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Buena Vista to Aspen thru Taylor Pass

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jpet View Drop Down
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    Posted: 27 Sep. 2021 at 2:30pm
Hi all,

Last year, I made a couple trips from Taylor Park to Crested Butte, Colorado via Taylor Pass and Pearl Pass. This year, ricco, Bob W. and I decided to go over Taylor Pass again, but this time instead of going left to Ashcroft at the summit, we went right to Aspen. This is an amazing and very doable trip. Here is the trip map:



Arick and I left TDR and met up with Bob and his friend Bill at their hotel in BV. We took Cottonwood Pass over to Taylor Park:



Cottonwood Pass is paved on both sides now. It took an hour for three flattys to go from BV to Taylor Reservoir. This would be the first of two Continental divide crossings on this day.

The start of the Taylor Pass trailhead was very beautiful:



This might be the most variation in colors that I saw all week.

Here we are going through the creek:







The Summit:







We arrived at the summit at 12:00.

More ....


Edited by jpet - 27 Sep. 2021 at 3:12pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jpet Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Sep. 2021 at 2:48pm
Next. we proceeded down Richmond Hill Road towards Aspen:



You can’t tell from the pic but this is a steep climb at 12,000 plus elevation. Lumpy punches through.



One of the most beautiful sights I’ve seen is the view from a Colorado mountain when you drop back down below tree line









.... more

To get to Aspen, you have to come down the mountain by a group of switchbacks which follow under the ski lifts.








Edited by jpet - 27 Sep. 2021 at 3:26pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote smfulle Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Sep. 2021 at 2:59pm
Was this the ride on 1st Saturday that I missed?
Stan
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jpet Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Sep. 2021 at 3:04pm
Probably the most challenging part of the trip was to drive through Aspen without hitting a pedestrian. Basically they can step out in the street any time, anywhere.

This is my first trip to Aspen and I’ve always wanted to see the John Denver Sanctuary:









Finally, after a chaotic fuel up in which no pedestrians were harmed, we headed back to BV via Independence Pass:



This is a very doable 40 mile drive in a flatty. Very beautiful.





Second continental divide crossing of the day:





Anywho, it’s down hill from there. The trek from Aspen to TDR is 75 miles on pavement. We left BV at 8:00 and got back to TDR at 6:00

Here is a video that does a not so good job of conveying how much fun the day was.



Edited by jpet - 27 Sep. 2021 at 3:29pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jpet Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Sep. 2021 at 3:16pm
Originally posted by smfulle smfulle wrote:

Was this the ride on 1st Saturday that I missed?
Yes, but with all that was going on, we didn’t make the trip till Tuesday.

Originally, I had a longer trail in mind but I now see that this route is the only day trip to Aspen that is possible.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lee MN Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Sep. 2021 at 6:16pm
All very cool! 😎 Thank you for posting. 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

Leee
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bobevans Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Sep. 2021 at 9:07pm
Awesome.  Thanks for sharing.  Some of my favorite John Denver songs to boot!
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