Kenosha Pass
Distance: 37.16 km
Elevation Gain: 180 m
Elevation Loss: 719 m
Difficulty:
176 (Easy)
FIETS Index: 1.58 FIETS
Avg Grade: -2.30 %
Max cat climb: 4
Min elevation: 2359 m
Max elevation: 3048 m
Ride Category:
Flat
Kenosha Pass, 9,984 ft, carries US 285 from South Park towards the North Fork of the South Platte in Colorado, USA. Writing from the pass in 1879, Walt Whitman described South Park stretching fifty miles before him. The Colorado Trail crosses the summit, and its section near the campground is a favourite with mountain bikers and hikers.
This ride starts in Jefferson and makes a short climb to the summit. Just north of the pass stood the Kenosha House, a stage station and inn built in the 1860s, which Vice President Schuyler Colfax visited in 1868. The ride then makes the long descent east through Grant, where the road to Guanella Pass turns off, down to Bailey. Bailey is named after William Bailey, who built a ranch and stage station here in 1864. The town is home to the Bailey Hundo, a 100-mile mountain bike race that has started and finished there every year since 2009.
