Rollins Pass

Rollins Pass is the sole, official name recognized by both the United States Geological Survey and the United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN); a decision card was issued on Wednesday, December 7, 1904.{{Cite web|url=https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/search/names/2f550891-7bb0-5a56-bacc-227bb0bf68da/summary|title=Rollins Pass Summary Report|work=Geographic Names Information System|access-date=February 1, 2022}} The pass was first known as Boulder Pass{{rp|8}}—one of two variant names accepted by the BGN—the other being Rogers Pass.{{cite web|url=https://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=138:3:0::NO::P3_FID,P3_TITLE:180996,Rollins+Pass|title=GNIS Detail – Rollins Pass|website=geonames.usgs.gov}}{{Dead link|date=December 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The pass was also known infrequently as Rollinsville Pass.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP19290726.2.69&srpos=64&e "Steamboat Pilot July 26, 1929 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP19291101.2.62&srpos=45&e "Steamboat Pilot November 1, 1929 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP19810730-01.2.148&srpos=43&e "Steamboat Pilot July 30, 1981 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP18960729.2.1&srpos=105&e "Steamboat Pilot July 29, 1896 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP19130625.2.56&srpos=116&e "Steamboat Pilot June 25, 1913 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP19150929.2.56&srpos=49&e "Steamboat Pilot September 29, 1915 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=WWW19120718-02.2.16&srpos=131&e "Walsenburg World July 18, 1912 Edition 02 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=CLT19020329-01.2.18&srpos=62&e "Clear Creek Topics March 29, 1902 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.

In Grand County, Rollins Pass is sometimes given the sobriquet of Corona Pass, named for the apex station at the summit, Corona.{{rp|8}} This nomenclature dispute provoked the ire of former railroaders; in fact, Frederick Bauer remarked, "[Rollins Pass is] incorrectly called Corona Pass by neophytes and some locals."{{Cite book|title=The Roadmasters' Guide to the Moffat Road|last=Bauer|first=Frederick|publisher=The Denver & Salt Lake Historical Society|year=2004|pages=6}} It is inconsistent, as well as atypical, to refer to mountain passes by the names of their apex stations. Fremont Pass, for example, is not named Climax Pass; nor is La Veta Pass referred to as Fir Pass.{{cite web|url=https://www.denverpost.com/2010/04/15/quillen-name-that-pass/|title=Quillen: Name that pass|date=April 15, 2010}}

The elevation of '11,660 feet' commonly attributed to Rollins Pass (note the McClure sketch later in this article) "reflects what might have been an original survey value obtained during either the late wagon road era or early railroad construction. ... The actual benchmarked survey elevation value of the summit of Rollins Pass is 11,671 feet (NGVD29), obtained during a 1952 second-order level line run from State Bridge to Denver by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (predecessor to the National Geodetic Survey). When adjusted to NAVD88, the elevation is, without doubt, 11,676.79 feet."{{rp|64}}

Rollins Pass has been in continuous use for millennia: first as a sprawling and internationally significant game drive complex that was hand-constructed and used by Paleoindians more than 10,000 years ago through the mid-19th century; followed by nearly two decades as a wagon road from 1862–1880; as a rail route (under survey, construction, and later operational) from 1880 to 1928; as a primitive automobile road from 1936 to 1956; and since September 1, 1956 as a seasonal, unpaved motor vehicle road.

The pass is traversed by Paleoindians and Native American game drive complexes,{{rp|8}} hiking trails, including the Continental Divide Trail; an airway radial (V8), a 10" Xcel Energy high-pressure natural gas pipeline, and two roads:

• The first dirt road is the Rollinsville and Middle Park Wagon Road, created in the early 1860s and this route predates the rail line. This road employed much of what would later become Rollins Pass, particularly above timberline. This original wagon route, now called the Boulder Wagon Road, took a steep counterclockwise route up Guinn Mountain encircling Yankee Doodle Lake before continuing to head west/northwest to proceed over the summit and down into the Middle Park valley near present-day Winter Park and Fraser, Colorado.
• The second dirt road is mostly the former roadbed of the Denver, Northwestern, and Pacific Railway, that later became the Denver and Salt Lake Railway. This high-altitude railroad grade was part of the Moffat Road and this route was replaced (and later abandoned) by the opening of the Moffat Tunnel in 1928; the rails and ties were removed from Rollins Pass in 1936; however, some rail segments as well as ties, made of pine, oak, and walnut, can still be seen, along with planking used for snowsheds.Griswold, P.R. "The Moffat Road"Bollinger, Rev. Edward T., "Rails that climb"{{rp|124}}

The Front Range was created by the Laramide Orogeny, the last of three major mountain-building events, which occurred between 70 and 40 million years ago. Tectonic activity during the Cenozoic Era changed the Ancestral Rocky Mountains via block uplift, eventually forming the Rocky Mountains as they exist today. The geologic make-up of Rollins Pass and the surrounding areas were also affected by deformation and erosion during the Cenozoic Era. Many sedimentary rocks from the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras exist in the basins surrounding the pass.{{Cite journal|title=Plate tectonics of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains|first1=Peter J.|last1=Coney|first2=Charles F.|last2=Kluth|date=January 1, 1981|journal=Geology|volume=9|issue=1|pages=10–15|doi=10.1130/0091-7613(1981)9<10:PTOTAR>2.0.CO;2|bibcode=1981Geo.....9...10K}}

Image:Rollins Pass - Olson Game Drive - Rock Wall & Hunting Blind.jpg

Paleoindians and early Native Americans were the first to utilize Rollins Pass as a natural, low crossing over the Continental Divide for the purposes of communal hunting of large game, including bighorn sheep and elk.{{cite web|url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/rollins-pass-game-traps|title=Rollins Pass Game Traps|website=Atlas Obscura}} There are more than 96 documented game drives, including the Olson game drive, found largely above timberline and near the summits of multiple mountain ridges. Handmade rock walls drove prey toward hunters waiting in blinds. These unique high-altitude constructs were built, refined, and continually used over millennia.{{Cite web|url=https://www.skyhinews.com/entertainment/presentation-explores-hunting-practices-of-native-americans/|title=Presentation explores hunting practices of Native Americans|website=Skyhinews.com|date=March 26, 2015 |access-date=February 1, 2022}}{{cite web|url=http://rockartblog.blogspot.com/2015/02/stone-blinds-and-drivelines-rollins.html|title=Rock Art Blog: STONE BLINDS AND DRIVELINES – ROLLINS PASS, CO|first=Peter|last=Faris|date=February 14, 2015}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/features/why-national-scenic-trails-matter-more-than-ever/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200718081736/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/features/why-national-scenic-trails-matter-more-than-ever/|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 18, 2020|title = Why America's National Scenic Trails matter more than ever|website = National Geographic Society|date = July 9, 2020}} The game drives built on—and over—Rollins Pass have international significance.{{Cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=RMD18690902.2.1&srpos=79&e|title=The Rocky Mountain News (Daily) September 2, 1869 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=CTR18690915.2.45&srpos=72&e|title = The Colorado Transcript September 15, 1869 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=CTR18690901&e|title=The Colorado Transcript September 1, 1869 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org|access-date=February 1, 2022}}

The Olson site (5BL147) is a multi-component rock walled game drive and is but one part of a much larger game drive complex located on Rollins Pass. Byron Olson and James Benedict conducted work at the site in the late-1960s. Present-day archaeology teams built on Olson and Benedict's work to expand the overview of the site using modern techniques. As of 2013, at least 45 blinds as well as 1,307 meters of rock walls are present across the Olson site; the purposes of which were to funnel game upslope to waiting hunters. Both radiocarbon and lichenometric dating suggest occupation by Native Americans spanning the last 3,200 years, with diagnostic tools suggesting even older use of the site, dating back to more than 10,000 years ago.

Game drives at other locations on Rollins Pass yield hundreds of additional blinds and miles of rock walls.{{cite web|url=https://dspace.library.colostate.edu/bitstream/handle/10217/185698/Whittenburg_colostate_0053N_14516.pdf |title=Data |website=dspace.library.colostate.edu }}{{cite journal|title=Tundra Game Drives: an Arctic-Alpine Comparison|first=James B.|last=Benedict|journal=Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research|volume=37|issue=4|pages=425–434|doi=10.1657/1523-0430(2005)037[0425:TGDAAC]2.0.CO;2|year = 2005|s2cid=130703059 }}

Rollins Pass has a documented history as a migratory route, hunting trail, and battlefield among the late prehistoric and contact-period Indians of Colorado.{{cite journal |last1=Alford |first1=Paul |title=Yankee Doodle Lake OHV Repairs Project Monitoring and the Preliminary Testing of 5BL370.1 |journal=United States Forest Service |date=March 25, 2008 |volume=Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland |pages=1–32 }}

{{Blockquote|text=The Indians, both Ute and Arapahoe, used Rollins Pass. While it is possible to ride a horse across the Range at almost any point except some of the higher and rougher peaks, the Indians were as much interested as the white man in seeking a good grade. Instead of wagons they used teepee poles as drag-poles for transportation of supplies and papooses, and it was necessary that they follow easy grades and broad level country, wherever practical.|author=Edgar McMechen|source=Romantic History of Rollins Pass, Municipal Facts, Volume VI, numbers 8 & 9}}

The first recorded use of the pass (then known as Boulder Pass or Rollinsville Pass) by a wagon train was in 1862, nearly 14 years before Colorado became a state.{{cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2011/08/colorado-became-the-38th-state-to-join-the-union-august-1-1876-060323|title=Colorado became the 38th state to join the Union, August 1, 1876|website=Politico|date=August 2011 }} Directions for wagons traveling from Rollinsville to Winter Park were published in newspapers.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=OWT18720919.2.45&srpos=129&e "Out West September 19, 1872 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. John Quincy Adams Rollins, a Colorado pioneer from a family of pioneers,{{rp|18}} constructed a toll wagon road over the pass in the 1873,{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/blm/cultresser/co/2/chap6.htm|title=BLM Cultural Resource Series: Colorado-Cultural Resources Series No. 2 (Chapter 6)|website=Nps.gov}}[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=RMW18730806.2.23&srpos=117&e "Rocky Mountain News Weekly August 6, 1873 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. providing a route between the Colorado Front Range and Middle Park; subsequently, Rollins Pass was named after John Q.A. Rollins.{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19231010.2.51&srpos=6&e|title=Steamboat Pilot October 10, 1923 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19400321.2.50&srpos=4&e|title=Steamboat Pilot March 21, 1940 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}

John Q.A. Rollins was born on Sunday, June 16, 1816 in Gilmanton, New Hampshire and was the son of a New England minister.{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19451101.2.37&srpos=1&e|title=Steamboat Pilot November 1, 1945 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19231226.2.34&srpos=1&e|title=Steamboat Pilot December 26, 1923 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}} Rollins is described as being a strong man and an extensive character, popular with almost everybody whom he did not owe and his one predominating fault was his failure to pay his debts. Newspapers cited that he was so careless about his credit that he could not keep track of all his creditors, and in turn, they had trouble keeping track of him.{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19180220.2.67&srpos=1&e|title=Steamboat Pilot February 20, 1918 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}} Rollins died on Wednesday, June 20, 1894 and is buried in Colorado's oldest operating cemetery, Riverside, in block 5, lot 12. His simple tombstone reads, "John Q.A. Rollins | Colorado Pioneer of Rollinsville and Rollins Pass."{{rp|18}} Colonel Rollins' newspaper obituary mentions, "No man in Northern Colorado was better known nor counted more warm friends than John Q.A. Rollins."{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=BDC18940622.2.14&srpos=2&e|title=Boulder Daily Camera June 22, 1894 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}

