Baxter Pass
It's not often, that a pass is named after an old asphalt
company, or at least one of its principals. Maybe you would
expect, that such a pass then is paved with the smoothest of
asphalts, worthy of some great bicycle race. But this is not
so. This is a rough dirt road through a really lonesome,
isolated corner of Colorado. For more on the asphalt
connection, see the history notes below.
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1.(4660ft,mile00.0) START-END SOUTH:
county road reaches a low point, just before crossing
Salt Creek, north west of Machk
2.(5040ft,mile08.0)road enters Book Cliffs area,
shortly after jct with Mitchell Rd
3.(6400ft,mile22.1) route turns left in Atchee
4.(8380ftft,mile28.1)TOP: Baxter Pass
5.(6180ft,mile40.5) START-END NORTH: jct with road on
right that also climbs towards south
6.(4990ft,mile65.7) START-END NORTH ALT: low point at
bridge over White River, south of Vernal, Ut |
Approaches
From South. It seems like good place to start a ride
over Baxter Pass would be the I70 Mack exit. You see a lot of
bicycles at the exit - mostly top of car roofs But they all head
in the other direction, into the McInnis Canyon conservation
area with its popular trails. The ride towards Baxter Pass turns
out to be quite long when you start here. The route stays on
pavement for now and follows the edges of squares along property
boundaries, until it reaches a low point, where it crosses West
Salt Creek. This is where the profile starts. There are several
more miles of pavement with a wonderful absence of traffic,
until the smoothness stops abruptly, at the intersection with
Prairie Canyon. You could argue that this was the best part of
the ride. After a short distance the arguably worst part of the
ride, comes in the form of a wide gravel road which leads as far
as the South Canyon gas compressor station.
Shortly afterwards the road enters the Book Cliffs, now on a
better bikable surface. As all the Book Cliff approaches from
the south, the road has a few short sandy stretches in the lower
part, but nothing that would make you get off the bike. Very
little changes about the canyon scenery during the climb. It
looks the same, even though the road has been climbing. How can
this be ? The reason is that the valley bottom climbs at roughly
the same rate as the plateau top, maybe a little faster. This
too is very similar to other Book Cliff roads on the south side.
Finally the rest of an old concrete building, probably a remnant
of the railroad, that used to cross this pass, comes into sight.
What a welcome sight, there is change after all. The old stone
ruin together with its graffiti even has a name on the
map: Atchee.
The real part of the pass is about to start. Right after
passing the stone building you can make out a microwave antenna
on the loaf shaped ridge to the west. That's the top. But to get
there the road has still many switchbacks in front of it. During
my last traversal, I encountered about a dozen wild horses at
the bottom of this section. It looked like they felt right at
home with all the cows in this area. I encountered no other
travelers from here on. Finally the road emerges above the brush
and the last long cut across the mountain ahead is one of the
more impressive sights on this ride.
At the top, two other roads intersect. Baxter Ridge Road to
the left apparently dead ends. The steep trail to the right
eventually can connect to Douglas
Pass, according to the map
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short shelf road section on south
approach
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Atchee - or all that's left of it:
route to Baxter Pass turns left here
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view towards Atchee, before
reaching shelf section
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From North. (described downwards) If you thought the
south side felt isolated, just wait till you roll down this
side. But the good news is the road surface - nice and natural,
great for a mountain bike. A spring is labeled with a
"Columbine private" sign. That's as far as I got
sofar. It seems to start raining, every time I get to this
point.
Dayride with this point as highest summit
PARTIALLY PAVED / UNPAVED
(|FR004 Water
Hollow Rd s(u)>)
Baxter Pass x2: Mack: just west of Mc Innis Canyon
Conservation area <> paved county roads north and west
<> Baxter Pass Rd <> Baxter Pass <> turnaround
point at Columbine Spring: 85.4miles with 5270ft of climbing in
7:13hrs (VDO MC1.0 m5:13.5.28)
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riding around the breadloaf
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finally: the northern approach
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History
Railroads: The connection to asphalt on this dirt road
is this: C.O. Baxter worked for the Barber Asphalt Company of St
Louis. Gilsonite, a mineral used for asphalt, paints, roofing
and printer's ink was mined in Dragon, Utah. In order to get the
mineral to the main railline in Mack, a railroad had to cross
this pass.
C.O. Baxter also was a founding member of the Unitah railway.
The railroad was in operation from 1905 to 1939, with extra
helper engines on both ends of the trains, propelling the trains
over 5 miles of a constant 7.5 percent grade over this pass.
Even if the uphill would have consisted of all empty cars, this
is extremely steep for a train. On top a small town existed for
a while.
In the mid 1910s a rail tunnel under the pass was seriously
considered. And today another kind of tunnel is used instead of
the train. Today a pipe line flushes the gilsonite from Dragon
to Mack.

view towards Baxter Pass from lower Salt Creek, before start of
ride
Baxter Pass
Highest Point: 8380ft
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Southern Approach:
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climb |
over distance |
drop |
low point north west of Mack, just
before crossing Salt Creek (4660ft) |
3720ft |
28miles
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Atchee (6400ft) |
1980ft |
6miles |
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Northern Approach: |
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low point at bridge over White River,
south of Vernal Ut. (4990ft) |
3390ft |
37+1/2miles
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~900ft |
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