Snowshoes are specialized outdoor gear for walking over snow. Their large footprint spreads the user's weight out and allows them to travel largely on top of rather than through snow. Adjustable bindings attach them to appropriate winter footwe ...
ing, fatbiking,
backcountry skiing Backcountry skiing ( US), also called off-piste (Europe), alpine touring, or out-of-area, is skiing in the backcountry on unmarked or unpatrolled areas either inside or outside a ski resort's boundaries. This contrasts with alpine skiing, which i ...
, and
cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...
in the winter and to
hikers Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...
,
bicyclists Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...
(including those on
tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...
s and unicyclists), and horseback riders in the summer. For the past years—since July 1990—no motorized route connects across the Continental Divide, effectively making each side a dead-end uphill route that must be traveled again, downhill, to leave the pass.


Historic wagon route

For visitors in or on motor vehicles wishing to access and retrace the historic wagon route over the pass (from east to west), there are numerous closures, some permanent, and no motorized route connects over the Continental Divide at Rollins Pass: * Near Rollinsville, the Jenny Creek motorized trail follows the historic wagon road on National Forest System Road (NFSR) Route Number 502.1 that connects with NFSR 808.1 terminating near Yankee Doodle Lake. * The wagon road becomes NFSR 501 at Yankee Doodle Lake and while this route can be hiked, it has a permanent closure for motorized vehicles of any type and several switchbacks on the steeper parts of this route are within the
Indian Peaks Wilderness The Indian Peaks Wilderness is a wilderness area in north central Colorado managed jointly by the United States Forest Service and the National Park Service within the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and small parts of the southern sectio ...
boundaries. This area is monitored for violations. * NFSR 501 connects above Guinn Mountain and becomes NFSR 501.1, which is long and connects to NFSR 149, near the summit of Rollins Pass. * Near this point, the historic wagon route can only be followed on foot into Middle Park.


Railroad line

For visitors in or on motor vehicles wishing to access and retrace the old railroad line, the majority of the railroad route or right-of-way over the pass is open and intact with several exceptions, detailed below, and no motorized route connects over the Continental Divide at Rollins Pass: * Some of the railroad trestles have deteriorated (at ''Riflesight Notch''), have been destroyed (trestle #72.83 on the west side, by the
FAA The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...
hen the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA)in 1953), or have been dismantled (trestles #51.00 and #54.48 on the east side). Per the current Motor Vehicle Use Maps, all extant trestles on the pass are closed to any form of motorized traffic, including motorcycles. * Two railroad tunnels on Rollins Pass are completely caved-in: Tunnel #31 (''the tunnel at Ladora'') and Tunnel #33 (''the Loop Tunnel at Riflesight Notch''). * Closures also include sections leading to Tunnel #32, ''Needle's Eye Tunnel''—a high-altitude railroad tunnel constructed in 1903 and used through 1928. Surveyors looking to establish the automobile route over the pass in 1949 found, and cleared, considerable rockfalls at the northeast portal of the tunnel. The tunnel was open to automobiles, as part of the thoroughfare over the pass, from 1956–1979 for seasonal and inessential purposes. In 1979, the tunnel was closed due to rock falls at the northeast portal; following a
geologic Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Eart ...
engineering study in 1981, a
Mine Safety and Health Administration The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) () is a large agency of the United States Department of Labor which administers the provisions of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (Mine Act) to enforce compliance with mandatory safet ...
study in 1985, engineering design work in 1986, and repair work in August 1987, the tunnel was re-opened in 1989. The following year, in July 1990, several thousand pounds of rock fell from the crown of the tunnel, injuring a
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
veteran and
Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
firefighter resulting in a below-knee
amputation Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indi ...
. Since then, the tunnel was sealed by Boulder County officials along with the
United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...
and sizable rockfalls continue to occur at the northeast portal, southwest portal, and center of the tunnel from both the crown and shoulder of the structure. In November 1990, the post-accident engineering report, by independent geotechnical consultant Ronald E. Heuer, PhD, cited restoration errors and faulty work: design specifications were not consistently followed, rock bolts were incorrectly spaced, and gravity along with seasonal temperature variations were also listed as factors in the accident.


