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1.(8460ft,mile00) START-END EAST:  junction with Co119, joining the eastern side over North Cochetopa Pass 2.(10032ft,mile11) TOP: Cochetopa Pass 3.(9250ft,mile17) forest road to Saguache Park leaves on left 4.(9120ft,mile20) forest road to La Garita Wilderness leaves on left 5.(9010ft,mile23) forest road to Pinos Pass joins on left 6.(8810ft,mile27) START-END WEST: junction with Co119, joining the western side of North Cochetopa Pass

Approaches

From East. For the profile below both endpoints, see the North Cochetopa Pass profile. Cochetopa Pass leaves Co119 to continue its course out on the windy plain. Instead it seeks shelter in the low Rabbit Canyon, accompanied by comunication wires, that look like a telegraph line from Otto Mears days. A gentle forested climb gives way to a few rolling hills, sporadically offering hints of views of the La Garita Mountains between a maze of roads, begging to be mountain biked. In contrast to the many tracks crossing the road, the route to the top of the pass is easy to follow and consists of good hard dirt all the way (July/05). The top is a peaceful forested spot with a simple stone monument, pointing out the historical significance of this inconspicuous spot. It also contains unlimited opportunities for selfcontained camping in every direction.

From West. The initial approach pictured on the profie is the only aspect of this ride that could be described as unpleasant. This is the section following Cochetopa Creek to upper and lower Dome Reservoirs. Apparently due to the heavy volume of traffic to the La Garita Wilderness area, the road is a little sandy and exhibits washboard characteristics. But conditions improve with every mile of distance from its beginning on Co114, until it's a perfectly smooth dirt road after 8 miles. At this point the La Garita Mountains make an imposing panorama in the distance, albeit across a wide expanse of private land. Now the road enters a low valley and climbs to the top. A single switchback, utilized to gain elevation, is the only hint of alpine character on the road itself.

Tours

Dayrides. A ride from a campsite a few miles west of Saguache, leading over Cochetopa Pass to its junction with Co125, returning over paved North Cochetopa Pass, measured 84 miles with 3250 feet of climbing in 6.3 hours.

History

Travel over the Cochetopa Hills may be as old as the hills themselves. Just exactly which tracks were followed in order to cross what hills, that just happened to be located on the continental divide, is subject to conjecture. But of the two prominent crossings in the area, Cochetopa is thought of as the old historic crossing. North Cochetopa Pass is the modern highway. Ute Indians used the area to hunt buffalo. Cochetopa is their word for "gate of the buffalo". This also explains the presence of a "Buffalo Pass Campground" on North Cochetopa Pass, even though there is no Buffalo Pass anywhere to be found in the area.

The intrepid Spanish trailblazer, De Anza, came charging through the valleys east of here, over Poncha Pass. He knew of the existence of Cochetopa Pass through his Indian guides. But he did not cross it. Still, the Spanish name for the pass, "Puerto de los cibolos", not gate of the onions - that would be cibolas - but gate of the buffalo, persisted into the times of anglo American exploration. Later, when Gunnison crossed the pass, he called it "Coo-chu-to-pe".

One of the earliest regular, anglo American users of the pass was a Saint Louis Frenchman with business in Taos. Antoine Robidoux first crossed the pass in a south to north direction in 1824, while on a trading trip from Taos to the lower Green River area. Later he used his connections in the east instead, to bring supplies to the Green River area and a subsequent fort in the Delta (Co)  area by traveling up the Arkansas River, then following Mosca Pass, and Cochetopa Creek to Cochetopa Pass - same destination, same pass, but now traversed while traveling east to west. Cochetopa Pass was already an intersection.

The Gunison Rail Survey: (<Marshall Pass|Blue Mesa Summit>) Before you can have a transcontinental railroad, you have to know where to put it - you need a railroad survey. It was the right time in history for such a venture. The boundaries of the US had been defined. In 1846 Britain accepted the 49th parallel as southern boundary of British North America. Two years later Senator Benton's expansionist movement had resulted in Texas and New Mexico belonging to the US. Americans scurried from one end of the country to the other, easterners looking for gold in California, traders shipping supplies to Salt Lake City and points in between. A debate about where the first transcontinental railroad should be built was a hot topic. In 1853, a full 15 years before the first such railroad would finally be finished, congress ordered a total of four railway surveys by the topographical engineers, two of which included surveys of Rocky Mountain passes. It is interesting to note right in the beginning, that neither one of the two routes surveyed through the Rockies was eventually chosen for the first transcontinental railroad. The Northern Pacific expediton explored a northerly path through Montana. A railroad approximating the route was eventually built. But it was not the first transcontinental road. Gunnison's railsurvey expedition followed a southerly path over Colorado's Sangre de Cristo Pass and onwards to Cochetopa Pass. In the end, the route finally chosen for the railroad, crossed the Rockies between the two surveyed routes. It followed a route much closer to the main traffic corridor since since early trapper and settler days, the Oregon trail.

The reason for this background at this particular point in the thread is that Cochetopa Pass turned out to be the expedition's most interesting exploration. The stated objective of the mission was to find a route across Sangre de Cristo Pass (North La Veta Pass) and Cochetopa Pass. When a hired mountain man from Taos, named Antoine Leroux, guided Gunnison and his large train of wagons and rifle men to Cochetopa Pass, they had already examined a handful of passes. Besides noticing the potential of Marshall Pass not much new had been learned, until Cochetopa Pass. Leroux guided Gunnison along a route to the south of today's road, following Luder's creek to arrive at the pass. Captain Gunnison was in high spirits. His assessment of Cochetopa Pass couldn't have been better: "The ascent from San Luis Valley was very gradual ... for a wagon road this pass is already practical." The steeper western side was okay too, requiring only four hours of work. That was enough time to make a path for the wagons to slide down to Cochetopa Creek. As luck would have it, the Gunnison's assesment was premature. Cochetopa Canyon was only a hint of things to come. Approaching Gunnison Canyon, the problems imposed by canyons dwarfed those posed by mountains.

Otto Mears Passes: (<Marshall Pass|Los Pinos Pass>) Cochetopa Pass finally became an economically interesting route, when the time came to supply goods to the newly established Ute reservation. John Lawrence built a road in 1869. But it soon became part of the Otto Mears toll road empire. Based in Saguache, this was an early acquisition to the intrepid imigrant's ever expanding toll road empire. When the agency was moved west to the Uncompagre, Mears extended his toll roads west over Los Pinos Pass,  onwards over Blue Mesa Summit and Cerro Summit.

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