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WHERE’S ITALIAN PASS?
Lights from the buildings across the street produced a misty
glow … a glow that seemed to glitter against the drizzling rain gently falling
from somewhere in the darkness of the night.
That glow produced a kind of barrier, preventing us from seeing anything
beyond the street and buildings in front of us.
We were sitting in a café in Crested Butte, not looking forward to
setting up camp in the rainy night.
“We could camp on Italian Pass,: Caveman suggested.
“Where’s Italian Pass?” I asked.
“I don’t know. That
guy we passed on Taylor Pass said he went over it … so it’s gotta be around
here somewhere.”
We were at the end of our day. At least we thought we were. Our day began at the crack of nine. That’s when we tossed the last of our camping
gear into the vehicles and pulled out of our camp, onto the Tincup Pass
Road. We took our time going over
Tincup, stopped for lunch in the ghost town of Pie Plant; then poked along at
an easy pace over Taylor Pass. Just as
we pulled into Ashcroft, the rain began to fall.
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Big D was checking a dent in the running board when I walked
up. “These running boards just don’t
work on trails rated as difficult,” he grumbled. “I better pass up on Pearl Pass this
trip. I’m gonna take these things off as
soon as I get home.” He left us and headed
for home.
That left two of Pass Patrol’s wildest daredevils, all alone
on the trail … with no equalizing force to keep us over the safety net. You guessed it. Caveman and Outlaw (His wife and son don’t
count as an equalizing force ‘cause he don’t listen to them no how.)
We went over Pearl in pouring down rain. What a trip!
Four hours of hair raising 4Wheeling and not a scratch. The fog was so thick on the summit of the
pass, we could not see more than a few car lengths ahead. At 7pm we pulled into Crested Butte and
that’s when the subject of Italian Pass came up.
“Where is Italian Pass?”
I repeated as the two of us scanned the Gunnison Natinal Forest
Map. We found a trail called Cement
Creek that went over the top and connected with Italian Creek, which id come
out at Taylor Reservoir. “That must be
it.”
“You wanna go moonlighting … in the rain?”
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