Adopted trails

Several trails on Rollins Pass are adopted. * East: NFSR 502 & NFSR 808 (Jenny Creek Trail and spurs), ''Rising Sun 4 Wheel Drive Club of Colorado'' * West: N76 (Riflesight Notch Trail), authors of ''Rollins Pass''


Administrative provision

In 2002, the James Peak Wilderness and Protection Area Act (Public Law 107-216) was passed by
Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
and signed into law by President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
. The act amended the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993 and designated lands within both the Arapaho National Forest and the Roosevelt National Forest as the
James Peak Wilderness The James Peak Wilderness is a U.S. Wilderness Area in north central Colorado in the Arapaho and Roosevelt national forests. The wilderness area borders Indian Peaks Wilderness to the north and the James Peak Protection Area to the west. Geograp ...
area and added lands to the
Indian Peaks Wilderness The Indian Peaks Wilderness is a wilderness area in north central Colorado managed jointly by the United States Forest Service and the National Park Service within the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and small parts of the southern sectio ...
, establishing these lands as federally protected territory. The act contained an administrative provision:
If requested by one or more of the Colorado Counties of Grand, Gilpin, and Boulder, the Secretary shall provide technical assistance and otherwise cooperate with respect to repairing the Rollins Pass road in those counties sufficiently to allow two-wheel-drive vehicles to travel between Colorado State Highway 119 and U.S. Highway 40. If this road is repaired to such extent, the Secretary shall close the motorized roads and trails on Forest Service land indicated on the map entitled 'Rollins Pass Road Reopening: Attendant Road and Trail Closures', dated September 2001.
Historically, both Gilpin and Grand counties have requested to re-open the road; however, Gilpin County has publicly withdrawn their support and opposes re-opening the thoroughfare over the pass, along with Boulder County. To date, only minor repairs (mostly washout repairs) have been made. The difficulties and expenses of making improvements to the road, including coordination of maintenance and re-introduced liabilities—coupled with intractable disputes surrounding the 1990 accident in the tunnel, have become contentious and ongoing issues; however, alternative routes utilizing the Moffat Tunnel have been proposed.


Land exchange

A proposed land exchange in 2020-2021 between the US Forest Service and a private developer was halted by historic preservation professionals and advocacy groups. The proposal would have seen the "literal entrance to the western portion of Rollins Pass ..become an entrance to a private development." The developer sought to trade between 1,536 and 2,261 acres of land for 543 acres held by the US Forest Service. Rollins Pass holds resources in a National Historic District spanning Grand, Boulder, and Gilpin counties and this land exchange would have damaged the historic district as well. Unfortunately, this project had initial support from local leadership and economic influencers—including multimillion dollar resorts—yet none of their letters of support mentioned Rollins Pass nor its cultural and non-renewable historic resources. Instead, community leaders mirrored the developer in writing to the US Forest Service that the 543 acres "are squarely in the development path and are a logical place for future growth to occur." This land exchange was discussed in a 2022 book on Rollins Pass:
In recent years, the historic integrity of Rollins Pass has come under new threat from unsympathetic developers longing to build atop soils rich with history that hold panoramic views. Of late, one attempt at a land exchange with the US Forest Service would have transformed the entrance of the western portion of Rollins Pass into an opening, quite literally, for a private development. Advocates rallied on behalf of public lands, and for now, the area remains in public hands. Embarrassingly, continued pro-development aspirations and the failure to see beyond real estate values only reinforces the area’s inclusion as one of Colorado’s Most Endangered Places.


Airspace and aviation


Airspace

The entirety of Rollins Pass currently resides in Class G
airspace Airspace is the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a country above its territory, including its territorial waters or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere. It is not the same as aerospace, which is the ...
. Per the FAA ''Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge'', "Although ATC has no authority or responsibility to control air traffic, pilots should remember there are visual flight rules ( VFR) minimums that apply to Class G airspace."


