Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we offer our opinions on the best that Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems.)
My new favorite bike tour is the Mestaa’Ėhehe Pass ride, about 30 miles west of Denver in Clear Creek County, but the only thing new about it is its official name.
For decades, this much-loved Colorado classic from Bergen Park to Echo Lake was known as the Squaw Pass ride. But in September, the U.S. Department of the Interior officially renamed both the pass and the neighboring mountain because the word “squaw” is considered to be a slur against Native American women. The newly-monikered Mestaa’Ėhehe (pronounced mess-taw-HAY) Pass and Mestaa’Ėhehe Mountain honor a Cheyenne woman who served as a translator between plains tribes and white traders in southern Colorado early in the 19th century.
They were part of a group of 28 Colorado sites (and 650 nationwide) that have been renamed; all of the Colorado names included the same Native American slur.
This is a magnificent ride, 36 miles roundtrip from Bergen Park to Echo Lake and back. It climbs 3,300 feet to the high point, 15 miles out, then descends about 450 feet in 3 miles to Echo Lake.
Yes, the outbound portion is challenging because of all that climbing — that’s why we like it, after all — but there is very little pedaling over the final 15 miles back to the starting point because gravity does the work. In fact, I use my brakes much of the way down because anything over 30 mph on a bike scares me.
The road parallels I-70, which is 4 to 5 miles to the north and hundreds of feet below. Along the way, it passes the Echo Mountain ski area and offers panoramic views to the north of the Continental Divide and the Indian Peaks. About 15 miles out, near the high point of 11,150 feet, the twin fourteeners, Grays and Torreys, come into view. Right after that, Mount Evans (which may also be renamed soon) appears to the south. It was especially beautiful up there this past Monday because the aspen trees were still clad in their fall colors.
I usually park at the Bergen Park RTD lot on Colorado 74, elevation 7,800 feet. From there, I ride south about a half mile and turn right onto the road which the signs still refer to by its old name. Just to the south is JeffCo Open Space’s Elk Meadow Park.
This is a very popular ride for Front Range cyclists, so an electronic message board at the start warns motorists that under Colorado law, they must maintain a minimum of 3 feet between them and cyclists when passing. A metal sign nearby reiterates that message.
The entirety of the ride from there to Echo Lake is on a winding two-lane asphalt road that climbs almost without respite. Most of the westbound ascent has a bike lane — or, at a minimum, a shoulder — for slow-moving cyclists to feel fairly safe. The descent back to Bergen Park has no shoulder, though. It’s quite common for descending cyclists to be moving as fast as vehicular traffic on the way down, and a sign informs drivers that cyclists are permitted to use the full lane.
If 36 miles is too much, riding to the Echo Mountain ski area and back is about 26 miles, and it still gives you an ascent of 3,000 feet or so.
I’ve described a couple of my other favorite rides before in Staff Favorites — Lookout Mountain and Guanella Pass. I also love Vail Pass, Hoosier Pass and Lefthand Canyon.
But with its new name, the Mestaa’Ėhehe Pass ride will always be at the top of the list for me.