File:Original Log Cribbing on Rollins Pass.jpg

John Rollins capitalized on this and received approval for his toll wagon road on Tuesday, February 6, 1866. The Council and House of Representatives of Colorado Territory passed an act signed by the governor approving the wagon road as the "Middle Park and South Boulder Wagon Road Company." Records reflect the incorporators as "John Q.A. Rollins, Perley Dodge, Frederic C. Weir."{{rp|21}} Yet, the "Rollins road" through Boulder Pass was not completed until the first half of August 1873.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=CRE19260630-01.2.12&srpos=61&e "Craig Empire June 30, 1926 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=CLM18741121-01.2.31&srpos=10&e "Colorado Miner (Weekly) November 21, 1874 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=TEP18730815.2.32&srpos=11&e|title=Trinidad Enterprise August 15, 1873 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=DRC18730701.2.36&srpos=7&e|title=Daily Register Call July 1, 1873 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org|access-date=July 25, 2018|archive-date=July 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725214816/https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=DRC18730701.2.36&srpos=7&e|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=GWG18730809.2.36&srpos=1&e|title=Golden Weekly Globe August 9, 1873 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19260630.2.67&srpos=5&e|title=Steamboat Pilot June 30, 1926 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=RMD18700722.2.52&srpos=50&e|title=Rocky Mountain News July 22, 1870 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org|access-date=July 25, 2018|archive-date=July 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725214727/https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=RMD18700722.2.52&srpos=50&e|url-status=dead}} While the newspaper articles cited "wagons can now be taken over this route without the slightest trouble," other articles countered, "the trail ... is splendid for horses but fearful for wagons"{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=CSG18760729.2.58&srpos=18&e|title=Colorado Springs Gazette July 29, 1876 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}} and "the rocks, mud-holes, bogs, creeks, boulders and sidling ledges of that road, can only be appreciated by being seen, the only wonder is that a wagon can be taken over at all."{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=DRC18720919.2.52&srpos=5&e|title=Daily Register Call September 19, 1872 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org|access-date=July 25, 2018|archive-date=July 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725214826/https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=DRC18720919.2.52&srpos=5&e|url-status=dead}} Other articles were a bit more grim, referring to the wagon road as a "little more than the rocky ridge of a precipice along which lurked death and disaster."{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19240604.2.57&srpos=29&e|title=Steamboat Pilot June 4, 1924 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}} Newspaper records reflect on Friday, June 12, 1874, James Harvey Crawford along with his wife, Margaret Emerine Bourn Crawford,{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19390615.2.27&srpos=52&e|title=Steamboat Pilot June 15, 1939 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP19150526.2.71&srpos=56&e "Steamboat Pilot May 26, 1915 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. made pioneer history as the first (nonindigenous) couple to cross Rollins Pass by wagons, and Mrs. Crawford is credited as the first woman to cross the pass.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP19390615&e "Steamboat Pilot June 15, 1939 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. That day held many challenges, including a two-hour blizzard, "which was of terrific violence" and she remarked in a newspaper article, "the bumping was so hard I thought I was nearly dead."{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19300704.2.79&srpos=31&e|title=Steamboat Pilot July 4, 1930 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}} As there was no formal road constructed from "Yankee Doodle Camp on up, only an Indian trail, she and the children had been left behind while her husband took the wagon pulled by a pair of mules, a team of horses and a yoke of oxen on up and camped. Then he came back for her with the team and the running gear only of the wagon, and she had to hold the children on someway, despite the dreadful bumping"{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19390615.2.47&srpos=1&e|title=Steamboat Pilot June 15, 1939 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19240604.2.57&srpos=2&e|title=Steamboat Pilot June 4, 1924 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}} with the "wagon almost standing on end."{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19220906.2.46&srpos=166&e|title=Steamboat Pilot September 6, 1922 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}

The pass was used heavily in the latter half of the 19th century by settlers and at one time as many as 12,000 cattle at a time were driven over the pass.{{cite web|url=http://ellensplace.net/hcg_fac7.html |title=Rollins Pass and the Moffat Tunnel |publisher=EllensPlace.net |date=February 26, 1928 |access-date=29 April 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://www.co.gilpin.co.us/UserFiles/Servers/Server_9285172/File/Depts/Advisory%20Boards/HAC/Gilpin%20Tunnel%20Rail%20Corridor_Final%20Report_SWCA.pdf |title=Microsoft Word - Report Cover_Final.doc |access-date=2018-07-30}} The wagon road had one tollgate and the following rate structure: "For each vehicle drawn by two animals, two dollars and fifty cents; for each additional two animals, twenty-five cents; each vehicle drawn by one animal, one dollar and fifty cents; horse and rider and pack animals, twenty-five cents; loose stock, five cents per head ... horse with rider, or pack animal with pack, ten cents." The cost for nonpayment of a toll was the same as causing intentional damage to the road: $25.{{rp|22}}

According to the manuscript of Martin Parsons, "Twistin Dogies Tails Over Rollins Pass", each summer, Mr. Rollins would "build a cribbing of logs ... and would fill the center with rocks and earth, which helped reduce the grade between the hills." The original log cribbing can be seen today on the narrow ridge of Guinn Mountain, north of Yankee Doodle Lake. Rollins also built The Junction House, "a large, two-story hewd-log structure" as a hotel, "at the point of intersection of the Berthoud and Rollins roads."[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=CLM18741114-01.2.14&srpos=95&e "Colorado Miner (Weekly) November 14, 1874 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.

The road began to fall out of use and into disrepair in 1880, approximately one year before early railroading attempts over the pass begun.{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19550414.2.76&srpos=38&e|title=Steamboat Pilot April 14, 1955 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://stories.grandcountyhistory.org/article/rollins-or-corona-what-shall-it-be-called|title=Rollins or Corona – What shall it be called? – Grand County History Stories|website=Stories.grandcountyhistory.org}}

Guinn Mountain, encircling Yankee Doodle Lake, was used for mining from the early 1870s through the establishment of the railroad in 1904.

This area held at least "four silver lodes"{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=RMD18731105.2.22&srpos=50&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN--------0-|title=Rocky Mountain News November 5, 1873 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org|access-date=December 4, 2018|archive-date=December 4, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181204101930/https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=RMD18731105.2.22&srpos=50&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN--------0-|url-status=dead}} or "five patented lode claims, one patented placer claim, several prospect pits and the dump of one caved adit." This caved adit, once {{convert|365|ft}},{{Cite book|title=The Mining American, Volume 46|publisher=Industrial Reporter Company|year=1902|pages=338}} then lengthened to {{convert|850|feet}},{{Cite book|title=Mining Reporter, Volume 54|publisher=Mining Reporter Publishing Company|year=1906|pages=501}} is still shown as a mine on United States Geological Survey topographic maps as the Blue Stones Mine.{{cite journal|url=https://mrdata.usgs.gov/metadata/usmin-topo.faq.html|title=Prospect- and Mine-Related Features from U.S. Geological Survey 7.5- and 15-Minute Topographic Quadrangle Maps of the United States|first=Horton, John D. San Juan, Carma|last=A.|date=April 30, 2018|website=mrdata.usgs.gov|doi=10.5066/F78W3CHG|publisher=U.S. Geological Survey|access-date=September 17, 2018|archive-date=September 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917181926/https://mrdata.usgs.gov/metadata/usmin-topo.faq.html|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://store.usgs.gov/assets/MOD/StoreFiles/DenverPDFs/24K/CO/CO_East_Portal_1958_geo.pdf|title=East Portal, CO 1958|website=Store.usgs.gov|access-date=2022-02-01}}{{cite web|url=https://viewer.nationalmap.gov/advanced-viewer/|title=The National Map - Advanced Viewer|website=viewer.nationalmap.gov|access-date=September 17, 2018|archive-date=March 29, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329155652/http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/|url-status=dead}} This tunnel exposed a "five-foot vein of ore varying in values from $16 to $25 per ton."{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.fed.us/geology/anatomy_mine.pdf|title=Anatomy of A Mine from Prospect to Production|website=Fd.fed.gov|access-date=2022-02-01}}

It was concluded that the "Guinn Mountain area has little or no economic potential," despite listings of important mineral strikes in period newspapers.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP19051011.2.2&srpos=2&e "Steamboat Pilot October 11, 1905 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. Further, "ten samples collected in the area contained only negligible amounts of any metal. Samples from the Avalon placer claim, located on the South Fork [of] Middle Boulder Creek north of Guinn Mountain, and from the creek bottom were collected and panned; no gold was found."{{cite web|url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/1463/report.pdf|title=Indian Peaks Study Area, Colorado|website=Pubs.usgs.gov|access-date=2022-02-01}} Despite this record, gold claims were nevertheless worked nearby with no published record of success.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=CRC19271228-01.2.115.1&srpos=78&e "Craig Courier December 28, 1927 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=CEC19421230-01.2.76&srpos=16&e "Craig Empire Courier December 30, 1942 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.

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File:Rollins Pass Snow Cuts Moffat Road circa 1910s.JPG

There were multiple prior efforts to build a railroad over Rollins Pass in the 19th century and all attempts were met with impassable engineering challenges, financing issues, or both: GHS, Jefferson, & Boulder County Railroad and Wagon Road (A.N. Rogers' line) in 1867; U.P. in 1866; Kansas Pacific in 1869; Colorado Railroad (B. & M. subsidiary) in 1884—two tunnels located; Denver, Utah & Pacific in 1881 (construction started and tunnel located).{{rp|27}} The remains of the latter tunneling attempt can still be seen on the northern slope of the rock wall at Yankee Doodle Lake and the detritus from the attempted excavation of the tunnel was placed at the northernmost part of the lake where pulverized granite tailings can be seen rising out of the water. These tailings were definitively from the 1880s tunneling efforts as they are not visible in the early stereoscopic images from the wagon road era of Yankee Doodle Lake; further, the attempted tunnel was not part of the later rail line that ultimately summited Rollins Pass.{{rp|20}}[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=OCT19231006&e "Oak Creek Times October 6, 1923 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.

In the early 20th century, David Moffat, a Denver banker, established the Denver, Northwestern and Pacific Railway with the intention of building a railroad from Denver toward Salt Lake City, Utah by way of a tunnel under the Continental Divide.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=SRE19020502-01&e "Salida Record May 2, 1902 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=LDH18840719.2.20&srpos=35&e|title=Leadville Daily Herald July 19, 1884 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=CTR19260422-01.2.7&srpos=39&e|title=Colorado Transcript April 22, 1926 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=ADT18911029.2.24&srpos=43&e|title=Aspen Daily Times October 29, 1891 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=OCT19231006.2.36&srpos=13&e|title=Oak Creek Times October 6, 1923 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}} Surveys began in April 1902 and construction was started in January 1903, beginning on the east side of Rollins Pass.[https://books.google.com/books/download/Engineering_News_record.pdf?id=yt82AQAAMAAJ&hl=en&capid=AFLRE71w7FkJdMvyaKc_HLo86HpKt9CIgUcP-gEMOl0BTW9lRmns9sumA63Swxo89n02_HXKyRdktg557fbT4RiMz7OypZtNkQ&continue=https://books.google.com/books/download/Engineering_News_record.pdf%3Fid%3Dyt82AQAAMAAJ%26output%3Dpdf%26hl%3Den "Engineering News-record"]. McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. April 22, 2019 – via Google Books. However, the railway only reached Craig, Colorado. This entire line from Denver to Craig was known as the Moffat Road.{{rp|9}}[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP19250715.2.37&srpos=3&e "Steamboat Pilot July 15, 1925 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP19090407.2.122&srpos=57&e "Steamboat Pilot April 7, 1909 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=CRP19040303.2.56&srpos=115&e "Colorado Republican March 3, 1904 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.

The line included a {{convert|23|mile|adj=on}} stretch over the top of the Continental Divide, at Rollins Pass, with a two to four percent grade and switchbacks along many sections; the result was one of the highest adhesion (non-cog) standard-gauge railroads ever constructed in North America.{{rp|9}} This corridor over Rollins Pass was always intended to be temporary until what would later become the Moffat Tunnel was constructed and opened; therefore this overmountain route was constructed with more cost-effective materials: using wooden trestles (made of all Oregon fir) instead of iron bridges or high fills and wyes instead of turntables.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP19030610.2.1&srpos=123&e "Steamboat Pilot June 10, 1903 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. Construction of this route was exceptionally dangerous and deadly: in a single day, 60 Swedish workers were killed when a powder charge exploded prematurely during the construction of Needle's Eye Tunnel.{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19531008.2.86&srpos=6&e|title=Steamboat Pilot October 8, 1953 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}

Along this route were three tunnels: Tunnel #31 (the tunnel at Ladora), Tunnel #32 (Needle's Eye Tunnel), and Tunnel #33 (the Loop Tunnel at Riflesight Notch).{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=ETG19230504.2.38&srpos=4&e|title=Estes Park Trail May 4, 1923 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}} All three tunnels today are either completely caved in or have had multiple partial cave-ins. Other notable landmarks on the route included the Riflesight Notch Loop, located at Spruce Mountain:{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3qCZAAAAIAAJ&q=Rifle&pg=PA1|title=Locomotive Engineers Journal|date=July 30, 2018|publisher=Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers|via=Google Books}} a {{convert|1.5|mile|adj=on}} spiral or loop where trains crossed over a trestle, made a ~90 degree gradual turn to descend {{convert|150|feet}}, and passed through Tunnel #33 underneath the trestle.Bollinger, E. T. & Crossen, Forrest "The Moffat Road (Former 'Hill' Route): A Self-Guiding Auto Tour"

A rail station, Corona, was established at the summit of the pass, with a red brick and green roofed dining hall, weather station, power station, and lodging.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=OCT19130529.2.4&srpos=74&e "Oak Creek Times May 29, 1913 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. In summers, the train ride from Denver to Corona was advertised as a trip, "from sultry heat to Colorado's north pole;" tourists could stand in snowdrifts in the middle of July or August.{{cite web|url=http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_21433909/tourists-rode-train-top-world|title=Tourists rode train to 'the top of the world'|date=September 2, 2012}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19110726.2.323&srpos=30&e|title=Steamboat Pilot July 26, 1911 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19090922.2.3&srpos=112&e|title=Steamboat Pilot September 22, 1909 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=TYL19250724.2.11&srpos=115&e|title=Yampa Leader July 24, 1925 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19090407.2.125&srpos=119&e|title=Steamboat Pilot April 7, 1909 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=TYL19250724.2.9&srpos=134&e|title=Yampa Leader July 24, 1925 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}} Tours launched from the Moffat Depot,{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19471106.2.108&srpos=1&e|title=Steamboat Pilot November 6, 1947 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}} a small building constructed in the Georgian Revival style, featuring two-story tall windows, intricate exterior brickwork, and roofline pommels.{{cite web|url=https://www.denverpost.com/2015/03/02/restored-moffat-depot-part-of-luxury-residences-for-seniors-in-denver/|title=Restored Moffat depot part of luxury residences for seniors in Denver|website=Denverpost.com|date=March 2, 2015}} This building, located several city blocks northwest from Denver Union Station, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976,{{cite web|url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/76000553 |title=NPGallery Asset Detail |website=Npgallery.nps.gov |date=1976-10-22 |access-date=2018-07-30}} and lay dormant for many decades after it was shuttered in 1947;{{cite news|url=http://www.historic-structures.com/co/denver/moffat_station1.php|title=Moffat Station, Denver Colorado|newspaper=Historic-structures.com}} in 2015, it was made the focal point of a senior living community center, after it was meticulously restored.

Despite the fact that the line was enclosed in almost continuous snowsheds (wooden tunnels) near the summit of the pass, trains were often stranded for several days (and in some cases up to 30–60 days)[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=KEN19180215-01.2.5&srpos=30&e "Keota News February 15, 1918 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=OCT19231006.2.9&srpos=20&e "Oak Creek Times October 6, 1923 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP19830929-01&e "Steamboat Pilot September 29, 1983 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.{{cite web|url=http://www.rockymtnrrclub.org/Personal%20History%20Vault/Frank%20Arbuckle.pdf |title=Info |website=Rockymtnrrclub.org }} during heavy snowstorms because snow could fall or be blown through the wood planking of the sheds. Delays affected the timeliness of both newspaper and postal mail deliveries. Coal smoke and toxic gasses collected in the snowsheds causing temporary blindness, loss of consciousness, and sometimes death.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=RCS19180301.2.103&srpos=128&e "Routt County Sentinel March 1, 1918 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. Workers on the Moffat Road had an adage: "There's winter and then there's August", reflecting the fact that in the high mountains of Colorado, snow will often cover the area for more than six months and very cold and snowy weather may occur nearly year-round. It was these heavy snowstorms that led to the financial demise of the Moffat Road and served as the incentive for construction of a permanent railroad tunnel through the Rocky Mountains and into Middle Park.

Following scuba dives, no evidence exists that locomotive, rotary, or wreck debris rests at the bottom of Yankee Doodle Lake or Jenny Lake. However, many derailments, wrecks of Mallet locomotives, accidents resulting in injury and/or death,[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=MCC19131204-01.2.7&srpos=114&e "Moffat County Courier December 4, 1913 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=RCR19131205.2.2&srpos=42&e "Routt County Republican December 5, 1913 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP19671214-01.2.57&srpos=118&e "Steamboat Pilot December 14, 1967 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. and/or the loss of portions of rail manifests occurred on both sides of the pass:

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Despite the challenges documented above, by 1918, it was reported that 45 or 46 engines were part of the motive power of the railroad along with 3 rotary snowplows.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=RCR19181220.2.2&srpos=189&e "Routt County Republican December 20, 1918 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.

Image:Moffat tunnel rollins pass.png

Several locations for the Moffat Tunnel were scouted prior to the selection of the present-day location; one possible location was identified at high altitude between Yankee Doodle Lake and the Forest Lakes.{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=RCS19190124.2.72&srpos=162&e|title=Routt County Sentinel January 24, 1919 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}

Plans to build a longer tunnel at a lower elevation were better planned and financed; the single-track Moffat Tunnel opened just south of Rollins Pass on Sunday, February 26, 1928.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP19821223-01.2.123&srpos=84&e "Steamboat Pilot December 23, 1982 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. The Moffat Tunnel eliminated 10,800 degrees of curvature along the Rollins Pass route; the tunnel resulted in considerable time savings as well as money that was used for snow removal atop Rollins Pass.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=OCT19231006.2.9&srpos=29&e "Oak Creek Times October 6, 1923 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. After the first year of operations, an annual report to stockholders showed "marked savings in operating costs" by 24.86%. Savings were seen in other areas, including in fuel reductions ($89,074.45 savings; $1.3 million in 2018 when adjusted for inflation{{cite web|url=https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/|title=US Inflation Calculator|website=US Inflation Calculator}}), engine servicing ($156,188.89 savings); whereas gross tons per train hour increased by 34.84%.{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19290607.2.45&srpos=1&e|title=Steamboat Pilot June 7, 1929 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}

After the Moffat Tunnel opened, the tracks over Rollins Pass remained in place and were maintained at least as late as July 1929{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=HCT19290706-01.2.3&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-cave%252Din+Moffat+Tunnel+repairing-------0-#|title=Holy Cross Trail July 6, 1929 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}} as an emergency route. This emergency route was needed only once{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=CEC19350522-01.2.4&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-Moffat+Road+will+abandon+corona+line-------0-|title=Craig Empire Courier May 22, 1935 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}} for a several day-long closure: on Thursday, July 25, 1929, dry rot of wooden timbers caused a collapse and {{convert|75|ft}} of rock caved-in and blocked the Moffat Tunnel near the East Portal. It took until Tuesday, July 30, 1929 for the tunnel to be cleared of debris.{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=CRE19290731-01.2.3&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-Moffat+Tunnel+cavein+cleared-------0-|title=Craig Empire July 31, 1929 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kgcjAQAAMAAJ&q=moffat+tunnel+cave-in+July+1928&pg=PA400|title=Railway Age|date=July 1, 1929|publisher=Simmons-Boardman|via=Google Books}} Permission to dismantle the rails on Rollins Pass was granted by the Interstate Commerce Commission on Saturday, May 18, 1935 and the rails were removed the following summer: the west side was cleared by Tuesday, August 11, 1936, and the east side 14 days later; contractors toiled non-stop, including overnight to remove both the rails and ties.{{rp|67}}[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP19350419.2.9&srpos=7&e "Steamboat Pilot April 19, 1935 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. A wye on the passing siding at the East Portal of the Moffat Tunnel is currently utilized for short-turning some modern services and marks the spot where the Rollins Pass line, if it still existed, would have merged into the modern route.

The route through the Moffat Tunnel became part of the mainline across Colorado for the Denver and Salt Lake Railroad, later the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, and now the Union Pacific Railroad. The Moffat Tunnel continues to be used for both the Amtrak's California Zephyr that provides service between Chicago, Illinois and Emeryville, California as well as for the winter and sometimes summer[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=LVT20010815-01.2.94&srpos=6&e "Louisville Times August 15, 2001 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. Ski Train that operated between Denver and Winter Park from 1940 to 2009; in March 2015 and from 2017–present, the service was rebranded the Winter Park Express.[https://media.amtrak.com/2019/04/amtrak-winter-park-express-sets-records-in-2019-season/ "Amtrak Winter Park Express Sets Records in 2019 Season"]. amtrak.com. April 22, 2019.

The original 1922 law that authorized the construction of the Moffat Tunnel specified that it should also be used for automobile traffic, with automobiles being placed on a ferry of flatbed railcars. To date, this has not happened.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP19520117.2.6&srpos=1&e "Steamboat Pilot January 17, 1952 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP19550310.2.77&srpos=1&e "Steamboat Pilot March 10, 1955 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=CTR19230920.2.11&srpos=1&e "Colorado Transcript September 20, 1923 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.

The pioneer bore used to originally construct the Moffat Tunnel was later converted into the Moffat Water Tunnel by Denver Water.{{cite web |url=https://dspace.library.colostate.edu/bitstream/handle/10217/881/Metro_Denver_Water_Story.pdf |title=Microsoft Word - Title and blank for printing.doc |access-date=2018-07-30 |archive-date=July 28, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180728040157/https://dspace.library.colostate.edu/bitstream/handle/10217/881/Metro_Denver_Water_Story.pdf |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=https://snoflo.org/report/flow/colorado/moffat-water-tunnel-at-east-portal/almanac |title = 09022500 - Moffat Water Tunnel At East Portal Flow Almanac|website=Snoflo.org| date=June 2023 }}

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In the era of powered flight, Rollins Pass provides an attractive way to cross the Continental Divide between west and east at a relatively low point for aircraft. Not only does the enroute airway radial, Victor Eight, cross the pass; but also a rotating airway beacon was established in the mid-to-late 1940s and first appeared on aeronautical sectional charts in March 1948 as a star, indicating a beacon.{{cite web|url=https://ticc.tamu.edu/Documents/OtherInfo/VFR_Symbols.pdf |title=Chart_Users_Guide.book |access-date=2018-07-30}}{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3701pm.gct00089/?sp=1767|title=Denver, CO – March 1948|website=Library of Congress}} The beacon and its supporting infrastructure have since been removed due to the introduction of the Low-Frequency Radio Range systems to replace visual navigational aids. The rough road that was once used to service and reach Beacon Peak at the Continental Divide, branches off of the Rollins Pass road, and is closed to all forms of motorized traffic per the current Motor Vehicle Use Maps.

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Plans to convert Rollins Pass into an historic automobile road were first published in November 1949.{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19491103.2.80&srpos=26&e|title=Steamboat Pilot November 3, 1949 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}} Several years later, on Saturday, September 1, 1956, Colorado lieutenant governor, Steve McNichols, opened Rollins Pass as a non-vital and seasonal recreational road.{{rp|104}} Each summer, from 1956–1979, Rollins Pass served as a complete road over the mountain pass for automobiles until a substantial rock fall in Needle's Eye Tunnel in 1979 closed the path over the pass. In 1989, after several engineering studies and structural strengthening of Needle's Eye Tunnel were accomplished, the complete road was re-opened only to close permanently in 1990, due to a rockfall injuring a sightseer.{{Cite web |url=https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=0ce9af0e826c406a8044ebb77e8b68e7 |title=East Rollins Pass Adventure Route |access-date=July 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709215749/https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=0ce9af0e826c406a8044ebb77e8b68e7 |archive-date=July 9, 2018 |df=mdy-all }}{{cite web|url=http://www.fourwheeler.com/ultimate-adventure/0608or-rollins-pass-4x4-colorado/|title=Rollins Pass 4x4 Trail – Colorado – Off-Road Magazine|date=September 27, 2006}} For the past {{age|1990|7|15}} years—since July 1990—no motorized route connects across the Continental Divide, effectively making each side a dead-end uphill route that must be traveled again, downhill, to leave the pass.{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd530033.pdf|title=Map of area|website=Fs.usda.gov|access-date=2022-02-01}}

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In 1969, a natural gas pipeline was placed on Rollins Pass.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/david-buckner-measures-plant-recovery-since-line-was-laid-news-photo/161886649|title = JUL 1974, JUL 26 1974, JUL 28 1974; David Buckner measures plant| date=February 15, 2013 }} In the mid-1990s, Rollins Pass was closed for the installation of a {{convert|10|inch|adj=on}} diameter Xcel Energy high-pressure natural gas pipeline.{{cite web|url=https://www.denverpost.com/2014/07/13/epworth-competition-is-serious-only-about-the-enjoyment-of-ski-racing/|title=Epworth competition is serious only about the enjoyment of ski racing|date=July 13, 2014}} The pipeline, not always under marker,{{cite web|url=https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/markersbrief.htm|title=PHMSA: Stakeholder Communications: Markers|website=primis.phmsa.dot.gov}} still is in existence and uses the low pass to reach the Front Range by loosely following County Road 8 in Fraser, utilizing much of Ranch Creek towards the Middle Fork of Ranch Creek below Mount Epworth, climbing the pass near Ptarmigan Point, and following much of the old railbed past Corona at the summit of Rollins Pass. The pipeline continues across the railbed towards and under the twin trestles, down the old wagon route on the spine of Guinn Mountain, and then towards Eldora.{{cite web|url=https://pvnpms.phmsa.dot.gov/PublicViewer/#|title=NPMS Public Viewer|website=pvnpms.phmsa.dot.gov}} The pipeline undergoes internal inspections "at least" every seven years[http://www.xcelenergynorthmetrogaspipeline.com/pages/safety.aspx "Pages – Safety"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528174954/http://www.xcelenergynorthmetrogaspipeline.com/pages/safety.aspx |date=May 28, 2019 }}. Xcelenergynorthmetrogaspipeline.com. with the deployment of a smart pig inside the pipeline.[https://www.aboutpipelines.com/en/blog/inside-the-smart-pig-detecting-potential-pipeline-problems-before-they-happen-part-1/ "Inside the smart pig – detecting potential pipeline problems before they happen (part 1)"]. aboutpipelines.com. February 24, 2016.

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A majority of Rollins Pass is located within the boundaries of two national forests—Roosevelt National Forest and Arapaho National Forest—and as such, is federal land.{{cite web|url=http://www.chicora.org/pdfs/Looting%20brochure.pdf |title=Brochure |website=Chicora.org }} The Archaeological Resources Protection Act along with the Antiquities Act, among other federal and cultural laws, recognizes the nonrenewable and vulnerable nature of cultural resources{{cite web|url=https://documents.saa.org/container/docs/default-source/doc-governmentaffairs/field_stream_final.pdf|title=I write on behalf of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) concerning the article "Find a 12,000-Year-Old Arrowhead With These 10 Tips" by Tom Keer, which appeared in the June 21 edition of Field and Stream Magazine.|website=Documents.saa.org|access-date=2022-02-01}} and these laws protect and make it illegal to collect artifacts, including but not limited to: arrowheads, horseshoes, buttons, cans, glass or ceramic bottles, dishware and utensils, coal, railroad spikes, snowshed wood, railroad ties, and telegraph poles from Rollins Pass.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP19720525-01.2.28&srpos=20&e "Steamboat Pilot May 25, 1972 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.{{Cite web|url=https://www.discoverypub.com/columns/michelleknows/0320_Michelle/index.html|title=Discover Vintage America | Michelle Knows Antiques|website=Discoverypub.com|access-date=February 1, 2022}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} All artifacts—from the prehistoric to the historic{{Ref|Note‡|‡}}—on the pass are objects of antiquity and are being studied and documented by universities and government agencies.{{rp|12}} The material record of Rollins Pass is illegally carried away each year—some by poachers{{Cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/103093624/Arrow-Colorado-a-Ghost-Town-northwest-of-Denver|title=Arrow Colorado A Ghost Town Northwest of Denver | PDF | Metal Detector | Colorado|website=Scribd.com|access-date=February 1, 2022}}—others in the backpacks of well-intentioned visitors who want a souvenir; but once artifacts are removed, a place can never again reveal the mysteries of the past.{{rp|12}} Each artifact has important scientific and cultural value and theft harms the historical record. Visitors are encouraged to preserve the area for future generations by leaving items in place and sharing photographs and GPS coordinates (if available) with researchers dedicated to telling the story of Rollins Pass and an internet resource has been set up to aid with this project.{{rp|127}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.preserverollinspass.org/resources/contact-an-archaeologist/|title=Contact an Archaeologist|website=Preserverollinspass.org|access-date=February 1, 2022}}

County sheriffs as well as United States Forest Service Law Enforcement personnel and staff routinely patrol and enforce natural and cultural resources on Rollins Pass as well as in other areas within the National Forest System.{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.fed.us/about-agency/lei|title=Law Enforcement and Investigations – US Forest Service|website=Fs.fed.us|date=July 22, 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.skyhinews.com/news/wildland-fires-inside-an-investigation/|title=Wildland fires: Inside an investigation|first=Sawyer|last=D'Argonne|website=Skyhinews.com|date=July 24, 2017 |access-date=February 1, 2022}}

On both sides of Rollins Pass, the road prism contains both prehistoric and historic artifacts buried under the surface. Any improvements to the rough road through regrading, including paving, would first require extensive sectional archaeological excavations by the United States Forest Service. In several places, on or just under the surface, historical artifacts are covered with geotextile stabilization fabrics having characteristics that match the soil and permeability of the existing roadbed.{{rp|119}}

There are several drystack retaining walls on both sides of the pass, built without mortar, helping ensure they retain soil but not water.{{Cite web|url=https://thefield.asla.org/2015/03/24/dry-stacked-stone-walls/|title = Dry Stacked Stone Walls|date = March 24, 2015}}

There are several ghost towns on or near Rollins Pass, the most notable being Arrow, Corona, Ladora, the East Portal construction camp, Mammoth, and Tolland.{{cite AV media | people=Guyer, John Brownlee | date=1995 | title=Rails over Hell Hill | trans-title=The Moffat Road | medium=Motion picture (1950s) | location=Rollins Pass, Colorado | publisher=Wainwright, Arthur E.}} There are also at least a half-dozen other established settlements, dating back to both the wagon road and railroad eras, scattered across Rollins Pass.{{cite web|url=https://history.denverlibrary.org/sites/history/files/Place_Names_of_Colorado.pdf|title=PLACE NAMES OF COLORADO : A Genealogical & Historical Guide to Colorado Sites|website=History.denverlibrary.org|access-date=2022-02-01}}

There are also several historic gravesites across Rollins Pass. One granite headstone at Arrow reads, "R.M. Smith | June 28, 1842 | Nov. 12, 1909." One marker near the Eldora Ski Area states that it holds two members of John C. Frémont's third expedition in 1845–1846, although this is disputed.{{cite web|url=http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-county-news/ci_27524032/dead-men-at-boulder-countys-eldora-tell-conflicting|title=Dead men at Boulder County's Eldora tell conflicting tales|website=Dailycamera.com|date=February 13, 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.dailycamera.com/lifestyles/ci_26090646/|title=Search continues for identities of 'Fremont's men'|website=Dailycamera.com|date=July 4, 2014}}

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Image:Vehicle_on_Alpine_Tundra_on_Rollins_Pass.jpg

Image:Alpine_Tundra_Damage_on_Rollins_Pass_by_a_Motorized_Vehicle.png

Rollins Pass has unique floral, faunal, and riparian zones that spread across multiple Colorado counties; to best preserve the native environment of Rollins Pass, leave no trace and trail ethics apply to all visitors.{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/arp/recarea/?recid=28258|title=Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests Pawnee National Grassland – Forest Lakes Trailhead

|website=United States Forest Service}} Trundling is discouraged for safety and environmental concerns as well as to preserve artifacts.{{cite web|url=https://www.outsideonline.com/1894851/look-you-trundle|title=Look Before You Trundle – Outside Online|date=July 7, 2011|website=outsideonline.com}}{{rp|125}}

Rollins Pass consists of several distinct floral environments including lodgepole pine and quaking aspen at lower elevations, and krummholz at tree line. Above tree line, the landscape consists largely of small perennial wildflowers, cryptobiotic soils, and alpine tundra. The latter being extremely fragile and if damaged, can take 100–500 years to recover.{{Cite book|title=Land above the trees: A Guide to American Alpine Tundra|last=Ann.|first=Zwinger|date=1996|publisher=Johnson Books|others=Willard, Beatrice E.|isbn=1555661718|location=Boulder, Colo.|oclc=34284249}} Leaving the trail can cause erosion, land degradation, possible species extinction, and habitat destruction and it is for these reasons vehicles, including off-road vehicles, are not allowed to leave the established road.{{cite web|url=http://staythetrail.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=266593&module_id=234668|title=WTG: East Rollins Pass – Stay The Trail|website=Staythetrail.clubexpress.com}}{{cite web|url=http://staythetrail.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=266593&module_id=234728|title=WTG: South Sulphur / West Rollins Pass – Stay The Trail|website=Staythetrail.clubexpress.com}} There are at least two marked revegetation areas on Rollins Pass: one at Yankee Doodle Lake; the other at the summit leading to the historic dining hall foundation.

The mountain pine beetle epidemic, beginning in 1996 and continuing through present day, affects many forested areas in Colorado, including those on Rollins Pass. One out of every 14 trees in Colorado is dead.{{cite web|url=https://www.denverpost.com/2017/02/15/dead-trees-colorado-forests/|title=It's not your imagination. More trees than ever are standing dead in Colorado forests|date=February 15, 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprd3828619.jpg |title=Documents |format=JPG}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/romo/learn/nature/mtn_pine_beetle_background.htm|title=Forest Health: Mountain Pine Beetle – Rocky Mountain National Park (U.S. National Park Service)|website=Nps.gov}} Trees affected by the beetles contain 10 times less water than a healthy tree and crown fires can quickly spread.{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.fed.us/research/highlights/highlights_display.php?in_high_id=395|title=Mountain pine beetle effects on fire behavior – Research Highlights – US Forest Service Research & Development|website=Fs.fed.us}}{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5262952.pdf |title=Field guide to diseases & insects of the Rocky Mountain Region |access-date=2018-07-30}}

The top predator in the area are black bears (Ursus americanus), generally below timberline; however, they occasionally venture above the krummholz. The bears prey on bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) and mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus), as well as yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris) in the region. Above timberline, pikas (Ochotona princeps) are common. At or below timberline, both elk (Cervus canadensis) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) are common. The presence of migratory bighorn sheep and other large game is the reason why Native Americans constructed sprawling yet intricate game drive complexes on Rollins Pass.

