Riding Through an Erotically Named Ghost Town

Today marks our last riding of any consequence on this year’s Harley adventure. Day 13 of the 2018 Rocky Mountain Rib Rally takes us from Silverthorne in Summit County to our home base in Carbondale.

It’ll be a short ride, but one with plenty of excitement.

Copper Mountain, in the summer.

We begin by riding south on I-70 for 10 miles to the Copper Mountain ski area, where we turn onto CO-91, and head toward Leadville.

As if we haven’t crossed the Continental Divide enough times, we do it again at Fremont Pass, an 11,318 foot crossing named for John Fremont, an explorer who discovered the pass while traversing present-day Colorado during the 1840s.

Adjacent to the pass is the titillatingly named Climax Mine and Mill, a major molybdenum mine that’s been in operation since 1915. At one time, it was the highest-producing molybdenum mine in the world, producing three-fourths of the world’s supply of molybdenum.

Mining at Climax. Great name, ugly result.

Over the years, it has evolved from an underground mine to a pit mine. The village of Climax is now considered to be a ghost town, even though the mine remains active.

Molybdenum, commonly called “moly,” is used to make some missile and aircraft parts, and is used in the nuclear power industry. It’s also used as a catalyst in the refining of petroleum.

For you geology nuts, to produce molybdenum, the ore is crushed on-site, and the molybdenite is separated from the waste material by froth flotation. Simple enough.

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Just past Climax – I can’t believe I’m writing that – the road makes a hairpin turn and crosses the East Fork of the Arkansas River. On the remaining 12 miles to Leadville, we roll past a number of fourteeners on our left, among them: Mount Democrat (14,154); Mount Lincoln (14,293), named after the Lincoln Continental; Mount Sherman (14,035), named after General William Tecumseh Sherman.

The hike up Mount Sherman, a “beginner fourteener.”

Mount Sherman is one of the most nondescript of the fourteeners, and one of the easiest (least difficult) to climb; it is recommended as a “beginner fourteener.” Mount Sherman is also the only fourteener that has had a successful aircraft landing on its summit. OK, it was a successful crash landing of a Cessna 310, but still. It happened in January 1967, when five people on the plane survived temperatures that reached 20 below zero. The rescue mission was featured in the February 1993 issue of Readers Digest. Don’t try this at home.

We roll through Leadville on our way to Twin Lakes, where we turn west on CO-82 and begin the 17-mile climb to Independence Pass, an ascent of about 2,900 feet. Much of the way, it’s a narrow and winding road, giving the Colorado Department of Transportation reason to ban oversized and overweight vehicles from the pass.

Yikes! There’s a reason semis aren’t allowed on CO-82 over Independence Pass.

No vehicles over 35 feet in length (including a vehicle and trailer) are allowed on the roadway between milepost 84 on the eastern side, and milepost 42 on the western (Aspen) side. In an effort to deter semi-trucks from illegally using Highway 82 over Independence Pass, the Colorado Legislature raised the fine for to $1,000. Fines can be increased to $1,500 if a truck using the pass causes road closures or traffic delays.

There are turn-around spots for large trucks around mileposts 42 and 84, intended to give truckers a way to avoid the mess they otherwise could create.

A semi-truck gets stuck as it tries to turn around near the closure gate on Independence Pass.

Today, we have no such issues on our Harleys. It’s smooth sailing all the way to the summit. There are several 10-mile-an-hour, first-gear, hairpin turns in the last few miles on the climb to the pass. That’s all part of the fun.

You do have to bring your A game to ride Independence Pass. We’ve got game!

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One final photo op at the pass.

Photo taken to show my Harley at the pass, and to prove I was not helicoptered in.

After more photos at the Continental Divide sign marking the pass, we press on for the 20-mile descent into Aspen.

Because today’s ride is a short one, we arrive in Aspen in the early afternoon, park the bikes, and look around. We also take the opportunity for one last rib meal on the road before heading back to Carbondale.

Lunch is at Hickory House in Aspen, on CO-82, on the way out of town.

Hickory House. Meh?

The ribs are OK, but certainly not the best in Colorado, as the Hickory House says on its promotional materials — including its cups and menus. The Hickory House, with its small rack of baby backs, didn’t move any of the other Colorado rib restaurants off the podium.

Note the”Best Ribs in Colorado” claim. Not. Their promotional material should be revised to say “Best Ribs at The Hickory House.”

So, after 13  consecutive rib meals, here are the final standings: Gold Medal, Slow Groovin’ (Marble); Silver Medal, three-way tie among Serious Texas BBQ (Durango), Smokin’ Dave’s (Estes Park), and Arapahoe Cafe (Dillon).

There is no Bronze Medal, since the next award beyond the four listed above would be a fifth-place, and medals aren’t awarded for being number five — at least not on the Rocky Mountain Rib Rally.

Tomorrow we begin our rib detox, with a return to our normal healthy diet.

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Day Thirteen Summary: Our thirteenth straight day of ribs. Top that, you slackers and vegans!

Click here to see today’s complete route from Silverthorne to Carbondale.

Glad you’re along for the ride.

Vroom, vroom.

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Today’s Colorado Fun Fact: It’s against the law to pick Colorado’s state flower, the Colorado Blue Columbine, on public land or without prior consent of a private landowner.

Today’s Rocky Mountain Rib Rally Fun Fact: In the first quarter of 2018, Aspen had a luxury median home sale price of $18.34 million. To give you an idea of how crazy the Aspen real estate market is, we’ve met several long-time Aspenites who sold their unpretentious, blue-collar homes for $6 million; the homes were then torn down to build much more extravagant residences. The per-square-foot price in Aspen is closing in on $2,000!

Today’s Colorado Food Fun Fact: The term “cheeseburger” was originally trademarked, in 1935, by Louis Ballast of Denver’s Humpty Dumpty Drive-In. On the northwest side of downtown Denver – at the corner of Speer Boulevard and Alcott Street – is a small, engraved stone marker on the site where Humpty Dumpty’s once was. The location today is a Key Bank.