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1. (mile00,4517ft) START-END SOUTH: Loma 2. (mile11,4932ft) START-END SOUTH ALTERNATE: dirt road turnoff on right offers selfsufficient dessert camping on public land 3. (mile14,5122ft) route crosses East Creek and enters the Book Cliffs 4. (mile33,8259ft) TOP: Douglas Pass, Rope Canyon ridge route joins from right 5. (mile45,6340ft) Rope Canyon turnoff is on right 6. (mile70,5246ft) turn left onto Rte64 to Rangely 7. (mile72,5234ft) START-END NORTH: Rangely

From North. This stretch through layer cake dessert hills must be one of the loneliest paved cycling climbs in the state, which only helps to perserve the arecheological areas found along the route. There are a number of examples of native rock paintings from the Fremont archeological period, that can be seen in much the same context as Escalante once did in 1776. A few ididots added their names, but fewer than the average number of idiots.

From South. The lowest, southernmost point on the profile also happens to be the starting point of another bike route, the trailhead for the Kokopelli Trail heading into Utah. The route to Douglas Pass heads in the opposite direction, first crossing the expanse of Grand Valley towards the cliffs. The rolling hills in that portion of the profile get lost in the scale. But they do exist. Once the road enters plateau country, it follows East Salt Creek in a relatively straight grassy valley. After hours of this the switchbacks approaching the top come as a surprise, unless exhaustion has eliminated the ability to be surprised at this point. The top of the pass is filled with spur roads to gas wellheads, oil and gas pipelines in all states of repair and disrepair. Some of the drilling sites are at vantage points above the valley, fit for a castle. But instead of a medieval ruin, the visitor is instead greeted by the distinct odor of natural gas escaping from the wellhead. The third picture is taken at one such castle gas drill site.

Alternate Approaches

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01. (mile00.0,6351ft) START-END: NORTH EAST: Rope Canyon turnoff on northern approach from Rangely to Douglas Pass 02. (mile4.50,8383ft) stay right, but either route will lead to ridge 03. (mile4.75,8381ft) at the four way crossing go right along ridge 04. (mile6.70,7975ft) stay left 05. (mile7.30,7927ft) jeep trail joins from left, stay straight 06. (mile8.40,8227ft) turn hard left, do not go right even if your intuition tells you to. The correct route goes east, then south 07. (mile10.40,8237ft) stay left 08. (mile11.20,8221ft) go left up steep climb 09. (mile14.75,8954ft) HIGH POINT 10. (mile15.50,8904ft) dead end to radio tower is on right, jeep trail is now a good dirt road 11. (mile20.40,8255ft) DOUGLAS PASS TOP, hard top road, turn right to descend back to starting point 12. (mile32.6,6351ft) START-END SOUTH EAST: Rope Canyon turnoff on Douglas Pass Road

From North East (MTB ridge route) The profile shows the Rope Canyon route in conjunction with part of the principal northern approach. This signed BLM mountain bike route ascends Rope Canyon in order to traverse a ridge far above and between West Douglas Creek and East Douglas Creek. In sprite of being a mostly signed route, a good map is essential to remain on the ridge during the first try. The plateau is full of ups and downs and the way to remain on top, at times appears like the quickest way back into the valley. The first picture is taken from the ridge. The final miles before the pass are on a well graded dirt road

Tours

Dayrides. An out and back ride from Loma to the top of the pass and exploring a few miles of tracks near the top measured 85 miles with 7100ft of climbing, using a Cateye 100A over 6.5 hours. A ride over the Rope Canyon approach, traversing the entire "alternate approach profile" shown above, measured 35 miles with 4500ft of climbing in 4.1 hours.

History

Escalante(<Alkali - Road Gulch Divide|Daniel's Summit(utah)>): The Escalante expedition entered Colorado in the Hesperus Pass area near Durango. After having worked their way around the southern end of Grand Mesa, the fathers continued to De Beque and up Roan Creek to the top of Douglas Pass. But today's paved Rte. 139 from Loma to Douglas Pass doesn't share a single mile with the Escalante route. The Ute trail they utilized, penetrated the magnificent cliff edges of the Roan Plateau far to the east, ascending Roan Creek from De Beque. On one of the steeper slopes an accident occurred, where two pack animals fell and rolled 20 yards. Attempting to aproximate this route on a mountain bike today, while remaining on public land, would require a portage to the top of the plateau.

On the north side of Douglas Pass, modern Rte. 139 is much closer to the Esclante route and the old Ute trail. Both descent the Douglas Creek drainage to the White River through what Escalante called "Painted Canyon", because of the many pictograms left by indians. Crossing from the Colorado at today's De Beque to the White River took the expedition 4 days.

Douglas Pass was the last Colorado pass crossed by the fathers. The next challenge was the dessert. After that they crossed an outlying plateau of the Uintas in Utah over Daniel's Summit to Utah Lake and returned to New Mexico from there. Dominguez and Escalante never found what they were looking for, an easy route for other California bound Spaniards. They received little or no credit for their discoveries, large parts of which would eventually become part of the old Spanish Trail network.

The Escalante story stands in contrast to other stories of pass exploration. It seems like history is filled with stories of ambitious lieutenants, who lead men in frantic searches of nonexistent rivers. It is also filled with stories of indian raids and revenge killings, stories of passes built by virtual slave labour, except here it's called capitalism. The Escalante expedition built a cultural bridge to natives. They described more and travelled further without weapons and lived to tell about it, which is quite an accomplishment in the larger scheme of things. The Escalante expedition touched upon many scenic perls of the central western states, the canyons of Dinosaur, the lakes of Grand Mesa, bits of Mesa Verde and a hunderd others.

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