The porcupine can be seen at all elevations on Rollins Pass, including at (and above) the summit. The porcupine begins its rounds at sunset, as it is nocturnal; this member of the rodent family also has the ability to adroitly climb trees.{{rp|113}}

Among birds, the white-tailed ptarmigan (Lagopus leucurus) are present on Rollins Pass, especially above treeline. Their seasonal camouflage is effective in the summer against the exposed blocks of granite as well as against snow in the winter, rendering them virtually undetectable. Brown-capped rosy finches (Leucosticte australis), rock wrens (Salpinctes obsoletus), and pipits are also seen or heard at timberline and near the summit.

Nutrient-rich ecosystems exist on Rollins Pass where water, and bodies of water, meet the alpine and subalpine tundras.{{cite web |url=https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/technical/?cid=nrcs143_014199 |title=Riparian Areas Environmental Uniqueness, Functions, and Values | NRCS |publisher=Nrcs.usda.gov |date=1996-08-11 |access-date=2018-07-30 |archive-date=June 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611200856/https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/technical/?cid=nrcs143_014199 |url-status=dead }}

There are three lakes on the west side of Rollins Pass: Deadman's Lake, Pumphouse Lake, and Corona Lake. On the east side of Rollins Pass are King Lake, Yankee Doodle Lake, and Jenny Lake. Historically, Yankee Doodle Lake was referred to as Lake Jennie by John Quincy Adams Rollins, but modern archaeologists have re-interpreted this to be the modern day Yankee Doodle Lake;{{rp|20}} the railroad and period newspapers occasionally referred to this lake as Dixie Lake.{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=PLT19230525-01.2.55&srpos=1&e|title=Palisade Tribune May 25, 1923 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}} Also in the vicinity: Bob Lake, Betty Lake, the Forest Lakes, Skyscraper Reservoir, Lost Lake, and Woodland Lake.{{cite journal|author=E.J. Young |url=https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/i2212 |title=Geologic map of the East Portal Quadrangle, Boulder, Gilpin, and Grand counties, Colorado |journal=Imap |publisher=Pubs.er.usgs.gov |date=2012-02-10 |doi=10.3133/i2212 |access-date=2018-07-30|url-access=subscription }}

In 2010, Pumphouse Lake and Ranch Creek were assessed by the Environmental Protection Agency and were determined to be polluted.[https://epa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html "ArcGIS Web Application"]. Epa.maps.arcgis.com.[https://ofmpub.epa.gov/waters10/attains_waterbody.control?p_au_id=COUCUC04_6101&p_cycle=2010 "Waterbody Quality Assessment Report | Water Quality Assessment and TMDL Information | US EPA"]. Ofmpub.epa.gov.

On the west side, in addition to the Fraser River at the start of Rollins Pass are the following creeks: the South Fork of Ranch Creek, the Middle Fork of Ranch Creek (fed by Deadman's Lake), and Ranch Creek (fed by Pumphouse and Corona Lakes). On the east side of Rollins Pass, the South Fork of the Middle Boulder Creek is fed by Bob and Betty Lakes and Jenny Creek is fed by both Jenny and Yankee Doodle Lakes; further downstream, Antelope Creek feeds into Jenny Creek. The South Boulder Creek runs at the start of Rollins Pass on the eastern side; but first flows through Buttermilk Falls, a large {{convert|550|foot|m|adj=mid|-long}} waterfall, near King Lake, visible from the summit and upper eastern portions of Rollins Pass.{{rp|65}}

A summer 2006 project led by the United States Forest Service and having the participation of both environmental and user groups saw improvements made to wetlands, lakeshore, and upland habitats at Yankee Doodle Lake and Jenny Creek.{{cite web|url=https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/rising-sun-usfs-to-protect-jenny-creek-wetlands.107219/|title=Rising Sun/USFS To Protect Jenny Creek Wetlands|date=August 23, 2006}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=LVT20060830-01.2.58&srpos=1&e|title=Louisville Times August 30, 2006 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}} Fencing was installed to restrict vehicle travel to designated routes and improve degraded areas.{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsm91_057902.pdf |title=fall2006.pub |access-date=2018-07-30}} Before work could begin, sectional excavations by archaeologists took place to document the wagon road era settlements of the "Town of Yankee Doodle at Lake Jennie," located at present day Yankee Doodle Lake.{{rp|20}}

In the summers, wildfire danger increases due to various environmental factors: low moisture, lightning strikes, high winds, and human-caused factors. As the pass is a recreational area, wildfires can also be caused by unmanaged, unattended, and/or uncontrolled campfires.

At present, fire restrictions apply to the areas comprising Rollins Pass. Typically, these protective restrictions tend to be enacted starting as early as mid-late July or later in August:

• On Friday, July 10, 2020, the east side of Rollins Pass, located in both Boulder and Gilpin counties, went under Stage 2 Fire Restrictions.{{cite web|url=http://www.coemergency.com/p/fire-bans-danger.html|title=Fire Bans & Danger|website=Coemergency.com}}{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/arp/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD585302 |title=Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests Pawnee National Grassland – News & Events |publisher=Fs.usda.gov |date=2018-06-28 |access-date=2018-07-30}}{{cite web|url=http://www.gilpincountysheriff.com/firerestrictions|title=Gilpin County Sheriff's Office – Fire Restriction Information|website=Gilpincountysheriff.com}}{{cite web |url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5371474.pdf |title=Data |website=Fs.usda.gov |access-date=June 29, 2018 |archive-date=June 29, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629211457/https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5371474.pdf |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.bouldercounty.org/safety/fire/fire-restrictions/|title=Fire Restrictions|website=Bouldercounty.org|access-date=February 1, 2022}}
• On Friday, July 10, 2020, the west side of Rollins Pass, located in Grand County, went under Stage 1 Fire Restrictions on USFS lands only.{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd764763.pdf|title=Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests : Pawnee National Grassland Canyon Lakes and Sulphur Ranger Districts Pawnee National Grassland : STAGE I FIRE RESTRICTIONS|website=Fs.usda.gov|access-date=2022-02-01}}

• On Saturday, August 3, 1996, a lightning strike caused one of the easternmost wooden trestles near the summit to catch fire; the blaze was extinguished by fire crews before the trestle's integrity could be compromised.{{Cite web |url=http://co.grand.co.us/Archive/ViewFile/Item/2939 |title=Certificate Of Recommendation |access-date=July 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709185152/http://co.grand.co.us/Archive/ViewFile/Item/2939 |archive-date=July 9, 2018 |df=mdy-all }}Video and photograph collection of the United States Forest Service (Kathy Malone); Fort Collins, Colorado. The wooden trestle was likely saved by the use of coal-tar creosote applied to treat and preserve the wood, as part of the Bethell process.{{rp|83}}

• On September 27, 1915, Mart Wolf, owner of the Elk Creek Saloon, set fire to his establishment in the town of Arrow on the west side of Rollins Pass in the hopes of collecting insurance money totaling $1,000. Due to high winds, the fire quickly spread and Arrow was all but snuffed out of existence.{{rp|54–55}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=RCS19151001.2.13&srpos=1&e|title=Routt County Sentinel October 1, 1915 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19151006.2.15&srpos=2&e|title=Steamboat Pilot October 6, 1915 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=MPT19151001.2.6&srpos=1&e|title=Middle Park Times October 1, 1915 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}
• On Wednesday, October 30, 1918, a fire started at or near the boiler house (on the south side of the Corona shed) and fanned by {{convert|40|mph|adj=on}} winds claimed the power station, telegraph system at the summit,[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP19181030.2.14&srpos=14&e "Steamboat Pilot October 30, 1918 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. along with several miles of track, snowsheds, as well as buildings at Corona, including the destruction of the water tank upon which the Weather Bureau's observation station was mounted.{{rp|38}}{{cite news|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=RCS19221229.2.24&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-weather+bureau+at+corona-------0-|title=Routt County Sentinel|date=December 29, 1922|access-date=July 16, 2018}}{{cite news|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=RCS19181101.2.23&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-burned+snowshed+blocks+railroad-------0-|title=Routt County Sentinel|date=November 1, 1918|access-date=July 16, 2018}}[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=RCR19181101.2.61&srpos=131&e "Routt County Republican November 1, 1918 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=MCC19181031-01.2.28.2&srpos=130&e "Moffat County Courier October 31, 1918 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. Train service over the pass, after the rails were relaid, resumed on Friday, November 1, 1918; snowshed reconstruction caused delays, yet continued through November and December. A new electric lighting system was installed at the summit the next year (1919).[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP19181204.2.97&srpos=209&e "Steamboat Pilot December 4, 1918 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=RCS19181129.2.143&srpos=94&e "Routt County Sentinel November 29, 1918 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. Box cars were used as temporary buildings as the workers' quarters (for watchmen and operators), the depot, telegraph office, eating house (not to be confused with the dining hall), and more were destroyed.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=TOH19181107.2.45&srpos=163&e "Ouray Herald November 7, 1918 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=RCR19181108.2.27&srpos=167&e "Routt County Republican November 8, 1918 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=CRE19181120-01.2.20&srpos=184&e "Craig Empire November 20, 1918 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=OCT19181101.2.4&srpos=1&e "Oak Creek Times November 1, 1918 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=RCR19181206.2.35&srpos=158&e "Routt County Republican December 6, 1918 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.
• In 1923, a train caused a wildfire on the east side of Rollins Pass on Giant's Ladder.{{rp|80}}
• On Thursday, October 15, 1925, passenger train No. 2, including caboose, was completely destroyed by a fire in the Corona snowshed; the fire consumed roughly {{convert|400|-|500|ft}} of snowshed.
• On Wednesday, January 26, 1927, the town of Rollinsville was nearly destroyed by a fire believed to have been started by a spark from a locomotive. Five buildings were destroyed and 20 guests in the Rollinsville hotel lost their personal belongings when the hotel burned to the ground.{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19270202.2.6&srpos=1&e|title=Steamboat Pilot February 2, 1927 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}
• On Friday, August 19, 1938, a manmade fire started and was spread by high winds near the East Portal of the Moffat Tunnel. More than 700 men helped to fight the fire that consumed at least 800 acres near Tolland.{{Cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=ETG19380826-01.2.17&srpos=1&e|title = The Estes Park Trail August 26, 1938 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection}}
• On Wednesday, August 4, 2010, a plane crash on the east side of the pass caused a small wildfire.{{cite web|author=NTSB |url=https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20100804X30949&ntsbno=CEN10FA458&akey=1 |title=CEN10FA458: Full Narrative |publisher=National Transportation Safety Board |access-date=8 May 2018}}

• On Tuesday, July 30, 2019, a small sub-acre fire ignited behind the Lakota subdivision on the lower portions of Rollins Pass; the fire was extinguished by the following evening.{{cite web |url=https://www.skyhinews.com/news/east-grand-fire-battling-blaze-outside-winter-park/ |title = Wildfire flares up outside Winter Park {{!}} SkyHiNews.com| date=July 31, 2019 }}

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File:Summer thunderstorms on Rollins Pass.jpg

Image:Rollins_Pass_Weather_Station.jpg weather station is surrounded by native growth on the west side of Rollins Pass, located above Ptarmigan Point. |A small, solar-powered weather station is surrounded by native growth on the west side of Rollins Pass, located above Ptarmigan Point.]]

