To get back to the west side of the Rockies from Boulder, and rejoin the TransAmerica, I took Rollins Pass, an unpaved mountain pass that’s only accessible to bikes and on foot.

From Boulder I followed the bicycle trail out of town and up Boulder Canyon, and then joined up to a series of dirt roads that took me to Rollinsville. The grade got pretty steep in sections, I had a lot of elevation to gain.

From Rollinsville there’s a 7 mile road that runs adjacent to the railway line and the river, and as the road ends it turns into a very rocky road up to Rollins Pass.

For 10 miles I bumped over the incredibly uneven road surface. In the morning the sky was clear, but as has happened every day I’ve been in Colorado, clouds formed, the wind picked up, thunder rang from the sky, and raindrops fell. I got showered on a little as I got near to the top.

Rollins pass was graded for a railway so it was an incredibly even 4% grade the entire way up, I did’t really notice the climbing over all the bumping. Once it got near the pass it went through a short tunnel, but the tunnel is closed as it’s unsafe, which is why cars are unable to cross. For bicycles there’s a singletrack trail that goes up and over. This part was very steep and I struggled to push my bike up and over. But I got there.

The views from the pass were pretty amazing, the rocky mountains with patches of snow, very green with water flowing, and haze in many directions as the precipitation fell. The road on the west side was quite a bit better than the east, there are multiple trailheads on the west so I guess they must grade it, it was still rocky in places but overall much better.

So tonight I’m sleeping back on the west of the Rockies, and tomorrow I will rejoin the TransAmerica and continue heading south.