Airway ''Victor Eight''

Rollins Pass is traversed by a low altitude enroute airway radial, ''Victor Eight,'' the width of the airway is 4
nautical mile A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude. Today ...
s on either side of the centerline which skirts the summit of the pass. Pilots have recommended to avoid the area in bad weather due to extreme
downdrafts In meteorology, an updraft is a small-scale current of rising air, often within a cloud. Overview Localized regions of warm or cool air will exhibit vertical movement. A mass of warm air will typically be less dense than the surrounding region, ...
,
mountain waves In meteorology, lee waves are atmospheric stationary waves. The most common form is mountain waves, which are atmospheric internal gravity waves. These were discovered in 1933 by two German glider pilots, Hans Deutschmann and Wolf Hirth, above t ...
, and
turbulence In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is fluid motion characterized by chaotic changes in pressure and flow velocity. It is in contrast to a laminar flow, which occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers, with no disruption between ...
on the east side of the pass.


Drone operations

Drone (UAS) flights are permissible in Class G airspace on/over Rollins Pass provided all flights adhere to the
FAA The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...
’s regulations for recreational or commercial drone flights. The one major restriction is that drones cannot take off from, land in, or be operated from congressionally designated wilderness areas. Remote pilots and drone enthusiasts should exercise extreme caution as the enroute airway radial brings fast-moving aircraft within the area, including
Flight for Life Flight for Life is a prehospital care service with many bases of operation across the United States. Flight for Life is primarily known for its emergency medical helicopter transport, but also operates a fleet of land vehicles and fixed-wing airc ...
helicopters,
aerial firefighting Aerial may refer to: Music * ''Aerial'' (album), by Kate Bush * ''Aerials'' (song), from the album ''Toxicity'' by System of a Down Bands *Aerial (Canadian band) * Aerial (Scottish band) * Aerial (Swedish band) Performance art * Aerial sil ...
aircraft, search and rescue helicopters, and high-speed military aircraft; many of which fly below 500 AGL.


Emergency landing zone

A non-illuminated summer emergency backcountry helicopter
landing zone In military terminology a landing zone (LZ) is an area where aircraft can land. In the United States military, a landing zone is the actual point where aircraft, especially helicopters, land (equivalent to the commonwealth landing point.) In ...
exists at the summit, placed sometime between September 1999 and October 2005.


Rotating airway light beacon (Beacon 82)

A rotating airway light beacon (''Beacon 82'' on aeronautical charts), was placed very near the summit of Rollins Pass atop what was then later termed Beacon Peak, in the mid-to-late 1940s at an approximate elevation of . The
glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...
-domed lighted beacon rotated six times per minute, marking the airway between Los Angeles and Denver, and it held a two-million
candlepower Candlepower (abbreviated as cp or CP) is a unit of measurement for luminous intensity. It expresses levels of light intensity relative to the light emitted by a candle of specific size and constituents. The historical candlepower is equal to 0.981 ...
electric lamp with a
parabolic reflector A parabolic (or paraboloid or paraboloidal) reflector (or dish or mirror) is a reflective surface used to collect or project energy such as light, sound, or radio waves. Its shape is part of a circular paraboloid, that is, the surface generated ...
. The beacon was removed in the late-1960s and is currently in storage (not on display) at the Pioneer Village Museum in
Hot Sulphur Springs, Colorado Hot Sulphur Springs is a statutory town and the county seat of Grand County, Colorado, United States. The town is located near Byers Canyon between Granby and Kremmling, northwest of Denver and northwest of Winter Park. The town population ...
; however an concrete foundation remains near the top of the peak along with the leg stubs used for the beacon's lattice tower.


