I thought we ought to start a section listing various places all of us E-freaks have taken our Es in the mountains. The basic idea is to share good passes, roads and experiences with others. I continue to run across messages about the performance of Es on hills and such. Here's our chance to strut our off-road stuff!

While I didn't get offroad during my recent trek through the Rockies and Black Hills, I must say I saw several other E's on Trail Ridge Road and Falls River Road in the Rocky and a few up in the Black Hills on the way to Rushmore.. beautiful country and the E handled great!

Alrighty then! I'll go first.

Last I head there are a couple large rock slides that have covered the road near the summit. If you can manage to get aound them, you eventually make your way down into Winter Park. My wife and I got as far as the upper lakes (you'll see cars parked and a warning sign about continuing). It's a great little hike down to and around the lakes.

To get there, head up 119 from Blackhawk or south from Nederland to Rollinsville. From Rollinsville there is a road that heads west along the railroad tracks towards the east portal of Moffit Tunnel. You'll see a fork in the road just about a mile or so from the portal. There is a small sign that indicates Rollins Pass. The pass itself is mostly the old railroad bed, so the incline is fairly gradual. The road does get rocky in places and is mostly a single lane with plenty of room to pass oncoming vehicles. Keep an eye out for the fast dirt bikes!

If you aren't feeling so adventurous, there is a trailhead at the tunnel portal that will take you up to the same lakes. It's a good 3-4 hour hike one way, if you take you time.

As for Rollins pass itself, it's very deffinitely E-able.

Happy trails!

I crossed the Rockies last fall on a trip from Seattle to Indiana and back. Going I made an extra effort to cross Beartooth Pass in Mt/Wy, and along with that Chief Joseph Hwy leading to Cody, WY, and then Shell Canyon and the Big Horns. We encountered some early fall snows.

I posted some picture of this on the .org gallery
http://www.hondaelement.org/showthread.php?threadid=3213

On the way back we passed through Glacier Nat Park and Going to the Sun.

http://www.hondaelement.org/showthread.php?threadid=3214

The rest of my mountain driving has been on the west coast.

Some of my Washington mountain drives last spring are illustrated in
'mountain flowers'
http://www.hondaelement.org/showthread.php?threadid=4909

and 'hog ranch road'
http://www.hondaelement.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4910

On a number of these roads I turned back when I encountered left over winter snow, knowing that it would only get deeper as I climbed.

and more recent British Columbia mountain travels are shown in the
'bella coola' thread; here the drop into the Fraser Canyon was as spectacular as the climbs to the passes.
http://www.hondaelement.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5256

paulj

Cottonwood Pass runs fron Buena Vista, Colorado to Taylor lake over the Collegate Range. It's a fairly nice paved and dirt road all the way with spectacular views from the summit. Cottonwood Pass is only open spring thru fall.

To get there, head west on Chaffee County road 306 (there is a traffic light and sign on the corner) from SH 24. Cottonwood Lake is on the east side if you are up for a liilt shore fishing, or Taylor has boats and cabins for rent if you want to make a longer stay out of it.

At the Taylor side of Cottonwood and to the SW a bit is a turn-off to Tincup Pass. I've only been on Tincup on the east side in early June where the snow was still too deep to even get close to the summit. It's been a while since i've been up there, but I remember it being mostly E-able. I'm looking forward to giving it a try sometime.

I drove Cottonwood Pass a number of years ago, the day after crossing from Silverton to Ouray. While it was a dirt/gravel road, crossing it was almost a non-event, at least compared to the previous day's driving. That was mid October, toward the end of a 3 month road trip.

paulj

I too just got back from a road trip to the Black hills. I saw several others in SD but 0 in Nebraska. In fact the people I stayed with has never seen one before, not popular there I guess.

In the Black Hills I loved my E for the off roading. There are many gravel and dirt roads up the mountains and valleys there. Custer State Park has several dirt roads to see wild life on. I drove up to Big Bear Lookout and all over the Black Hills in my E. I just drove 90 home, 1500 miles in 2 days all by myself.

good trip

I just drove through the Colorado San Juan Mtns. However due to the day long rain that hit the area, I mostly stuck to the paved roads, making a loop through Telluride, Ridgeway, Ouray, Silverton and Durango. The night before we camped at Alta Lakes above Telluride, which involves a 5 mile gravel road climb up to 11,000 ft.

Fall Colors - San Juan Mtns (part 3)
http://www.hondaelement.org/showthread.php?s=886f8f4ae2a679433e841f9d5986dab2&threadid=5850

http://www.hondaelement.org/attachment.php?s=886f8f4ae2a679433e841f9d5986dab2&postid=42702

paulj