July 1, 2007
Last updated September 9, 2007
Photos taken July 4, 2007
Kebler Pass is a highly scenic mountain road that connects Crested Butte to Colorado route 133 at Paonia State Park.
I drove on the road on July 4, 2007, and took these photos. The quality of the road is very good and easily driven by any passenger vehicle. It is a two-lane graded (ie smooth) dirt road with a dust inhibiting coating. With the coating, probably magnesium chloride or calcium chloride, the road is very smooth and almost as good as a paved road. You can easily drive 30-40 mph. The grades on the highway are very gentle.
Nearly all of these photos were taken while driving, so the color may be slightly off due to the windshield.
The photos start as the west end of the corridor near Colorado highway 133 and proceed east to Crested Butte.
Some of the route is open range for cattle.
Dense aspen forests begin to appear.
Aspen trees line the road in some areas.
In other areas the ground is covered with brush and scrubby trees.
There are numerous turnoffs to national forest areas along the route.
This area is known for wildflowers in July. However, they really had not sprouted yet on July 4, and this patch of yellow flowers was
the only one along the road.
At the pass summit. As the photos showed, reaching the summit was quite easy, in contrast to some of the more steep and winding mountain
passes such as Independence Pass near Aspen.
Crested Butte is 7 miles ahead.
The descent is very gradual.
The road becomes paved as it nears Crested Butte.
At Crested Butte.