Black Bear Road

Black Bear Pass
Elevation12,840 ft (3,914 m)
Traversed byUnpaved road
LocationSan Juan / San Miguel counties, Colorado, U.S.
RangeRocky Mountains
Coordinates37°53.9717′N 107°44.5783′W / 37.8995283°N 107.7429717°W / 37.8995283; -107.7429717

Black Bear Road or Black Bear Pass, and officially Forest Service Road 648, is a dirt road that starts from the 11,018-foot (3,358 m) summit of Red Mountain Pass on U.S. Highway 550 (between Ouray and Silverton) to Telluride, Colorado.[1][2][3] The road crests at Black Bear Pass, elevation 12,840 feet (3,910 m), and descends over a set of switchbacks as it navigates the heights above Telluride.[1] The road passes Bridal Veil Falls, the highest waterfall in Colorado.[1] In 1975, the road was the subject of a spoken-word song and album of the same title by country musician C. W. McCall.[4]

In this aerial photo facing west, Telluride is at center, surrounded by mountains on three sides. Black Bear Road traverses the mountains from US-550, visible as a line in the valley at bottom.

Black Bear Road is open a few months of the year, from late summer (usually the last week of July) to early fall.[1][3][5] The road is traveled only downhill from Red Mountain Pass — except for the annual Jeeper's Jamboree in which travel is reversed for one day only. The start of the trail was formerly marked along U.S. 550 with a sign that read:[1] 

TELLURIDE ➞
CITY OF GOLD
12 MILES - 2 HOURS
YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE
CRAZY TO DRIVE THIS
ROAD - BUT IT HELPS

JEEPS ONLY

After repeated thefts of the sign, the local authorities stopped replacing it.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Mark L. Evans (11 July 2016). "The Infamous Black Bear Road". Narrow Gauge Circle.
  2. ^ "Black Bear Pass". dangerousroads.org.
  3. ^ a b "Black Bear Pass Road #648". USDA Forest Service.
  4. ^ "C.W. McCall – Black Bear Road". Discogs.
  5. ^ "BUSHDUCKS COLORADO JEEP TRAILS WHEN ARE THEY PASSABLE? DATES FOR 2018". bushducks.com. 11 December 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  6. ^ "Black Bear Pass, one of the most intense mountain roads in CO".