Independence pass CO in TC?

In Colorado, the vehicle going up hill has the right of way, on mountain roads.

Hey Brad, What would you do if you met another camper in one of the tight spots? while you were pulling your boat or jeep.

Look there; guardrails. Piece of cake. If I can pull a 16' Sunline TT over it with a 1981 4-cyl Toyota truck, you'll have no problem.

Brad

Yes.

One lane:



At the top:

As mentioned the Aspen side is where you need to watch out. The road in places was cut out of the rocks and they didn't always smooth out the rock face of the wall next to the road, lots of paint on some of those rocks sticking out almost into the roadway. Just go at a speed you can stop if need be and get to one of the one way places, which aren't always marked by signs. Went over I Pass a couple of years back, headed to Aspen, and had to dodge a large rock in the road, and we noticed there was an oil trail from that point on down the road. Sure enough in a mile or so was the vehicle stopped, half on and half off the road, where the engine had stopped from a lack of oil is my guess. Hopefully the driver spotted the loss of oil pressure and shut the engine down before permanent damage was done. No one was at the vehicle so someone had given them a ride into town. It is a beautiful drive.

padredw wrote:
Maybe with a Truck Camper, but if you have not done it before just be advised that the highway "becomes" one lane several times between the pass and Aspen. As noted above the pass is not open in Winter.

This is why we did not turn around in Aspen and head back over the pass. One lane areas once you get out into the flat area on the north (Aspen) side of the pass. seem to remember trees or brush or a rock wall or something making it real tight in places. And there seemed to be a lot of 4-wheeler "day" traffic in that area heading up to the top.

But we would go up that east side again in a minute. Beautiful. Our favorite pass in Colorado.

Maybe with a Truck Camper, but if you have not done it before just be advised that the highway "becomes" one lane several times between the pass and Aspen. As noted above the pass is not open in Winter.

They do have a 35 foot length restriction on the pass due to tight curves and narrow lanes. News reports last summer said they are stepping up enforcement. Remember in the 80's a mobile home getting wedged in tight spot. Took a day or two to drag it back down. Beautiful drive.

Just did it in late Spring (June 1) of 2013. The road was narrow we did it during the week so traffic was low. When we got up to the top we found that it had snowed during the night. Luckily the snow was concentrated around the parking area at the top. We had to take turns starting our decent due to the blowing snow partially blocking the pavement. The snow on the pavement cleared up very quickly (within a quarter mile) down the road from the Summit. It was a white knuckle drive most of the drive down. Very pretty drive I would do it again. However, DW did not enjoy it one bit especially since the dropoff was on her side of the truck.
Found a couple of photos

Many times with truck camper and pulling either a boat or a jeep on a trailer. Risk factor is low if you pay attention and there is no snow/ice on the road. Its a beautiful windy paved mountain road with great views. I don't remember it being extremely steep or narrow. I think they close it in the winter. I would much rather drive that pass than 550 between Ouray and Silverton. :) :)

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g29141-d559952-Reviews-Independence_Pass-Aspen_Colorado.html

Brad