Arctic conditions are prevalent during the winter, with sudden blizzards, high winds, and deep snowpack.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP19180130.2.33&srpos=26&e "Steamboat Pilot January 30, 1918 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. High country overnight trips require gear suitable for {{convert|-35|F|lk=in}} or below. The subalpine region does not begin to experience spring-like conditions until June. Wildflowers bloom from late June to early August.{{NPS| url=https://www.nps.gov/romo/planyourvisit/weather.htm|work=Rocky Mountain National Park|title=Nps.gov|access-date=November 2, 2016 }}

Due to high-elevation above timberline in a backcountry setting, there is neither lightning protection nor lightning mitigation from sudden thunderstorms[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP19400118.2.121&srpos=29&e "Steamboat Pilot January 18, 1940 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. resulting in a high-risk, extremely dangerous situation for visitors.[http://rendezvous.nols.edu/files/Curriculum/research_projects/lightning-risk-management-brochure.pdf] {{dead link|date=February 2022}} The most suitable—but not best—refuge available from electrical storms would be in a metal-topped vehicle as it would serve as a mobile Faraday cage.{{Cite web|url=https://weather.com/storms/tornado/news/what-happens-when-lightning-hits-car-20140625|title=What Happens When Lightning Hits Your Car?|website=Weather.com|access-date=February 1, 2022|archive-date=January 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200128210354/https://weather.com/storms/tornado/news/what-happens-when-lightning-hits-car-20140625|url-status=dead}}

During the railroad era, a United States Weather Bureau observation station was mounted atop the large water tank at the townsite of Corona. Records from this station show "the prevailing wind direction was west, the lowest temperature recorded was {{convert|−30|F|disp=sqbr}} (in February 1910), and the most monthly snowfall was in March 1912 with {{convert|72.5|inch|cm|disp=sqbr}} of snow."{{rp|45}} Newspaper reports mention winds in excess of {{cvt|60|mph}}, including at least one instance of {{cvt|84|mph}},[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=MPT19090212.2.49&srpos=42&e "Middle Park Times February 12, 1909 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. and temperatures of {{convert|−44|F}}.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=MCR19180201-01.2.21&srpos=48&e "Morgan County Republican February 1, 1918 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=OCT19180201.2.35&srpos=177&e "Oak Creek Times February 1, 1918 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. Both these temperatures and wind speeds are in line with today's conditions in Colorado's high mountains.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}}

A small, solar-powered weather station exists on the west side of Rollins Pass, located above Ptarmigan Point.

While temperature, humidity, and other factors influence atmospheric pressure, the atmospheric pressure on the summit measures roughly {{convert|457|torr|hPa|lk=in}}; while a standard atmospheric pressure measured at sea level is {{convert|760|torr|hPa}}. At this pressure, many people, especially out-of-town visitors from lower elevations, can suffer from rapid dehydration and altitude sickness, also known as acute mountain sickness.{{cite web|url=http://www.climbing-high.com/dehydration.html|title=Domain Name Broker|website=Climbing-high.com}} Acute mountain sickness can progress to high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) or high-altitude cerebral edema (HACE), both of which are potentially fatal.

Historically, newspaper reports wrote of both visitors and railroad workers experiencing heart attacks and pneumonia at the summit of Rollins Pass as well as severe frostbite, including in July.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=CRE19180327-01.2.11&srpos=12&e "Craig Empire March 27, 1918 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=RCS19181206.2.87&srpos=104&e "Routt County Sentinel December 6, 1918 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=EAB19050928.2.17&srpos=6&e "Eagle County Blade September 28, 1905 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=TGB19050802-01.2.16&srpos=32&e "Turret Gold Belt August 2, 1905 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.

Human-triggered and natural avalanches are possible anywhere on the pass and there have been four notable avalanches—three at Yankee Doodle Lake—on Rollins Pass:

• On Tuesday, January 27, 1914, sliding snow from Tunnel #32 "completely covered the track for a long distance" caused a multi-day blockage at or near Yankee Doodle Lake.{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=MPT19140206.2.5&srpos=9&e|title=Middle Park Times February 6, 1914 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}
• On Monday, December 10, 1917, an avalanche near Yankee Doodle Lake swept a rotary and assisting engine {{cvt|150|ft}} off of the tracks. The engineer of the assisting engine was "scalded about the head so badly that the bones of the face were exposed and he is not expected to live." Other railroad workers died and several were injured.

Backcountry skiers, snowshoers, and snowmobilers are advised to check daily avalanche forecasts, practice diligent terrain management, and always carry and know how to use rescue gear, including Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs).{{cite web|url=https://rootsrated.com/denver-co/backcountry-skiing/rollins-pass-backcountry-skiing|title=Rollins Pass – Backcountry Skiing – RootsRated|website=RootsRated|date=February 29, 2016|access-date=July 9, 2018|archive-date=July 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709190119/https://rootsrated.com/denver-co/backcountry-skiing/rollins-pass-backcountry-skiing|url-status=dead}}

• On Wednesday, November 28, 2001, two highly-experienced backcountry skiers triggered a sizable hard-slab avalanche in the Yankee Doodle Lake basin. From the accident report, "The avalanche released from a southeast-facing slope and fell {{convert|600|ft|m|disp=sqbr|adj=pre| vertical}} and stopped by crashing through the {{convert|10|inch|cm|adj=on|disp=sqbr}} thick ice of Yankee Doodle Lake. The displaced water resulted in a surge {{convert|10|-|12|ft|disp=sqbr}} tall along the south shore." The avalanche pushed both men into the lake and one survivor was sent {{cvt|190|ft}} into the center of the lake. The survivor, suffering from hypothermia and frostbite, hiked [to] {{convert|5|mi|spell=in}} to the Eldora Mountain Resort where he sought help.{{cite web|url=https://www.skimag.com/uncategorized/dead-right|title=Dead Right|website=Skimag.com|date=April 20, 2002}} The search involved ground crews, air crews, avalanche rescue dogs, and trained dive-rescuers with specialized rubber suits. The body of the second skier was found {{cvt|91|ft}} offshore. Both skiers were well-equipped, including having avalanche transceivers.{{Cite web|url=https://avalanche.org/accident-report/?accident_id=175|title=Avalanche.org » Accident Report|website=Avalanche.org|access-date=February 1, 2022|archive-date=July 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709154238/https://avalanche.org/accident-report/?accident_id=175|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2001/11/29/Colo-avalanche-victim-pulled-from-lake/62631007066351/|title=Colo. avalanche victim pulled from lake|website=Upi.com|access-date=February 1, 2022}} Following the accident, each year in December, the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group holds a Joe Despres Memorial Dry Land Transceiver Training to include practices for using transceivers, along with avalanche courses, fundraising, and backcountry seminars.{{cite web|url=http://www.coloradodaily.com/ci_19428189|title=Avy seminars, transceiver practices in Boulder|website=Coloradodaily.com|date=November 28, 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://www.coloradodaily.com/cu-boulder/ci_19450143|title=THIS WEEKEND OUTDOORS IN BOULDER: Backcountry ski practice|website=Coloradodaily.com|date=December 2011}}{{cite web|url=https://www.outsideonline.com/2267746/what-can-we-learn-avalanches|title=What Can We Learn from Avalanches? A New Book Tries to Find Out.|website=Outsideonline.com|first=Emma|last=Walker|date=December 19, 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/storms-increase-avalanche-danger/article_5bd3b191-ecb1-57ac-a8cc-5875b1ca76ee.html|title=Storms increase avalanche danger|author=Jennifer Hamilton|website=Heraldextra.com}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.snowytorrents.com/accidents/2000s/2001-2/yankee-doodle-lake/|title=Yankee Doodle Lake, Colorado|website=Snowytorrents.com|access-date=February 1, 2022|archive-date=November 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191117090407/https://www.snowytorrents.com/accidents/2000s/2001-2/yankee-doodle-lake/|url-status=dead}}{{cite web |url=https://themtnear.com/2019/04/dojoe-on-the-down-low-at-arapahoe-ranch/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404152910/https://themtnear.com/2019/04/dojoe-on-the-down-low-at-arapahoe-ranch/ |archive-date=April 4, 2019 |title=DOJOe on the down-low at Arapahoe Ranch – The Mountain-Ear}}{{cite web |url=https://themtnear.com/2016/05/living-on-the-mountain-dojoe-on-the-downlow/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160516093410/http://themtnear.com/2016/05/living-on-the-mountain-dojoe-on-the-downlow/ |archive-date=May 16, 2016 |title=Living on the Mountain : DoJoe on the DownLow {{!}} The Mountain-Ear}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.coloradodaily.com/2011/12/01/this-weekend-outdoors-in-boulder-backcountry-ski-practice/|title=THIS WEEKEND OUTDOORS IN BOULDER: Backcountry ski practice|website=Coloradodaily.com|date=December 2011}}

• On Sunday, February 14, 2021, a 58-year old male triggered an avalanche on the east-facing slope of Mount Epworth while snowmobiling and perished at Pumphouse Lake.{{Cite web|url=https://avalanche.state.co.us/caic/acc/acc_report.php?acc_id=781&accfm=rep|title=CAIC|website=Avalanche.state.co.us|access-date=February 1, 2022|archive-date=January 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123144452/https://avalanche.state.co.us/caic/acc/acc_report.php?acc_id=781&accfm=rep|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=https://avalanche.state.co.us/caic/acc/acc_report.php?acc_id=781&accfm=inv&view=public|title=CAIC|website=Avalanche.state.co.us|access-date=February 1, 2022|archive-date=August 10, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220810171640/https://avalanche.state.co.us/caic/acc/acc_report.php?acc_id=781&accfm=inv&view=public|url-status=dead}}

• On Saturday, January 7, 2023, two snowmobilers triggered a fatal avalanche on the eastern slope of Mount Epworth. One snowmobiler, age 58, was wearing an avalanche beacon—his body was recovered the same day; the other man, age 52, was not wearing an avalanche beacon and the recovery operation was postponed until the following day. The recovery operating involved the Grand County Sheriff's Office, Grand County Search and Rescue, Grand County EMS - Mountain Medical Response Team, Winter Park Ski Patrol Dog Team, Flight For Life Colorado, and the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC).{{cite web | url=https://www.skyhinews.com/news/2-snowmobilers-killed-in-avalanche-east-of-winter-park/ | title=2 snowmobilers killed in avalanche east of Winter Park | date=January 8, 2023 }}{{cite web | url=https://coloradosun.com/2023/01/08/avalanche-near-winter-park-kills-snowmobilers/ | title=Avalanche near Winter Park kills 2 backcountry snowmobilers | date=January 8, 2023 }}