Accidents and incidents

There have been many documented
airplane An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spe ...
and
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
crashes on and near Rollins Pass: * On Sunday, August 21, 1949, two people were killed instantly when their plane crashed on Rollins Pass. * On Wednesday, January 6, 1954, a single engine airplane—a Beechcraft C35—with a tail number of N792D, crashed on a shoulder of Guinn Mountain near Yankee Doodle Lake on the east side of Rollins Pass. * On Saturday, March 3, 1962, a Beechcraft 35 with a tail number of N430B, crashed near Rollins Pass close to Jenny Creek. * On Tuesday, March 6, 1962, a
Bell UH-1 Iroquois The Bell UH-1 Iroquois (nicknamed "Huey") is a utility military helicopter designed and produced by the American aerospace company Bell Helicopter. It is the first member of the prolific Huey family, as well as the first turbine-powered helic ...
military helicopter with a tail number of AF91635, crashed near Rollins Pass close to Jenny Creek. * On Friday, January 24, 1964, a single engine airplane, with a tail number of N4351N, crashed in turbulent, cloudy, and stormy conditions near the ''Riflesight Notch'' Loop on Rollins Pass. One pilot and three passengers of the
Cessna 195 The Cessna 190 and 195 Businessliner are a family of light single radial engine powered, conventional landing gear equipped, general aviation aircraft which were manufactured by Cessna between 1947 and 1954.Montgomery, MR & Gerald Foste ...
were killed on impact and recovery did not occur until August 20 that year. * On Monday, July 11, 1966, a nonscheduled operation of an ''Alamo Airways''
De Havilland The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited () was a British aviation manufacturer established in late 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome Edgware on the outskirts of north London. Operations were later moved to Hatfield in H ...
104-6A, with a tail number of N1563V, impacted a mountainside in turbulent, cloudy, and stormy conditions on Rollins Pass. The crash of this dual engine plane occurred upslope of Deadman's Lake, opposite Mount Epworth at the crest of the Continental Divide. Upon impact, the plane did not catch fire, presumably due to low fuel reserves, and was completely disintegrated; recovery efforts salvaged all debris except for the front landing gear as it could not be located. To date, the nose wheel still has not yet been located. Two crew and one passenger were killed. * On Saturday, January 3, 1970, a
Cessna Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufacturing c ...
172 with a tail number of N7104A, crashed into an alpine lake at "11,700 feet" near Rollins Pass, killing both aboard. * On Tuesday, December 14, 1971, a single engine AT6 trainer crashed near Rollins Pass, killing the pilot. * On Saturday, September 14, 1974, a pilot and his passenger crashed near Rollins Pass. * On Wednesday, December 30, 1998, a single engine airplane—a
Piper PA-28 Cherokee The Piper PA-28 Cherokee is a family of two-seat or four-seat light aircraft built by Piper Aircraft and designed for flight training, air taxi and personal use.Plane and Pilot: ''1978 Aircraft Directory'', pages 62–64. Werner & Werner Corp, ...
—made an unplanned forced landing on the east side of Rollins Pass in the midst of extreme wind and low visibility conditions. A cross-country skier was able to phone for a rescue, conducted by snowmobile, of the two passengers and one pilot who were injured; yet all three survived and were released from the hospital that evening. * On Sunday, July 30, 2006, a single engine airplane, with a tail number of N5232X, crashed in clear conditions on Rollins Pass, approximately equidistant from Bob, Betty, and King Lakes. The two occupants of the 1969
American Champion American Champion Aircraft Corporation, is a manufacturer of general aviation aircraft headquartered at the Rochester, Wisconsin airport. Founded in 1988 on the acquisition of the Champ, Citabria, Scout, and Decathlon, it has been producing repla ...
7KCAB were killed on impact. * On Wednesday, August 4, 2010, a single engine airplane, with a tail number of N8974A, crashed in clear conditions on Rollins Pass, near Jenny Creek, southeast of Yankee Doodle Lake. All three occupants of the 1951
Beechcraft Beechcraft is an American brand of civil aviation and military aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of Beech Aircraft Corporation, an American manufacturer of general aviati ...
C35 airplane were killed on impact.


