Taylor Pass
We did this trail immediately after running Italian Creek. It was fun all the way through and we really enjoyed it. The only bad part was the extremely dusty section of road on the way to the trailhead.
The 35mph dirt road was so dusty we had to turn our lights on so we could see each other in the thick dust that stayed in the air for a long time. The trailhead was on the right at the end of the dusty section and we were all thankful to be able to breathe again.
We started up the narrow climb and unfortunately we met a single Jeep Cherokee coming down. He had to back up a long way before finding a section wide enough to pull over. He was a good sport and happily let us pass.
We got to a flat spot and stopped to let some ATVs come down through a rocky section ahead. They told us that the section coming up was very rocky and in a stream, and it was pretty narrow. There was a Jeep coming down and they suggested that we wait, so we did. It wasn't a long wait and everyone enjoyed the time to stretch our legs and visit.
Once the stock Jeep came down we headed up. It was a nice surprise! We were in a couple inches of flowing stream water and on some decent-sized rocks in places. We had a good time working our way slightly uphill. When the water ended we climbed out of the stream on a hill and had a fairly big audience of ATV and dirt bike riders who enjoyed watching us in the stream. It was a great section of trail.
It stayed a little rocky and there was one more stream crossing on our way to the pass. Taylor Lake was gorgeous as we got higher above it in our climb to the top.
We started down the other side and found a fairly straight shelf road down. We stopped for a bit at the bottom to relax for a few minutes.
The trail then continued down again and we were happy to find ourselves surrounded by aspen trees. Some of the leaves were changing to gold and it was our first viewing of the changing colors for 2005. Everyone took lots of pictures and we were all smiles when we got to the bottom just before pavement.
At that point the sun was starting to dip behind the mountains and some of our group decided to call it a day and head back for Crested Butte. The other half of the group decided to continue on to Pearl Pass even though we would end up finishing miles of it in the dark.
Taylor Pass was a great trail and we enjoyed it very much.
Report from a Different Day
