Favorite Colorado Passes

Elevation: 13,500 feet
Location: T11S R85W
County: Pitkin
Topo: Hayden Peak
National Forest: White River

Electric Pass is accessible by foot on forest service trail #1984 in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness Area. It divides the waters of Conundrum Creek to the west and Castle Creek to the east.

The pass was named in the 1920s by Len Shoemaker, a forest ranger who was knocked to the ground several times by static electricity at the summit. He escaped by rolling down the mountain slopes. The 1873 Hayden survey party also noted the electricity atop the pass.

Miners used the pass in the 1880s. In early days it was called the Panorama Horseback Trail or the Pine Creek Prospector Trail. Mostly it was used by miners leading their animals and packing gold ore to Ashcroft.

Do not attempt to move down into the Conundrum Valley area from the pass, a very dangerous descent. Stay on the trail as shown on the maps. Electric Pass is located above Cathedral Lake, one mile South of Hayden Peak and on a ridge between Hayden and Cathedral peaks. It is named on the forest service map. The topo map shows the trail that crosses the pass.

© Article copyright Pruett Publishing.