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1. (mile00,5960ft) START-END EAST: Colorado Springs, Intersection of I25 and Fountain Creek 2. (mile05,6450ft) START-END ALTERNATE EAST: Manitou Springs is on left 3. (mile09, 7380ft) turnoff to Pike's Peak Highway is on left 4. (mile18, 8470ft) town of Woodland Park 5. (mile25,9184ft) TOP: UTE PASS turnoff to Cripple Creek and Hoosier Pass is on left 6. (mile33,8170ft) Florissant 7. (mile38, 8000ft) Lake George 8. (mile38, 7920ft) START-END WEST: South Platte bridge, west of Lake George

Approaches

From East. The profile starts where Rte 24 crosses I25. Any parallel street will do the job to get the cyclist as far as Manitou Springs. From there the thinning of the traffic can be observed by the cyclist riding on the shoulder. The next major center of commerce is Woodland Park. In Divide a good view of Pike's Peak to the south can be obtained. But it is only a hint a what you are in for, if you turn left towards Victor and Cripple Creek. That is part of the Hoosier Pass approach.

From West. Between South Park and the approach to Ute Pass lies yet another Pass, Wilkerson Pass. The terrain is gentle rolling hills covered with loosely spaced needle forrest. In the summer the high dry forrest is a relief from the heat of the plains below.

History

With a name like this it's safe to assume that the pass was an old Ute trail. They too visited the area of today's Manitou Springs, "where the great spirit made the bubbling spring water boil".

de Anza(<Poncha Pass|North La Veta Pass>): de Anza burst onto the scene, on a flank of Pike's Peak, chasing Comanches in the summer of 1779. To get here he had crossed Poncha Pass, the Mosquito Range at Cameron Mountain and a flank of Pike's Peak.

De Anza pursued his enemies on a variant of today's Ute Pass. The route crossed Pike's Peak, perhaps as high as the settlement of Cripple Creek and descended to the plains along Little Fountain Creek. In all likelyhood the route was very different than today's highway over Ute Pass. In the Colorado Springs area, de Anza finally had a chance to attack his Comanches, a group of 1000 of them enjoying family life under the Cottonwoods. 18 Comanche men and 34 women and children died. Their chief, the colorful Chief Cuerno Verde was away to the south, on a raid towards the Taos area.

And so the chase continued, this time back south on the plains along the Front Range. De Anza caught up with Chief Cuerno Verde (Greenhorn) at the southern end of the Wet Mountains, under the mountain that today bears his name. The chief wore not only green buffalo horns, from which his name is derrived, but on this occasion also a leather hat which made him feel invincible. But you can't always trust your own feelings. The chief died at the beginning of the fight, and with him his son, four captains, a medicine man and 10 warriors. The rest fled. De Anza was victorious. With this long raid he managed to reduce the Comanche control over Spanish settlements for all time.

Now on his way back home to New Mexico, de Anza picked up Huerfano Creek into the Wet Mountain Valley and explored one more Colorado Pass area, the North La Veta Pass area.

Colorado Gold Rush of 1859/60(<Kenosha Pass|Currant Creek Pass>): Gold had been found along Tarryall Creek in South Park But the narrow Indian trail over Kenosha Pass was not suitable for carrying all the implements needed for a major gold frenzy of this sort.

But Ute Pass was. Colorado Springs merchants spent 1400 dollars to bridge a few creeks, remove a few rocks, and soon after it was a highway for food, liquor, furniture, hardware store grand openings, equipment to furnish churches and brothels,  and all other implements necessary for a gold rush frenzy. All this traffic strained the old indian trail past its capacity, and in 1862 a toll road was built. But Kenosha Pass was still shorter, and it wasn't long before it too was improved, and turned into a major supply route to South Park.

Hayden Survey(<Schofield Pass|Wilkerson Pass>)The rover boys of the famous Hayden Survey mapped many new crossings in the Rockies. But this was not one of them. It was far from new. But the base of the pass, Colorado Springs was also the Hayden Survey's home base, where they enjoyed the luxuries of civilization before heading out into the wild Rockies. The alternate name, Hayden Divide, was often used to comemmorate Ferdinand Hayden and his survey.

Leadville Boom(<Currant Creek Pass|Wilkerson Pass>): Ute Pass saw a drastic increase in traffic when the mining boom in Leadville started to be heard along the Front Range in 1878, and the pass was drastically improved. Already in 1876 an average of 14 wagons and 24 travelers were ascending the pass, while 5 were descending to Colorado City.

Railroads(<Loveland Pass|Trout Creek Pass>): Ute Pass was the first Colorado Pass crossed by a standard Gauge railroad, and with that started a new chapter in Colorado Railroad History. The Denver Rio Grande Railroad  (DRG) was now in undisputed control of the Colorado rail traffic and could take advantage of its dominant position by financially exploiting its monopoly. The Union Pacific (UP) did already have a competing line into Leadville. But its roller coaster route, which included Boreas Pass, was too inefficient. One final attempt by the UP to lay rails over Loveland Pass and build a direct line to Leadville was funnier than realistic.

This next attempt to challenge the DRG was more serious. It was mounted from Colorado Springs. He was a multimillionair who visited Colorado Springs for its spa water. During his visits he acquired an Aspen silver mine, which spurred the determination to build a standard gauge railroad to his mine. Another major motivating factor was more emotional. He wanted to break the monopoly of the DRG. His line climbed Ute Pass on a granite shelf far above the road in 1887 and rushed across South Park to Trout Creek Pass. His name was James J Hagerman. Regular service over the pass lasted till 1916, and the following 36 years saw the occasional special occasion train, Sunday outings for Colorado Springs and Colorado City residents to the high mountain meadows, the closest thing to not-yet-museum, museum railroad.

Modern Highways (<Raton Pass|Wilkerson Pass>): In 1902 much of the road and tracks were damaged by a flood, and promptly rebuilt with convenient convict labor. In 1913 Ute Pass became part of the second designated cross country automobile route. In the east the traveler had an atlas of roads to choose from. In the west the "National Trail Route" reached Colorado Springs over Raton Pass then continued over Ute Pass, Wilkerson Pass, Trout Creek Pass, Tennessee  Pass onwards to Grand Junction, Utah and Los Angeles. The name "Ocean to Ocean Highway" was also applied. By 1932 autombile travel had become a less exotic venture, and the time was ripe for converting flowery names to simple numbers, US24 in this case. Since 1965 motorists can invade the mountains via US24 on a four lane highway.

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