A Flat Note On Music Pass

Today's excursion will be an initial exploration of the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness in the area accessible by the four wheel drive road that ends at Music Pass.

Drive South on highway 69 to South Colony Road. At the intersection turn left and drive for 13.5 miles to the signed Forest Service boundary where the road changes from a good gravel road to a dirt road when you cross a cattle guard.

A few minutes past the cattle guard you come to a primitive campground with the kind of toilet that is called an "outhouse".

We started up the four wheel drive road, intending to drive the two miles to the end of the road. We were driving our Ford one ton diesel pickup truck with a king cab. This is a great vehicle, but much too long for a narrow four wheel drive road meant for short wheelbase jeeps. After barely making a couple of tight turns in the road we decided to pull off the road at the next likely place and walk the rest of the way. The next spot was just around the bend and we managed to pull off the road near an old fire ring.

I shut down the engine and stepped out of the cab to hear a loud hissing sound. I knew the sound could only be air excaping from one of the tires. Sure enough, the left rear tire had a hole in it the size of a pencil. We had let the tires wear down too much and just hitting a sharp rock with a vehicle this size was enough to puncture the tire.

"Jump back in!" I yelled to Marty. "We need to get back down to the flat, open area at the start of this road before the tire goes completely flat. This place is way too steep to use the jack."

I figured I had about five minutes to drive back down ten minutes of road.

"Hold on Marty!" I yelled. "I have to drive way too fast for road conditions to make the bottom of the road before the tire goes flat".

Bumping all over the place and missing trees by inches, I split my attention between looking out the front window to negotiate the road and watching the tire get flatter out the driver's side mirror.

We made the open area at the bottom of the road with about one half of the air left in the tire. I picked a nice flat area and parked the truck. Going under the hood I removed the jack and lug wrench. I positioned the jack under the axle and cranked the jack just enough to take the weight off the tire. I decided to actually change the tire when we got back from our hike.

So.... our plan changed to go with the flow of reality. Now we were going to walk the road that we originally intended to drive.

The road passes through many sunny open glades of grass and is very narrow in places where the sides of the road rise up in little cliffs and banks of dirt. Our Ford pickup truck with the king cab and extra long bed would not have been able to make the turns in the road and there was hardly anywhere to turn around or pull off if we had met a vehicle coming in the opposite direction.

After about a mile we came to a grassy opening in the trees and got our first glimpse of Marble Mountain to the North. An interesting looking mountain with sweeping grassy slopes leading to a rocky summit. Even more interesting than it's appearance are the caves whose openings are near the summit. The caves were supposedly the hiding place used by the Conquistodors for some fabulous treasure that they had accumulated. The caves are quite extensive and have been explored many times by spelunkers in search of the treasure.

We met a couple of hunters farther up the trail who told us that they contributed to the legends of hidden treasure in the area by leaving old coins on the slopes of Marble Mountain every time they were hunting in the area. Children especially enjoyed finding the coins after being told the stories of the Conquistodors before they started on the long hike to the entrance of the caves.

Another mile and we came to the end of the road and a parking area that could hold twenty cars. A foot trail continued the next mile to Music Pass.

I remembered that a movie I liked starring comedian John Belushi was filmed near Music Pass and I tried to recognize scenes from the movie. The movie was called "Continental Divide" and the story line revolved around a newspaper reporter from one of the big cities falling in love with a beautiful woman scientist who was studying birds in the Alpine zones of the high mountains of Colorado.

Belushi in the course of the story evolves from a slob of a reporter who has never been out of the city to a competent outdoorsman to win the love of the beautiful scientist. This is a enjoyable movie with a good look at the magnificent scenery of Music Pass.

Finally we reached the pass itself and were impressed by the vertical relief of the surrounding mountains. Tiara Peak was to the West on the other side of a deep, forested valley containing the Sandbeach Lakes. Named after the crown worn by a Spanish princess, Tiara Peak is well named and the crown is formed by a mile wide, five hundred foot high ridge of stone ending on the North with a 3000 foot high pyramid of granite.

I was caught by the beauty of Tiara and exposed an entire role of film as the lighting changed with passing clouds. I also studied the peak with a pair of binoculars that my mother gave me about twenty years ago for Christmas along with my Olympus OM-1 camera. Here is what my mother told me when she handed me these gifts so long ago:

"Use the binoculars to see the challenges you are about to get into on those climbs you love so much. I hope these binoculars help you plan a route the takes you safely to the summit and back home to me. The camera is so that you can photograph your climbs and share the adventures with your father and I when you get home."

After about thirty minutes of absorbing the beauty of the area we decided to hike part way up the South slopes of Marble Mountain. The slopes start immediately North of Music Pass and are gently sweeping inclines of grass with scattered trees twisted by the winds that always blow around treeline and above.

There were many signs of Bighorn Sheep in this area with fresh tracks and droppings near some salt licks that we passed. Bighorn Sheep enjoy and need salt in their diet and the best places to view and photograph them are near the salt licks.

About five hundred feet up Marble Mountain we decided to call it a day and save the summit for another outing. The walk back to our truck was pleasant and went too quickly as I knew I still had to change the flat tire when we got back.

As usual on a big truck, changing the tire meant laying in the dirt to get at the heavy spare tire. Also, the aluminum wheels on our truck always stick to the threaded mounting points coming out of the brake drums so you have to crawl around under the truck hitting the inside of the wheel with a big rock or sledgehammer to get the wheel and tire off the mounting threads.

I was totally covered with dirt and dust by the time I was finished and I was glad to finally get into the drivers seat and head for Westcliffe to pick up some food at the Jennings Market for dinner. We also stopped by our Friend Toni Brizendine's Western Tire in Westcliffe and picked out a new set of ten ply snow tires for our truck to avoid any more flat notes on Music Pass.