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Argentine Pass
Argentine Pass is often said to be the highest double
tracked mountain pass in Colorado, even if only one approach
side fits that description these days. Argentine Pass is not
on the continental divide. The honor of the highest
continental divide pass goes to Mosquito
Pass. Still, with its high distinction Argentine Pass
offers up some special difficulties and attractions. In the
attraction department, this is as alpine as it gets. 14000
foot peaks, Grey's and Torrey's Peaks are what seems a
stones throw away, on the other side of a gaping tundra
trough. In the difficulty department, the east side is
reasonably bikable. However the west side most likely
requires a lot of walking, portaging, - maybe some route
finding.
From West. It has been a long time since I have done this. So I can't remember the details at this point. But - between points 1 and 4, the route follows a dirt road in the valley. Past there, the approach is largely on a steep hiking trail. Extensive walking is most likely necessary. I know I did. Portaging the bike up a steep mountain side is also an option. From East. (also described upwards) The profile includes the initial approach on the Guanella Pass road between points 9 and 10. Continuing to the top, the route is a jeep trail, at times very ridable, at other times very rocky. Crossing the past from west to east (going down this side) is in my opinion preferable, because descending on this side is less troublesome than on the other side. Going up either side is likely to be fairly slow for normal people, walking or riding. Dayrides with this point as highest summit:Argentine Pass , Webster Pass , Guanella Pass , Hepburn Pass: Georgetown > Guanella Pass > Burning Bear Trail north > Hepburn Pass > Webster Pass > Montezuma > road up Peru Creek > Argentine Pass > Georgetown: 58.1miles (mech Odo m1:87.8.8). Notes: This "ride" was much longer than first thought. We reached the top of Argentine pass just shortly before sunset, when the picture below was taken. - return after dark.  History Colorado gold rush of 1859/60 (<Jones
Pass|Webster Pass>):
Several passes were pioneered long after the initial two years
of the gold rush. Their purpose was to serve as easier supply
routes to the gold camps. All of these involved crossing the
continental divide west of Denver. A previous attempt to ease
movement of goods to the mining towns west of the divide was
over Jones Pass. Argentine Pass was the most direct attack on the wall between
the mining towns and Denver. The previous pass in this thread,
Jones Pass, had no affect on the movement of goods for the
majority of mining towns, which are located further south. The
problem remained the long and complicated route to Denver. In
order to get to the Front Range, Breckenridge miners had to
cross Boreas Pass, South Park and Kenosha
Pass. By this time another wagon road had been opened over
the continental divide west of Denver over Rollins
Pass. But that did not do much for the Breckenridge area.
That pass also was too far north. All through the 1860s silver
had been found on the west side of what would become Argentine
Pass. So close to Denver, yet its distance to be traveled to a
mill was over 200 miles. Georgetown, east of the ridge, and all
its adjoining wealth and industry, was less than a dozen miles
away as the crow flies. If only a road could get across that
ridge. Motivation to build a road was very high, and so was the
pass that resulted.
So how did Silveropolis turn out ? Incredibly Argentine Pass
was built from Georgetown to the top in 1869 and started cutting
down the other side during the spring of 1870. By the time the
first toll gate was installed at Waldorf, our hero Decatur was
drinking heavily and resigned from the Georgetown Snake River
Wagon Company, maybe to promote his Silveropolis. That was just as well. The road was blocked with snow except
for July to September. And when the road was cleared of snow,
chances were high that it was blocked by a rockslide. Paying
customers of the road were forced to clear the road themselves,
on top of doubling and tripling their wagon teams. But 1877 the
road had essentially become a pack train trail. Another pass was
built to address the original problem in 1878, Webster
Pass.
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Approaches
The
business man for such a venture had to have a matching ego.
Stephen Decatur also had business dealings and wives to match
the ego, 5 children from 2 white and several Indian wives. His
motto was "no orthodoxy, no monogamy and no monotony".
If he had his way, the capital of the new mining district that
was to be created from his road, would be called Silveropolis