{{Clear}}

Image:Truck Parked Inside Indian Peaks Wilderness.jpg

Rollins Pass is managed by the United States Forest Service{{Cite web|url=https://usfs.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=45858bd98aa641ed97734d01b437c2d6|title=Story Map Series|website=Usfs.maps.arcgis.com|access-date=February 1, 2022}} as a recreational location and can be accessed from roads on both west and east sides; however, no motorized route connects across the Continental Divide.{{Cite web|url=https://www.preserverollinspass.org/resources/rollins-pass-road-status/|title = Rollins Pass Road Status}} The entire road is unpaved (dirt and rock), has no guardrails, and has a speed limit of {{cvt|20|mph|lk=in}}.{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/detailfull/gmug/maps-pubs/?cid=stelprdb5194535&width=full |title=Grand Mesa Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests – Maps & Publications |publisher=Fs.usda.gov |access-date=2018-07-30}} Current-year Motor Vehicle Use Maps (MVUMs) should be reviewed to determine which trails and roads are open to vehicles. Violators are subject to fines up to $5,000—"regardless of the presence or absence of signs" and operating a vehicle in wilderness areas is prohibited.{{cite web|url=http://staythetrail.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=266593&module_id=228445|title=Trail Etiquette: Trail Signs – Stay The Trail|website=staythetrail.org|access-date=July 5, 2018|archive-date=July 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180705232936/http://staythetrail.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=266593&module_id=228445|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/arp/maps-pubs/?cid=fsm91_058275 |title=Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests Pawnee National Grassland – Maps & Publications |publisher=Fs.usda.gov |date=2009-07-17 |access-date=2018-07-30}}{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5339603.pdf |title=Data |website=Fs.usda.gov }}{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd530033.pdf |title=Data |website=Fs.usda.gov }}[https://www.nps.gov/subjects/wilderness/upload/1964-Wilderness-Act.pdf]{{dead link|date=June 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} {{cite web|url=https://www.americantrails.org/files/pdf/ColoradoOHVRidingAreas.pdf|title=OHV Opportunities in Colorado|website=Americantrails.org|access-date=2022-02-01|archive-date=July 8, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708204712/https://www.americantrails.org/files/pdf/ColoradoOHVRidingAreas.pdf|url-status=dead}} Buck and rail fences have been placed at select areas on the pass to indicate routes or areas closed to motor vehicles.{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.fed.us/t-d/pubs/pdfpubs/pdf88242803/pdf88242803dpi300.pdf|title=Fences|website=Fs.fed.usd|access-date=2022-02-01}}

There are no facilities, shops, restrooms, call boxes, water fountains, trash receptacles, nor shelters located on either side of the pass.{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/arp/recarea/?recid=28586 |title=Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests Pawnee National Grassland – Rollins Pass Trailhead |publisher=Fs.usda.gov |access-date=2018-07-30}} The only exception is the Årestua Hut, located on the northern side of Guinn Mountain at {{cvt|11,000|ft}} on the east side of Rollins Pass. The small hut was constructed {{age|1969|9|1}} years ago and is open year-round.{{cite web|url=http://www.cmcboulder.org/cabin-arestua.html|title=Boulder Group cabins – Arestua Hut|website=Cmcboulder.org|access-date=June 13, 2018|archive-date=June 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613210628/http://www.cmcboulder.org/cabin-arestua.html|url-status=dead}}{{cite web |url=http://www.cmcboulder.org/docs/CabinsCommittee/public/2009_09_19.pdf |title=Committee report |date=2009 |website=Cmcboulder.org |access-date=June 13, 2018 |archive-date=June 13, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613234122/http://www.cmcboulder.org/docs/CabinsCommittee/public/2009_09_19.pdf |url-status=dead }} A series of hand-constructed stone windbreaks exist above timberline north of Needle's Eye Tunnel—these structures date to the railroad era on Rollins Pass and are not prehistoric. These windbreaks currently lack upper coverings or roofs and serve only as aerodynamic dampeners for wind and wind gusts.Wilson, 1985; Journal of Wind Engineering & Industrial Aerodynamics, Volume 21

Both sides of the pass can be traveled by snowmobile when at least {{convert|6|inch|cm|spell=in}} of snow cover the road in the winter—generally beginning in late November or early December and lasting through early April.{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd485688.pdf |title=Data |website=Fs.usda.gov }}

Both sides of the pass are closed in spring—including several weeks in June—to any form of motorized traffic: snowmobiles, automobiles, Off-road vehicles (ORVs), All-terrain vehicles (ATVs), or motorcycles for the prevention of road damage.

Both sides of the pass can be traveled—in good weather—by motorized vehicles in the summer and early autumn. Rollins Pass is scheduled open for vehicular summer traffic from June 15 through November 15; however, it is generally not possible given typical snowfall accumulations and slower melt rates in southerly-shaded areas, to drive higher than Sunnyside (site of the old block station)[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=RCS19181011.2.91&srpos=126&e "Routt County Sentinel October 11, 1918 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. or Ptarmigan Point on the western side, or Yankee Doodle Lake on the eastern side before early-to-mid July.{{cite web|url=http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/arp/recreation/recarea/?recid=28586&actid=51 |title=Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests Pawnee National Grassland – Rollins Pass Trailhead |publisher=Fs.usda.gov |access-date=2018-07-30}}{{cite web|url=https://www.summitpost.org/mount-epworth/531345|title=Mount Epworth : Climbing, Hiking & Mountaineering|website=Summitpost.org}} In 2019, and in other summers when the prior season's snowfall has been late and/or considerable, mid-elevation gates on the west side of Rollins Pass remained closed on June 15 due to an order, "Extended closure due to snow, runoff, and road damage 36 CFR 261.54a."{{Cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/36/261.54|title=36 CFR § 261.54 - National Forest System roads.|website=LII / Legal Information Institute}}

The first high-country snowstorms bring fierce winds and create impassible snow drifts that are not plowed; this effectively puts higher landmarks—including the summit—out of reach as soon as late September or early October. On average, the near-annual existence of snow at or above timberline, ensures the road is only passable less than 90 days per year.{{rp|10}}

Summer usage of the pass is currently classified as 'heavy' by the United States Forest Service; as such, parking can be very limited at designated parking sites.[https://www.recreation.gov/ "Recreation.gov"]. Recreation.gov.{{cite web |url=https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/rollins-pass |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100707030441/http://alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/rollins-pass |archive-date=July 7, 2010 |title=Rollins Pass - Colorado Trails {{!}} AllTrails.com}} While the route mostly has gentle grades with switchbacks between two and four percent and does not contain loose gravel, four-wheel drive higher-clearance vehicles fare better than two-wheel drive vehicles, particularly in certain technical sections: some areas on the east side have up to a 17.63% grade; the west side has some areas with a 15% grade.{{cite web|url=https://www.trailsoffroad.com/trails/438-rollins-pass-east|title=Rollins Pass East|website=Trailsoffroad.com}}{{cite web|url=https://www.trailsoffroad.com/trails/439-rollins-pass-west|title=Rollins Pass West|website=Trailsoffroad.com}} In all narrow sections, the vehicle heading downhill must yield to the vehicle traveling uphill.{{cite web|url=http://www.safemotorist.com/articles/right_of_way.aspx|title=Right of Way|website=Safemotorist.com}}{{cite web |url=https://www.drivingline.com/articles/off-road-basics-trail-etiquette/ |title = Off-Road Basics: Trail Etiquette {{!}} DrivingLine| date=May 29, 2014 }}

The Continental Divide Trail crosses the summit of Rollins Pass from south to north; the trail bisects the former wye at Corona and takes hikers through the Indian Peaks Wilderness{{cite web |url=https://www.flyfisherman.com/editorial/indian-peaks-wilderness-area-colorado/152068 |title = Indian Peaks Wilderness Area Colorado - Fly Fisherman| date=May 3, 2016 }} past the dining hall foundation at the summit.

Image:Typical road conditions on Rollins Pass.jpg

{{See also|Rollinsville, Colorado|Tolland, Colorado}}

The road up the pass on the eastern side from the Peak to Peak Highway (State Highway 119) begins at the East Portal road running west, parallel to South Boulder Creek and the current Union Pacific Railroad tracks, to the East Portal of the Moffat Tunnel, and then rises on the abandoned railroad grade from Giant's Ladder to the closed Needle's Eye Tunnel. From Rollinsville to East Portal, the road is an all-weather gravel road, with several chattery washboard sections, that can be traveled by regular automobiles. However, beginning at East Portal, at the formal start of Rollins Pass road (Forest Service Road 117), the road prism becomes very rough due to sustained sections of angular cobbles and potholes, the latter being several feet in size. The road has a level 2 road maintenance status described as "assigned to roads open for use by high-clearance vehicles" that includes the following attributes: "surface smoothness is not a consideration" and is "not suitable for passenger cars."{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.fed.us/eng/pubs/pdf/05771205.pdf |title=RdGuideResized.indd |access-date=2018-07-30}}{{Cite web|url=https://data.colorado.gov/Transportation/Local-Roads-in-Colorado/qvrk-xsmj|title=Local Roads in Colorado | Colorado Information Marketplace |website=Data.colorado.gov|access-date=February 1, 2022}}{{cite web|url=https://www.slideshare.net/COHVCO/rollins-pass|title=Rollins Pass Road: Public Input Boulder County Public Hearing – Febru ...|website=Slideshare.net|date=February 25, 2014 }}

This former railroad bed is open for {{convert|11.7|miles}}; two miles past Jenny Lake, there is a concrete-filled steel road gate with large rocks and Jersey barriers approximately one half-mile before Needle's Eye Tunnel.{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.fed.us/eng/pubs/pdf/06231201.pdf |title=Data |website=Fs.usda.gov }} A rough trail continues around either side of the tunnel for non-motorized transportation; the road is open for hiking and mountain biking beyond the barricaded portal of the tunnel toward the summit. No motorized route connects across the Continental Divide.

A majority of the lower portion of the east side of the pass is posted private property with no trespassing off either side of the road as the properties belong to or are part of a conservation easement, Tolland Ranch, LLC{{cite web|url=https://www.conservationfund.org/news/press-releases/684-conservation-easement-permanently-protects-largest-private-property-in-south-boulder-creek-watershed|title=Conservation Easement Permanently Protects Largest Private Property In South Boulder Creek Watershed|website=The Conservation Fund|access-date=March 28, 2019|archive-date=March 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328205459/https://www.conservationfund.org/news/press-releases/684-conservation-easement-permanently-protects-largest-private-property-in-south-boulder-creek-watershed|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bouldercounty.org/open-space/management/tolland-ranch-trail/|title=Tolland Ranch Trail Planning|website=bouldercounty.org}}{{cite web|url=https://assets.bouldercounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/tolland-ranch-trail-presentation.pdf|title=Tolland Ranch Trail|website=Assets.bouldercounty.org|access-date=2022-02-01|archive-date=March 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328205535/https://assets.bouldercounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/tolland-ranch-trail-presentation.pdf|url-status=dead}} and the Zarlengo Family Partnership, LLP as well as smaller land segments belonging to other entities.{{cite web|url=https://maperture.digitaldataservices.com/gvh/?viewer=gilpin&run|title=Geocortex Viewer for HTML5|website=Maperture.digitaldataservices.com}} Shortly before the Spruce Wye, the land ownership transitions back to the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest where it remains uninterrupted up to and including the summit and surrounding areas.

The road up the pass (County Road 80) on the western side from Winter Park starts from U.S. Highway 40 in Winter Park and has several sections of angular cobbles and potholes of varying dimensions, some several feet in size. The road has a level 2 road maintenance status described as "assigned to roads open for use by high-clearance vehicles" that includes the following attributes: "surface smoothness is not a consideration" and is "not suitable for passenger cars."

The road is open for {{convert|14.4|mi}} and terminates at the summit's parking area. Exactly {{convert|0.15|mi|m}} before reaching the summit, capable vehicles can turn right onto County Road 80 and continue via Forest Service Road 501.1—this rough road rises above and bypasses the summit for another {{convert|1.8|mi}} before dead-ending overhead Yankee Doodle Lake at Guinn Mountain. No motorized route connects across the Continental Divide.

The entrance to and lower portion of Rollins Pass is owned by the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest; after roughly {{convert|1.65|miles}}, the land transitions to private property belonging to Arrowhead Winter Park Investors, LLC and the Denver, City & County Board of Water Commissioners, known more commonly as Denver Water.{{cite web|url=http://gcgeo.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=19227102adf34489bb7311fc1ddb39f0&marker=-105.76212486572271,39.916024376983295,,,,&markertemplate=%7B%22title%22:%22158734200057%22,%22longitude%22:-105.76212486572271,%22latitude%22:39.916024376983295,%22isIncludeShareUrl%22:true%7D&level=17|title=ArcGIS Web Application|website=gcgeo.maps.arcgis.com}}[https://www.skyhinews.com/news/winter-park-identifies-property-for-potential-annexation/ "Winter Park identifies property for potential annexation"]. skyhinews.com. Shortly after the ghost town of Arrow and several miles before the Ranch Creek Wye, the land ownership transitions back to the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest where it remains uninterrupted up to and including the summit and surrounding areas.

