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We departed East Portal and headed up the rough road.\u00a0 In spite of the glorious weather, after 4 or 5 miles we found the road still blocked with winter’s snow.\u00a0 We were at least several miles from our goal near the top of the pass, the Needle’s Eye Tunnel.\u00a0 With no sign of afternoon thunderstorms, we decided to walk the remaining distance to the tunnel.<\/p>\n
Back in the late 80’s, the road was open all of the way through from one side to the other.\u00a0 One could drive their car through the old train tunnel.\u00a0 Due to some falling rocks in the tunnel, it has since been closed which leaves no route across the pass.\u00a0 There are still some efforts to fix the tunnel and re-open it, but the U.S. Forest Service doesn’t really want that, so it’s dragging on and on.\u00a0 On a couple of occasions in the past, I was able to drive through the tunnel before it closed.<\/p>\n
We reached Yankee Doodle Lake.\u00a0 There was water flowing everywhere in little streams as the winter snowpack melted.\u00a0 The flowers were blooming and the air was sweet.<\/p>\n
Just past the lake our route was again covered with snow.\u00a0 A snowfield probably 10-15 feet deep in places blocked our route. Perhaps the intoxicating beauty of the day was screaming that we couldn’t just turn around.\u00a0 I thought that we might be able to traverse the sloping snow, but my companions, rightly so, declined.<\/p>\n
The Needle’s Eye Tunnel was 600-700 feet straight up the mountain side above us.\u00a0 They suggested we try avoiding the snow and climbing the scree.\u00a0 So we set off up the 45 to 65 degree slope.\u00a0 I eventually led the way scouting up to find the best route.\u00a0 It was not easy with areas of loose soil and rock.\u00a0 At one point I began to have doubts that this was a good idea but I was already past the point of no return.\u00a0 The three of us made it up and heartily agreed that we were going to find a different route down.\u00a0 There was no way any of us wanted to go down the way we had come up.<\/p>\n
We caught our breath and explored the tunnel entrance.\u00a0 Then we continued up along the gradual railroad grade, over the old trestles, over the continental divide, only to find a Jeep and some people from Kansas up there.\u00a0 They had come up from the Winter Park side.\u00a0 I was surprised the road was passable as I had guessed there would be even more snow over there.<\/p>\n
It was starting to get late and we were a couple of hours from my vehicle.\u00a0 It was time to decide how we were going to get back.\u00a0 I offered two choices for getting back.\u00a0 One I had taken many times in the past and involved hiking down a ridge near Forest Lakes.\u00a0 The problem was that we didn’t know how much snow would have blocked that route.\u00a0 The other choice was a former 4-wheel drive road that involved going down, up and down again to reach Yankee Doodle Lake.\u00a0\u00a0 We could see from our vantage point that it was relatively clear of snow. Although it was longer, we opted for the old 4-wheeled drive road.<\/p>\n
Up on the Continental Divide we had great views of the state.\u00a0 We were near 11,700 feet in elevation.\u00a0 There were towering clouds over the Denver area. As we walked,\u00a0 there was a remarkable moment as if passing through an invisible door, we walked from dry light air into humid and dense air in the span of about 20 feet.<\/p>\n
We reached the saddle in the road, which was about 400-500 feet above the lake.\u00a0 I really didn’t want to follow the road over a mile to get down there, so peering down I started plotting a route down the steep terrain to the lake.\u00a0 I convince my companions that it shouldn’t be that difficult\u00a0 since there were trees and other vegetation to hold on to in case we started to slide.<\/p>\n
They probably should have ignored me.\u00a0 Once we were down about half way, we were thwarted by a 20 foot drop-off that wasn’t visible from the top (it’s always like that). I didn’t want to climb back up to the road, so I opted to go down through a very steep streambed beside the cliff which ended at the top of a steep snowfield. The bottom of the snowfield was near the railroad grade next to the lake.\u00a0 It started to rain lightly.<\/p>\n
I’ve slid down a number of snowfields in my years of hiking.\u00a0 But my companions were less sure about that prospect.\u00a0 There was no choice.\u00a0 I pulled the jacket out of my pack set it on the snow, sat down on it, and I was off.<\/p>\n
In a matter of seconds I had reached the bottom. There is really no way to steer when going down like that.\u00a0 I had learned how to slide down using my boots as little skis, which allows some turning ability, but with tired legs I didn’t trust that I could do it without falling on my face.<\/p>\n
At this point I figured my companions were hating me for convincing them to take this route down.\u00a0 They eventually slid down the snowfield, but didn’t seem too happy about it.\u00a0 Rob had a pretty stressed look on his face like his life was being threatened.\u00a0 We all made it back to the railroad grade, the sky cleared up as we walked back to the car.<\/p>\n
At my house and after a couple of glasses of wine and some bison burgers, we were smiling about the day’s adventures.\u00a0 And with each recouting of the events, the slopes got steeper and the story of a unforegttable adventure had emerged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It was my turn to host the monthly adventure that I share with Rob and Sherrie. \u00a0 In the past we’ve spent many hours exploring the fading history of Colorado, whether it be old mining sites or steam driven trains … Continue reading