In popular culture


Film, music, and books

*
Country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
artist,
Tracy Byrd Tracy Lynn Byrd (born December 17, 1966) is an American country music artist. Signed to Universal Music Group Nashville, MCA Nashville Records in 1992, Byrd broke through on the country music scene that year with his 1993 single "Holdin' Heaven" ...
, recorded a
music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
for the 1996 single, ''Big Love'', which featured sights on the west side of Rollins Pass, including: Ptarmigan Point, Mount Epworth, Deadman's Lake, ''Riflesight Notch'' trestle, and more. The
album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
cover pictures the artist himself in front of a scenic backdrop that can be seen at the summit of Rollins Pass, looking northeast; the back of the album features the artist holding his
guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
while seated on a rock outcropping near the railroad-era dining hall foundation at the summit. * The
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
1925
silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...
, ''
The White Desert ''The White Desert'' is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by Reginald Barker. The film stars Claire Windsor and Pat O'Malley, with Robert Frazer, Frank Currier, and Sōjin Kamiyama. It is written by Monte M. Katterjohn and Gordon R ...
'', starring
Claire Windsor Claire Windsor (born Clara Viola Cronk; April 14, 1892 – October 24, 1972) was an American film actress of the silent screen era. Early life Windsor was born Clara Viola Cronk (nicknamed "Ola") in 1892 in Marvin, Phillips County, Kansas to ...
as Robinette McFarlane and Pat O'Malley as Barry Houston was filmed on Rollins Pass in the winter of 1922 and released to the public on Monday, May 4, 1925. The film features moving pictures of long trains ascending ''Riflesight Notch'' trestle and of
rotary snowplow A rotary snowplow (American English) or rotary snowplough is a piece of railroad snow removal equipment with a large circular set of blades on its front end that rotate to cut through the snow on the track ahead of it. The precursor to the rotary ...
s in action between Ptarmigan Point and the summit. The railroad imagery is displayed only at both the beginning and the end of the movie with dramatic scenes (mostly indoor or pseudo-outdoor) and both dialogue
intertitle In films, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (i.e., ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred to as "dialo ...
s and expository intertitles filling most of the film's runtime. The film is considered to be rare and has historical significance due to the footage of trains and rotaries operating on Rollins Pass. * The 1928 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer silent drama film, ''
The Trail of '98 ''The Trail of '98'' is a 1928 American silent Action film, action-adventure/drama film featuring Harry Carey (actor born 1878), Harry Carey and Dolores del Río about the Klondike Gold Rush. The film was originally released by MGM in a short-li ...
'', was filmed in part on Rollins Pass as well as inside the Moffat Tunnel using specialized lighting. The film was directed by
Clarence Brown Clarence Leon Brown (May 10, 1890 – August 17, 1987) was an American film director. Early life Born in Clinton, Massachusetts, to Larkin Harry Brown, a cotton manufacturer, and Katherine Ann Brown (née Gaw), Brown moved to Tennessee when he ...
and starred
Harry Carey Harry Carey may refer to: *Harry Carey (actor) (1878–1947), American actor * Harry Carey Jr. (1921–2012), American actor * Harry Carey (footballer) (1916–1991), Australian rules footballer See also * Henry Carey (disambiguation) * Harry Car ...
as Jack Locasto. * In the late 1920s, movie producers scouted Rollins Pass as a possible location for a third motion picture. * On Saturday, November 3, 2012,
Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...
archaeology professor Dr. Jason M. LaBelle and colleague Dr. Pete Seel debuted their documentary film, ''Stone and Steel at the Top of the World'' which describes the ancient hunters of the Colorado high country as well as the Moffat Road railway. As part of a Rollins Pass Mini-Film Fest event held at Colorado State University, the documentary was shown prior to a rare screening of ''The White Desert'' in
Fort Collins, Colorado Fort Collins is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Larimer County, Colorado Larimer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 359 ...
. This occasion marked the first time Reginald Barker's silent film had been shown since 1978. * On Saturday, May 12, 2018,
Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...
archaeology professor Dr. Jason M. LaBelle along with the authors of multiple archaeological and research-based publications on Rollins Pass, B. Travis Wright, MPS and Kate Wright, MBA, held a book launch event and presentation for ''Rollins Pass'' titled, ''Rollins Pass: Through the Lens of Time'' that included an encore screening of Dr. LaBelle's documentary film, ''Stone and Steel at the Top of the World'' as well as a rare screening of ''The White Desert'' at the
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is an American cinema chain founded in 1997 in Austin, Texas, which is famous for serving dinner and drinks during the movie, as well as its strict policy of requiring its audiences to maintain proper cinema-going etiq ...
in
Littleton, Colorado Littleton is a home rule municipality city located in Arapahoe, Douglas, and Jefferson counties, Colorado, United States. Littleton is the county seat of Arapahoe County and is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistica ...
. At the event, as a central part of the authors' founding movement ''Preserve Rollins Pass'', the authors discussed the importance of leaving artifacts in place and their efforts to build a database of the GPS locations of prehistoric and historic artifacts that is made available for the benefit of archaeologists and land managers. They also revealed ''The John Trezise Archive for Rollins Pass Imagery''—the "world's largest collection of Rollins Pass imagery for non-commercial use that is crowd-sourced, completely searchable and available to the public through partnerships with requesting museums/libraries, and secured from loss." * The 2018 Peak to Peak Chorale's spring musical told "the tale of a train trapped for days by a spring blizzard atop Rollins Pass in the 1900s." The singers, musicians, and actors portrayed the passengers and crew that departed from The Stage Stop (in
Rollinsville, Colorado Rollinsville is a census-designated place (CDP) and post office in and governed by Gilpin County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Rollinsville post office has th ...
) and became stranded when a huge rotary snowplow stopped working.


