Artposium travel 3: McClure Pass (part of the West Elk Loop Scenic Byway)

West Elk Loop, from Hotchkiss through McClure Pass, Paonia, Redstone, and Carbondale

The area around McClure Pass is known for the brilliance of its aspens in the fall. The aspens are ailing in parts of Colorado, and there's a lot of beetle kill in the evergreens, but the colors on these mountains last weekend, from a mix of vegetation and geology, were still breathtaking.

2-colors_3256 Aspens are fascinating; they are actually colonies, rather than single, isolated trees.

2-colors_3260

Much variety along the route:

2-colors_3264

This is Mount
Sopris
, an iconic part of the Roaring Fork Valley, a mountain
everyone from Glenwood Springs to Carbondale and beyond identifies as
a beacon of "home":

3-Sopris_3207

McClure Pass is open most of the winter, except when there's a heavy snowfall or a mudslide. As you travel through the pass, however, the "falling rock" signs aren't kidding. Boulders the size of large elephants rest on the road's shoulders.

I'd like to do the rest of the West Elk Loop some time, including the thirty-one miles (49km) of gravel road that complete the circuit. I also want to stop and take a look around in Redstone and Paonia.

Facebooktwitterrss
%d bloggers like this: