Cottonwood Pass officially reopened with a ribbon cutting ceremony held on Thursday, September 19th. This is great news following years of partial closures. Drivers will once again be able to travel from Taylor Park Reservoir to Buena Vista. The timing couldn’t be more perfect as we head into the fall “leaf season”. More than 30 people involved in the project attended Thursday’s ceremony at the 12,126 foot summit.
Speakers from several entities reflected on decades of planning and the history of the pass. Ernie Nesbit worked for the Gunnison National Forest in 1956 when the Forest Service was first assigned to build a rout into Taylor Park for timber logging. “Taylor Canyon Road was too bad at that time to haul logs over, so why not build a new road from Taylor Park to the top of Cottonwood Pass to tie into the existing road from the top of the pass down to Buena Vista,” said Nesbit who was in charge of the pass’s west side.
Read more on the history of Cottonwood Pass and last week’s ribbon cutting ceremony: Ribbon Cutting On Cottonwood Officially Reopens Pass before heading out to take in the fall foliage and newly paved pass.
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