Places and landmarks

* Some ski runs (and one
chairlift An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs. They ...
) at the nearby
Winter Park Resort Winter Park Resort is an alpine ski resort in the western United States, in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado at Winter Park. Located in Grand County just off U.S. Highway 40, the resort is about a ninety-minute drive from Denver. History The mo ...
are named after Rollins Pass itself (''Rollins Ridge'', ''Corona Way''), features on Rollins Pass (''Riflesight Notch'', ''Rainbow Cut'', ''Needle's Eye'', ''Phantom Bridge'', ''Sunnyside'', ''Lower Arrowhead Loop'', ''Upper Arrowhead Loop''), or are inspired by general railroad terminology ('' Runaway'', ''
Trestle ATLAS-I (Air Force Weapons Lab Transmission-Line Aircraft Simulator), better known as Trestle, was a unique electromagnetic pulse (EMP) generation and testing apparatus built between 1972 and 1980 during the Cold War at Sandia National Laborato ...
'', '' Sleeper'', ''
Boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central h ...
'', '' Coupler'', ''Railbender'', ''
Derail A derail or derailer is a device used to prevent fouling (blocking or compromising) of a rail track (or collision with anything present on the track, such as a person, or a train) by unauthorized movements of trains or unattended rolling stock. ...
er'', ''Re-Railer'', ''
Whistlestop In public transport, a request stop, flag stop, or whistle stop is a stop or station at which buses or trains, respectively, stop only on request; that is, only if there are passengers or freight to be picked up or dropped off. In this way, st ...
'', ''Hook Up'', '' Sidetrack'', ''
Gandy Dancer Gandy dancer is a slang term used for early railroad workers in the United States, more formally referred to as "section hands", who laid and maintained railroad tracks in the years before the work was done by machines. The British equivalents o ...
'', ''
Iron Horse ''Iron horse'' is an iconic literary term (considered by the early 21st century to be transitioning into an archaic reference) for a steam locomotive, originating in the early 1800s, when horses still powered most machinery. The term was common ...
'', ''
Black Coal Bituminous coal, or black coal, is a type of coal containing a tar-like substance called bitumen or asphalt. Its coloration can be black or sometimes dark brown; often there are well-defined bands of bright and dull material within the seams. It ...
'', '' Switchyard'', ''
Golden Spike The golden spike (also known as The Last Spike) is the ceremonial 17.6-karat gold final spike driven by Leland Stanford to join the rails of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States connecting the Central Pacific Railroad ...
'', ''
Brakeman A brakeman is a rail transport worker whose original job was to assist the braking of a train by applying brakes on individual wagons. The earliest known use of the term to describe this occupation occurred in 1833. The advent of through brakes, ...
'', '' Vista Dome'', '' Roundhouse'', ''
Narrow Gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
'', ''
Zephyr In European tradition, a zephyr is a light wind or a west wind, named after Zephyrus, the Greek god or personification of the west wind. Zephyr may also refer to: Arts and media Fiction Fiction media * ''Zephyr'' (film), a 2010 Turkish ...
''). * Winter Park Resort's summer downhill
mountain bike A mountain bike (MTB) or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling. Mountain bikes share some similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain, which ...
park is called ''Trestle.'' * Some of Winter Park Resort's buildings and services infrastructure are named after features on Rollins Pass (''Mount Epworth''), the neighboring Moffat Tunnel (''West Portal''), and general railroad terminology (''Zephyr''). * Two ski runs at the nearby Eldora Ski Resort are named after Rollins Pass: ''Corona'' and ''Corona Road'' along with the ''Corona Lift'' chairlift. * A
real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...
development in downtown Winter Park, next to Volarios, has been named after the town of Arrow on Rollins Pass.


