We drove up to the top of the pass at an elevation of 12,095 feet. Just like on Cottonwood Pass, the Continental Divide runs across this pass.
The wildflowers are really blooming at this high elevation.
Just in case it should look like only the yellows are showing up, Denisa took a picture of this royal purple penstemon that was at its peak bloom.
We took the short loop trail that circled us to the ridge for some good views of the mountain peaks around us. Mark has his back pack on because we had planned to start a longer hike on the Continental Divide Trail here, following some of those ridge lines. It's hard to tell in the picture, but the wind was blowing and the temperature at the top was in the 40s. We don't know if we have ever done this in the month of July, but we decided that it was just too darn cold to hike up here! So we headed on down the road for more of the great views from the road going over Independence Pass.
We can't take this drive without describing the road. It's completely paved, but a little scary! Many areas are wide enough for only one vehicle. There's obviously no place to pull over when you have a rock wall on one side and a guard rail on the other protecting cars from a very steep drop off.
Some of these no-center-line-sections curved around the edge of the mountain cliff. So we were sometimes going around blind curves just hoping we wouldn't meet a car . . .
but sometimes we did!
We also noticed that some of the edges of the asphalt were crumbling. This section doesn't have a guard rail, and the options aren't good if a driver slipped off the side of the road and plunged down into the valley far below.
Between the things mentioned above and the hair-pin switch-backs, this isn't a road for the faint of heart. It's also not a road for the drivers of long vehicles. Signs before the pass starts warn that vehicles over 35 feet are not allowed on Independence Pass. In fact, a fine over $1,000 is in place, plus the expense of being towed off the pass. We saw an older motor home about the size of ours parked on the side of the road about half-way through the pass. The driver was looking for a place to turn around, and looked shaken. Mark tried to talk to him, and this guy just wanted off that road! Even though we are only 35 feet, we know that we won't be bringing our motor home to Independence Pass!
We planned to do a hike, but because of the cool morning temperatures we just kept driving until we got all the way down to Aspen. We say "down" because the city of Aspen's elevation is only 8,000 feet, all downhill from our pass summit over 12,000 feet. This altitude must be perfect for growing flowers, because downtown Aspen has some beautiful flower baskets.
Those bright flowers line the roads that go from downtown to the foot of the ski slopes. Downtown is filled with high-end designer shops and restaurants. It looks like a person could ski a half-day and walk right off the slopes to shop the other half of the day.
Many of the downtown streets are pedestrian-only, filled with more eating and shopping options in the median. We stopped to check the pricing for meals at some of the restaurants. There are probably some bargains out there, but eating at the 7908 Supper Club will cost $25 to $65 for an entree, and then you'll need to add $12 each for a potato or a vegetable and $18 for a side salad. We obviously didn't eat there.
We did enjoy this fun bear sculpture, that was just the right size for giving bear hugs.
If you look closely, you can see that he is made from thousands of nails.
Parking is expensive and hard to find, and traffic is congested in Aspen. Tourists have obviously still made their way to this mountain town in spite of the pandemic. So after our tour of town, we were back on Independence Pass for the drive back home. The temperature has risen, and we are ready to make a couple hiking stops now. Our first was about 9 miles east of Aspen on the Weller Lake Trail. Just 0.6 miles down the trail found us at Weller Lake.
This pretty little mountain lake is surrounded by boulders, so it takes some scrambling to get to the water's edge. As we can see, more boulders are under the clear water.
Mark is a great boulder-hopper, so it was easy for him to get in position for a good picture. All the young people far from the shore were wondering how that old guy got on that rock by the water. They wondered even more how he managed to get that old woman so close to the water as well.
After our short lake hike, we drove the car another mile down Independence Pass highway to take the Grotto Trail. The first stop on the trail is at the Ice Cave. Most people walk right on past the small entrance that takes one straight down to the ice.
It's a tough climb down into cave, and maybe even tougher climb to get out. So even with big crowds on this trail, there were few people enjoying the ice cold July temperatures inside the cave.
Just like jumping over boulders at the lake, we didn't see anyone else jumping up to ledges inside the Ice Cave. But with all the shadows on the curves of the eroded rocks inside, it made for neat pictures.
After Mark gave Denisa a much-needed boost to crawl out of the Ice Cave, we continued on our very interesting hike. We could see evidence of many years of water swirling past these rocks, washing them away into interesting curves. Mark crawled down into a waterfall just to see some more of that swirling water at work.
Crawling back out is always another skill. Having strong arms and long legs helps Mark to go where Denisa cannot.
Next stop on the Grotto Trail is the waterfall, and we took way too many pictures here.
It starts near the top of the mountain with water racing down in straight lines.
But then it twists and swirls its way through the rock all the way down the mountain.
We have found more of God's wonders here on the Grotto Trail!
Now we're back in the car, enjoying the great views once again as we make our way through the twists and turns of Independence Pass. This road is closed during the winter, and the Colorado Department of Transportation works hard to try to get it reopened by Memorial Day each year. During the winter months, avalanches are prevalent in this area, and we can see the damage caused from walls of snow roaring down these steep mountains. The trees are mowed down by the walls of snow, leaving them like toothpicks on the side of the mountain.
This avalanche even crossed the flat valley and continued up the mountain on the other side--pushing these aspen down on the up-side of the facing mountain. What power this snow has!
It's 57 miles via Independence Pass from Aspen back to our motor home near Leadville. It's our last day camped there, and this was a great day of witnessing more of God's wonders on Independence Pass.
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