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My friend and I road the west Rollins Pass road last week. I found this area scenic, historic, easy, and great fun. The road is an old rail road right of way that was built in the early 1900s. This is a popular "Jeep" road, and popular hunting area. Our trail speeds were maybe in the 15 to 20 mph range, faster than normal. There are no difficult "technical riding" sections to pick our way through. The railroad abandoned this right of way when the Monfort Tunnel was built from Rollins to Winter Park. That tunnel is still used today.
The "ridge trail" that used to connect the west side and east side of Rollins Pass is now closed to all except hikers, see photo. The needles eye tunnel is also closed due to falling rocks. And again, I found the road up the mountain to our parking area very rough and narrow with significant drop offs. It is too narrow for two pick up trucks to pass each other. We didn't meet anyone head on, but it would be tough to backup up hill to find a wide spot in the road so we could get by each other. If I could license my ATV, I could leave the truck and trailer at the base of the mountain and ride that 3 miles up the mountain to the staging area. It would be much safer to do so in my view.
We passed three identical side by sides by the tressel. We guessed they were rental machines. We kept on riding down hill and soon these three machines passed us. I think the side by sides can travel faster than a quad over wash outs and rough sections due to the longer, wider wheel base. I was impressed at their speed.
I'm jealous about the scenery. All day when I ride I see trees, road, trees, grass, trees, creek, trees, road, trees, but usually without the grass or creek.
Hi jumbofrank: I'm from Minnesota. I know exactly your scenery, except Minnesota doesn't have a UP or surrounded by the Great Lakes. Michigan is a beautiful 4 season state. I rather miss leafy trees, fall colors, mud, bugs, humidity, fishing opener, raccoons, snow days, snowmobiling, and sunsets over a lake. I think each state in our wonderful country has its own beauty and way of living.
The scenery on most of the trails I ride is just trees and more trees, but there are lots things to see off trail. I just can't get to most of them unless I drive my truck there instead. One of the things I can't quite get to by ATV is Tahquamenon Falls. They're inside a state park that my friends and I rode past but but couldn't enter on our quads.
And you're never far from water anywhere in Michigan. I'm less than a mile from a river on one side and a creek on the other. I don't think twice when I see people walking around the city with fishing poles. I wouldn't trade our hundreds of rivers and tens of thousands of lakes for anything. Being an hour drive from Canada is nice too but I don't even go there anymore. Still, it would be nice to see some real mountains and not what we have in Michigan. 1,447 feet elevation. Yawn. I'm already more than half that elevation at home and didn't even know it.
Each state has its beauty, even North Dakota! I have to admit I'm getting quite used to Colorado. It's like your trees in Michigan, just rock and more rocks in Colorado. Here is another scene from our ride last week on Rollins Pass. This is the Winter Park ski area.
Sep 2, 2018 | 07:55 AM
A Romp at Rollins Pass