Recreation

* For the past years—since July 1966, the ''Epworth Cup'' has been one of the nation's longest-running
downhill skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel Ski binding, bindings, unlike other types of skiing (Cross-country skiing, cross-country, Telemark skiing, Telemark, or ski jumping), w ...
races held annually in early-to-mid July (usually the Sunday following
Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...
) on Mount Epworth. * On Thursday, May 10, 2018, it was announced that the ''Indian Peaks Traverse'', a single-track trail of at least open only to "hikers, bi yclists horseback riders and any other form of non-motorized transport" will traverse a portion of Rollins Pass and was slated for a soft-opening in 2022. * In June 2019, a digital magazine's
photo shoot A photo shoot is the process taken by creatives and models that results in a visual objective being obtained. An example is a Model (person), model posing for a photographer at a studio or an outdoor location. A photo shoot is a series of images ...
featuring summer mountain gear occurred at (and near) the historic cabins at East Portal. * On Thursday, January 30, 2020, the five remaining East Portal Camp Cabins (located at the East Portal of the
Moffat Tunnel The Moffat Tunnel is a railroad and water tunnel that cuts through the Continental Divide in north-central Colorado. Named after Colorado railroad pioneer David Moffat, the tunnel's first official railroad traffic passed through in February 192 ...
adjacent to Rollins Pass) were classified by Colorado Preservation, Inc. as one of Colorado's Most Endangered Places. * Equipment outfitters use Rollins Pass as a testing ground for gear.


Equipment

* The Denver & Salt Lake Railway Derrick No. 10300 that helped clear wrecks more than a century ago on Rollins Pass is now housed in Granby, Colorado at the Moffat Road Railroad Museum.


Science and archaeology

* In July 2016, the
United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...
held a ''Passport in Time'' project on Rollins Pass where volunteers joined "Heritage Program staff from the
Arapaho The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho band ...
and
Roosevelt National Forest The Roosevelt National Forest is a National Forest located in north central Colorado. It is contiguous with the Colorado State Forest as well as the Arapaho National Forest and the Routt National Forest. The forest is administered jointly with ...
s/
Pawnee National Grassland Pawnee National Grassland is a United States National Grassland located in northeastern Colorado on the Colorado Eastern Plains. The grassland is located in the South Platte River basin in remote northern and extreme northeastern Weld County be ...
(ARP) for an archaeological survey along the known trajectory of Moffat ad."


