The WPA Guide to Colorado by Federal Writers' Project

Author:Federal Writers' Project [Federal Writers’ Project]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781595342058
Publisher: Trinity University Press

TOUR 5C

Junction US 24—Twin Lakes—Independence Pass—Aspen—Glenwood Springs; 82.5 m., State 82.

Graveled road; narrow, with many sharp turns, between Twin Lakes and Independence Pass; pass is usually closed by snow from November to late May.

Branch line of Denver & Rio Grande Western R.R. parallels route between Aspen and Glenwood Springs.

Accommodations limited.

Crossing the Continental Divide near its highest point, the highway pierces the heart of the Pitkin County mining district. Not so heavily traveled as other east-west highways, the route is unexcelled for its views of lofty mountains, tumbling snow-fed streams, and forests of pine and aspen. The streams are among the best in the State for fishing; in season there is good hunting.

State 82 branches west from US 24, 0 m. (see Tour 5b), 15 miles south of Leadville (see Leadville), skirting the northern shores of the TWIN LAKES RESERVOIR. The gray bulk (R) of MOUNT ELBERT (14,431 alt.) and, behind it, MOUNT MASSIVE (14,419 alt.), shoulder the sky; TWIN PEAK, rising almost from the southern shore line, is dwarfed by the grandeur of its neighbors. The two lakes forming the reservoir, set in the wide flat mouth of a rapidly converging canyon and walled in by crests of the Divide, are part of the Twin Lakes Diversion Project (see below) and are used to store water brought by tunnel from the Roaring Fork River on the Western Slope.

The road crosses the eastern boundary of COCHETOPA NATIONAL FOREST, 2.6 m., a reserve embracing 1,142,417 acres of Federal lands and 61,875 acres of State, municipal, and privately owned lands. The original reserve was enlarged when the old Leadville Forest and part of the upper Arkansas River watershed were added. The Cochetopa National Forest now embraces the headwaters of the Arkansas River, the mountain region north and west of the San Luis Valley, and the Tomichi Creek drainage basin to the west over the Continental Divide.

TWIN LAKES, 4.7 m. (9,015 alt., 50 pop.), a popular resort (campgrounds; horses and burros available), was settled after the Leadville silver rush of 1878–79 (see Leadville), when prospectors found in the vicinity the first traces and outcrops of the Gordon, Tiger, Little Joe, and other rich lodes. Attracted by the Leadville rush, newcomers discovered at Twin Lakes a summer vacation ground. Against the flanks of Mount Elbert are groves of quaking aspen. Here fields of wild roses, lupines, and bluebells vie with huge granite boulders for attention. Streaking upward through the lighter green of the aspens are the darker evergreens. Lakes and streams offer splendid fishing, especially for Mackinaw trout, in the fall, and good duck hunting in season. Numerous trails lead back into the Sawatch Range where the climber, amateur or professional, can test his skill in a wilderness of crags.

West of Twin Lakes the highway swings into the narrow, heavily-forested canyon of Lake Creek, in the shadow of (L) massive LA PLATA PEAK (14,342 alt.), which dominates the sky line for miles.

TWIN LAKES FALLS (L), 7 m., is a turbulent plunging mass of water and upthrown spray.

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