Google Earth satellite image of route

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Rating: 6/10

This extremely fun and scenic trail connects Taylor Park to the south and Ashcroft/Aspen to the north. When starting on the south side at Taylor Reservoir, the drive through the scenic Taylor Park is rather enjoyable with the nice views of the Sawatch Range immediately to the east. After starting out on the Taylor Pass road, the initial portion goes through a nice aspen forest before transitioning to pine and fir and eventually the alpine zone. The south side has a multitude of rocky sections which earns this road the 6-rating. Arguably, the best part of this road is running in the Taylor River for an eighth of a mile or so. Early in the season (early June) provides the best rush (literally and figuratively) as the spring runoff is hitting at full force and filling the waterway for a rather atypical water crossing. It's more of a river ride than a crossing, so get out your paddlewheels and enjoy the ride out on the bayou! The 11,928-foot pass usually doesn't open all the way through until late June. Though I haven't been through immediately after an opening date, I imagine the water would still be at similar levels for a short while longer. It doesn't get deep or difficult, but it's just a blast driving through it for a good distance.

Taylor Lake is reached just below the pass summit, and once on the summit, the views really open up: back down the valley which you come and into Taylor Park; Pearl Pass; Castle Peak and Cathedral Peak in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness; the Sawatch Range and the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness. There is a road that takes off to the east at the summit and you can eventually take either a scenic dead end spur for a ways or take an alternate route back to Aspen over Richmond Hill. The most common way down from the pass is along Express Creek Road and ending just north of the well preserved ghost town of Ashcroft along the Castle Creek Road. Other than the shelf section immediately below the pass, the road is uneventful and tame. Of course, the Castle Creek Valley and this end of the Taylor Pass road is completey filled with aspen and is extremely colorful in the spring and fall. It's definitely one of the better aspen areas in the state. The town didn't get the name for unjust cause, that is for sure.

The pictures were all taken on various trips across in 2003, but are in sequential order driving south to north, along with a return trip over.