Several beautiful valleys run south from Aspen into the Elk
Range, probably the most beautiful sub-range of the Rockies in Colorado . One of those is Castle Creek Valley from
which Conundrum Creek Valley branches off. 
About 12 miles south of Aspen and 2,000 feet higher in altitude are the
remains of an old mining town named Ashcroft, now a ghost town descending ever
father into oblivion.

I’ve been up the Castle Creek Valley to Ashcroft twice
before in winter and summer seasons. Back in the mid-1990s when I was making
climbing fourteeners a serious summertime hobby, my brother Doug and I hiked up
Castle Peak, the highest peak in the Elk Range at over 14,200 feet, which is
accessed via a trailhead slightly up the valley from Ashcroft. Despite being slightly higher than the other
fourteeners in the range (Snowmass, Capitol, Pyramid, Maroon, and North
Maroon), Castle Peak is supposedly the easiest to climb. It was a hard day’s
work but a summit with some of the best all-around views I’ve experienced in
Colorado. Considering how difficult and dangerous several of the other peaks in
the range are, Castle may end up being my only Elk Range fourteener conquest
ever .

My other time in the Ashcroft area was in the winter for
some cross country skiing when I had a nearly perfect day to continue up
farther into the valley in complete peace and solitude. I’m not sure which is
the most beautiful season around Ashcroft, but colorful autumn when the area is
ablaze with changing aspens gives snowy winter a strong challenge.

Ashcroft is one of those places that doesn’t really seem to
be preserved, so it’s not clear to me whether the remaining buildings from the
mining boom days are being kept in their rather dilapidated state or are being
allowed to decay naturally into oblivion. It’s one of those places where the
picturesque remains of past human activity complement the gorgeous natural
surroundings.

Always up for adventure I decided to try to undertake a big
one. The Pearl Pass Road is the most
direct route between Aspen and Crested Butte and is considered one of Colorado’s
roughest Jeep/4WD trails . With gorgeous weather and perfect dry conditions, why
not give it a try? I’ve heard other
people I know talk about having done it themselves. Well, maybe I didn’t do enough homework on
it, or maybe my 199 Jeep Cherokee is just too long between its wheels or not
high enough clearance, but this turned out to be one of the few times in my adventuring
life that I seriously thought I might die or have to abandon my car somewhere.

The road to Pearl Pass continues along Castle Creek to the
trailhead to Castle Peak and then makes a sharp turn into the forest on one of
the roughest tracks I’ve been on in a long time. By tracks I mean a road that
consists almost entirely of rocks and boulders and appears to undergo almost no
maintenance. The road then made a sharp turn to the right in one of the early
switchbacks to a point where a small stream crossed a stretch of rock, not loose
rocks but a large firm slab. At this point I kept slipping backwards on the
west surface and couldn’t go any farther. On the other hand, the rocks behind
my back wheels kept me from backing up successfully. Am I going to get stuck at
this scary spot and have to leave my car behind blocking the track?

After some tense minutes I managed to back out of the hole I
was in and abandon my Pearl Pass quest. There was no place to turn around on
the narrow rock track, so I had to back down several hundred yards to the
hairpin turn in the road which I could use to start going forward again to
backtrack down the mountain to Ashcroft and onwards to Aspen. OK, from now on I’m
sticking to main roads and unpaved roads that are deemed passable for ordinary
vehicles. Just because I own a Jeep doesn’t mean I should try to get all macho
about things.