See also

*
Colorado mountain passes This is a list of some important mountain passes in the Rocky Mountains of the U.S. State of Colorado. __TOC__ Mountain passes and highway summits traversed by improved roads Mountain summit highways Mountain passes traversed by unimproved ...
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Boulder County, Colorado __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Boulder County, Colorado. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Boulder County, Col ...
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Gilpin County, Colorado *
National Register of Historic Places listings in Grand County, Colorado __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Grand County, Colorado. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Grand County, Colorad ...


Notes

:†.No passenger lives were lost during the years Rollins Pass served as a railroad; the ''Passenger deaths'' column reflects this fact with a value of N/A for each row. :‡.For archaeology projects where federal laws apply, patterned cultural activity or features older than 50 years are considered historic. :††. Otto Perry's ''Moffat Route''
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
, released on July 13, 2006, contains select motion picture rotary footage from ''The White Desert''.


References


Further reading

* Black III, Robert C. (1969). ''Island in the Rockies''. Grand County Pioneer Society. . * Bollinger, Rev. Edward T. (1979). ''Rails That Climb''. Boulder, Colorado: Johnson Publishing Company. . * Bollinger, Rev. Edward T. & Bauer, Frederick. (1981). ''The Moffat Road''. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press. . * Bowles, Samuel. (1869). ''The Switzerland of America: A Summer Vacation in the Parks and Mountains of Colorado''. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. . * Boner, Harold A. (1962). ''The Giant's Ladder''. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Kalmbach. . * Church, Minette C. et al. (2007). ''Colorado History: A Context for Historical Archaeology''. Denver, Colorado: Colorado Council of Professional Archaeologists. . * Crossen, Forest. (1976). ''Western Yesterdays: David Moffat's Hill Men''. Fort Collins, Colorado: Robinson Press, Inc. . * Griswold, P.R. "Bob." (1995). ''David Moffat's Denver, Northwestern and Pacific''. Denver, Colorado: Rocky Mountain Railroad Club. . * Griswold, P.R. "Bob." (2010). ''The Moffat Road 2-26-28''. Aurora, Colorado: Double R Publishing. * Hitchcock, F.C., and C.C. Tinkler. (1927). ''The Contractors' Story of the Moffat Tunnel: Not an Engineering Treatise''. Denver, Colorado: Hitchcock & Tinkler. * LaBelle, Jason M. & Pelton, Spencer R. (2013). ''Communal hunting along the Continental Divide of Northern Colorado: Results from the Olson game drive (5BL147)''. Quaternary International: Volume 297, May 29, 2013, Pages 45–63. * Miller, Wick R. (1986). Numic Languages in ''Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 11: Great Basin''. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. . * Sells, John A. (2011). ''The Moffat Line: David Moffat's Railroad Over And Under The Continental Divide''. Bloomington, Indiana: iUniverse Publishing. . * Sprague, Marshall. (1964). ''The Great Gates: The Story of the Rocky Mountain Passes''. Boston, Massachusetts: Little, Brown and Company. . * Sundquist, Elizabeth Josephson. (1994). ''Dismantling the Rails that Climbed''. Denver, Colorado: Egan Printing Company. * Wright, B. Travis & Wright, Kate. Foreword by Jason M. LaBelle, PhD. (2018). ''Rollins Pass''. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. . * Wright, B. Travis & Wright, Kate. Foreword by Jason M. LaBelle, PhD. (2018). ''Rollins Pass''. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. . * Wright, B. Travis & Wright, Kate. (2018). ''Rollins Pass''. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. . * Wright, B. Travis & Wright, Kate. (2022). ''Rollins Pass: Past & Present''. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. .


External links


''Google Maps'' view of the Rollins Pass summit


{{National Register of Historic Places Rail mountain passes of the United States Mountain passes of Colorado Landforms of Boulder County, Colorado Landforms of Gilpin County, Colorado Landforms of Grand County, Colorado Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Tourist attractions in Boulder County, Colorado Tourist attractions in Grand County, Colorado Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado