Labor Day took us into the mountains again for a little adventure. After living in Crested Butte for over 35 years my mother is moving to California to get away from the harsh Colorado winters.  Wanting to visit her one last time before she moves we headed to CB on an alternate route.

Not having been able to cross Pearl Pass in a trip earlier this year we decided to take it for this trip. To get to Pearl we came through Taylor Park where we camped Friday night.  After an early breakfast and the fun of breaking camp we headed up Taylor Pass.

Taylor was as rocky as ever with the first few miles at a slow crawl through what seems to be a continuous rock garden. Stopping at the creek we let a number of ATV pass. Once LJ and Nancy were ready with the video and still cameras I started up the creek. With most of the snow melt gone the creek was very low exposing most of the boulders that need to be negotiated.

 

Rounding the corner and climbing out of the creek I found the ATV riders a waiting to see the FJ and trailer get stuck.  Not today, they were impressed with the ease that the FJ negotiated the climb out of the creek.

After spending some time chatting up the Toyota FJ Cruiser we got rolling again.  Nancy headed out on foot to hike to Taylor Lake while LJ and I finished the climb in the FJ.  

Waiting for Nancy to finish the hike LJ  and I enjoyed the wonderfully scenic basin that holds Taylor Lake.

With Nancy and the dogs back on board it was over the summit of Taylor Pass and down the Express Creek Road.  Express Creek is a typical rocky trail that heads down to Ashcroft and the Castle Creek Road.

We stopped for lunch at the Ashcroft town site. 

With lunch completed it was time to start the climb to the Summit of Pearl Pass. Having never completed the drive pulling a trailer I knew it would hold some challenges.

We first encountered the bridge that was supposed to be out and discovered that the washed out area has been completely  filled and the bridge is 100% serviceable.  

Once past the Montezuma Basin road Pearl starts to show its true face as a technical rocky trail.

The east side has a section where the road is cut through what looks like a layer of slate.

It is this section of road that presents the challenge. As the trail gets steeper we encountered the main obstacle, ledges carved out of the slate.  With a dry road there would not be much problem. However, today it started raining right as we got here.

Water and slate make for very little traction. With the trailer acting as an anchor it took a number of tries and a little finesse to finally get the FJ to climb through the section.  The trail then continues a steep climb through loose slate and water.  After completing this section we made the summit with little difficulty.

The summit of Pearl is small with enough space for one or to vehicles so we did not linger long before heading down the west side.  The west side of the pass is a long rocky descent into the East Brush Creek drainage.  There are a few small water crossings that don’t present much problem.  We did encounter a large uphill group and I had to back the trailer to clear the trail for them. Not a challenge that I looked forward to.

We arrived in Crested Butte at 5:00 PM with some great memories of one of Colorado’s most scenic passes.

 Taylor & Pearl Pass Google Earth KML File