• Winter: Guided winter snowmobile tours follow much of the summer road from Arrow and terminate shortly after Sunnyside at Ptarmigan Point (located further uphill and past the Riflesight Notch trestle). Winter tours "top out at nearly 12,000 feet"{{cite web|url=https://www.grandadventures.com/snowmobiling/|title=Snowmobiling Colorado {{!}} Snowmobile Rentals Colorado|website=Grandadventures.com|access-date=23 April 2018}} but do not go higher than Ptarmigan Point and do not reach the summit at 11,676.79 feet.
• Summer: Guided summer off-road (off-pavement) tours are also conducted on the west side of Rollins Pass; however, all tours are conducted on-road using off-road capable vehicles and any off-roading is strictly prohibited.{{cite web|url=https://www.grandadventures.com/sidebyside/|title=Off Road Side by Side ATV tours|website=Grandadventures.com|access-date=13 August 2018}}

Due to hairpin turns, steep terrain, and inclement weather, there have been several incidents{{cite web|url=http://www.curbsideclassic.com/auto-biography/autobiography-near-death-experience-on-rollins-pass/&num=1|title=Autobiography: Jeep Near-Death Experience on Rollins Pass|website=www.curbsideclassic.com}} and accidents, some fatal on or near the Rollins Pass road:

• On Tuesday, March 19, 1968, a young hiker was rescued near the Riflesight Notch trestle after hiking from East Portal to Winter Park without snowshoes, skis, or adequate clothing.{{Cite web|url=https://www.skyhinews.com/news/this-week-in-local-history-young-hiker-rescued-from-dangerous-winter-hike-over-rollins-pass/|title=This week in local history: Young hiker rescued from dangerous winter hike over Rollins Pass|website=Syhinews.com|date=March 23, 2018 |access-date=February 1, 2022}}
• On Wednesday, July 18, 2012, a woman was injured after losing her footing and sliding {{cvt|200|ft}} down a snowfield where she crashed into rocks at the bottom of the slope. The injured woman was taken via a Flight for Life helicopter to Denver.{{Cite web|url=https://www.skyhinews.com/news/grand-county-search-and-rescue-plucks-woman-from-snowfield-helps-transport-injured-horse-rider/|title=Grand County Search and Rescue plucks woman from snowfield, helps transport injured horse rider|website=Skyhinews.com|date=July 19, 2012 |access-date=February 1, 2022}}
• On Sunday, February 4, 2018, a backcountry skier fell, sustained multiple injuries—including broken bones, and became unconscious. His friend was able to phone for emergency services but a helicopter could not land due to {{cvt|70|mph}} winds and blowing snow. Rescuers could not arrive until 10 hours later.{{cite web|url=https://www.weeklyregistercall.com/2018/02/15/injured-skier-rescued-on-rollins-pass/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180224194134/http://weeklyregistercall.com/2018/02/15/injured-skier-rescued-on-rollins-pass/|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 24, 2018|title=Injured skier rescued on Rollins Pass – The Weekly Register-Call|website=Weeklyregistercall.com|date=May 20, 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://www.denverpost.com/2018/02/04/boulder-backcountry-skier-rescue/|title=Rescuers climb into high country west of Boulder, save injured skier|date=February 5, 2018}}{{cite web|url=http://themtnear.com/2018/04/risky-rescue-ends-well/|title=Risky rescue ends well|website=Themtnear.com|date=April 2, 2018|access-date=July 18, 2018|archive-date=July 18, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718234644/http://themtnear.com/2018/04/risky-rescue-ends-well/|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.alpinerescueteam.org/2018/02/2018-03-team-paged-code-3-injured-back-country-skier-off-rollins-pass-gilpin-county/|title=2018-03 Team paged code 3 for injured back country skier off Rollins Pass in Gilpin County|website=Alpinerescueteam.org|date=February 4, 2018|access-date=July 18, 2018|archive-date=July 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180719024322/http://www.alpinerescueteam.org/2018/02/2018-03-team-paged-code-3-injured-back-country-skier-off-rollins-pass-gilpin-county/|url-status=dead}}
• On Saturday, August 4, 2018, a backcountry skier fell approximately {{cvt|300|ft}} down Skyscraper Glacier on Rollins Pass, impacted rocks, and became unconscious. Search and rescue services were mobilized and the 23-year-old skier was able to hike back to the summit.{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/GCSAR/posts/1859640150748405 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/facebook/199390846773352/1859640150748405 |archive-date=2022-02-26 |url-access=limited|title=Grand County Search and Rescue|website=Facebook.com}}{{cbignore}}
• On Saturday, July 18, 2020, a backcountry hiker fell approximately 300 feet down a scree slope on Rollins Pass, near Needle's Eye Tunnel, sustained serious injuries, and was found to be unconscious and unresponsive. Search and rescue services were mobilized and the 57-year-old hiker was airlifted to Denver.{{Cite web|url=https://www.outtherecolorado.com/news/57-year-old-woman-takes-300-foot-fall-in-colorado/article_f6b75ae0-caa0-11ea-b278-a70b4d541395.html|title = 57-year-old woman takes 300 foot fall in Colorado|website=Outtherecolorado.com| date=July 20, 2020 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailycamera.com/2020/07/18/boulder-county-sheriffs-office-actively-working-to-rescue-woman-who-fell-in-rollins-pass/|title = Boulder County Sheriff's Office actively working to rescue woman who fell in Rollins Pass|website=Dailycamera.com|date = July 18, 2020}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.broomfieldenterprise.com/2020/07/19/broomfield-woman-falls-300-feet-airlifted-from-needles-eye/|title = Broomfield woman falls 300 feet, airlifted from Needle's Eye|website=Broomfielfenterprise.com|date = July 20, 2020}}{{Cite web|url=https://denver.cbslocal.com/2020/07/19/boulder-rollins-pass-grand-county-tunnel-hiker-injured/|title = Injured Hiker Flown from Rollins Pass After 300-Foot Fall|website=Denver.cbslocal.com|date = July 19, 2020}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.skyhinews.com/news/grand-county-police-blotter-july-13-19/|title = Grand County police blotter, July 13–19: Crews help facilitate helicopter rescue on Rollins Pass|website=Skyhinews.com| date=July 23, 2020 }}{{cite web |url=https://themtnear.com/2020/07/local-agencies-assist-in-rescue-on-rollins-pass/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115035515/https://themtnear.com/2020/07/local-agencies-assist-in-rescue-on-rollins-pass/ |archive-date=January 15, 2021 |title=Local agencies assist in rescue on Rollins Pass – The Mountain-Ear}}
• On Monday, September 7, 2020, a 17-year-old backcountry skier fell while backcountry skiing on Skyscraper Glacier and smashed into rocks, resulting in a head laceration. Three flights were made over the course of the seven hour rescue and the rescue involved the following agencies: Boulder County Sheriff's Office, American Medical Response, Nederland Fire Department, Timberline Fire Department, Rocky Mountain Rescue Group, Grand County Search and Rescue, Flight For Life Colorado, Colorado Army National Guard, and the Colorado Search and Rescue Association.{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailycamera.com/2020/09/08/teen-rescued-monday-after-sustaining-injuries-while-skiing-in-indian-peaks-wilderness/|title = Teen rescued Monday after suffering injuries while skiing in Indian Peaks Wilderness|website=Dailycamera.com|date = September 8, 2020}}{{Cite web|url=https://gazette.com/news/teen-skier-airlifted-with-serious-injuries-after-fall-in-september-outing/article_3dae549c-f217-11ea-a518-1f1933be6d00.html|title = Teen skier airlifted from Colorado peak after fall in September outing|website=Gazette.com| date=September 8, 2020 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.bouldercounty.org/news/injured-skier-rescued-from-skyscraper-glacier/|title=Injured skier rescued from Skyscraper Glacier|website=Bouldercounty.org|access-date=February 1, 2022}}
• On Sunday, February 21, 2021, a 47-year-old woman became lost while snowshoeing on Jenny Creek Trail towards Yankee Doodle Lake. Fifteen different search and rescue agencies were involved with her rescue, including: Boulder County Sheriff's Office, Rocky Mountain Rescue Group, Front Range Rescue Dogs, Boulder Emergency Squad, Eldora Ski Patrol, City of Boulder Water Utilities Department, U.S. Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, American Medical Response, Colorado Search and Rescue, Nederland Fire Protection District, Northern Colorado Med Evac, Flight for Life Colorado, Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control, Regional Transportation District and Alpine Rescue Team.{{Cite web|url=https://www.outtherecolorado.com/news/woman-found-with-serious-injuries-after-snowshoeing-trip-goes-wrong-in-colorado/article_ddfdda4c-75f9-11eb-aea6-c7d9f9b4cd45.html|title = Woman found with serious injuries after snowshoeing trip goes wrong in Colorado|website=Outtherecolorado.com| date=February 23, 2021 }}

• In the winter of 2001–2002, a search and rescue effort to extricate men with 'severe hypothermia' ended with a snowmobile wreck near Corona Lake. The wreck resulted in one man's thigh becoming broken in six places.{{cite web|url=http://www.moffatroad.org/RPRA/rpra_images/RollinsPass_NL_April_2002.pdf|title=Rollins Pass : The Dream Keeper|date=April 2002|website=Moffatroad.org|access-date=2022-02-01|archive-date=November 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191124153210/http://www.moffatroad.org/RPRA/rpra_images/RollinsPass_NL_April_2002.pdf|url-status=dead}}
• On Saturday, August 23, 2003, a car illegally off-roaded on the Riflesight Notch Loop and required towing. The driver was fined $500.{{cite web|url=http://www.moffatroad.org/RPRA/rpra_images/RollinsPass_NL_September_2003.pdf|title=Rollins Pass : The Dream Keeper|date=September 2003|website=Moffatroad.org|access-date=2022-02-01|archive-date=November 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191124154933/http://www.moffatroad.org/RPRA/rpra_images/RollinsPass_NL_September_2003.pdf|url-status=dead}}
• On Saturday, October 8, 2011, a car crashed into the South Boulder Creek off of Rollins Pass road, the driver was pronounced dead at the scene and the passenger was taken to the hospital.{{cite web|url=https://denver.cbslocal.com/2011/10/09/car-crashes-into-creek-near-rollins-pass-killing-passenger|title=Car Crashes Into Creek Near Rollins Pass, Killing Passenger|website=Denver.cbslocal.com|date=October 9, 2011}}
• On Monday, February 18, 2013, a snowmobiler on the west side of Rollins Pass, lost control of his machine on a groomed trail and struck a tree where he was pronounced dead by search and rescue services.{{cite web|url=http://www.jocosarblog.org/jocosarblog/2013/02/co-search-and-rescue-recovers-body-of-snowmobiler-near-corona-pass.html|title=CO: Search and Rescue recovers body of snowmobiler near Corona Pass|website=Jocosarblog.org|access-date=July 16, 2018|archive-date=July 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716194709/http://www.jocosarblog.org/jocosarblog/2013/02/co-search-and-rescue-recovers-body-of-snowmobiler-near-corona-pass.html|url-status=dead}}
• On Sunday, August 16, 2015, two girls—ages 11 and 12—were driving ATVs underage, went over a {{convert|150|ft|adj=on}} cliff on Rollins Pass road; requiring the services of both an ambulance and a medical evacuation by helicopter.{{cite web|url=http://themtnear.com/2015/08/motorcycle-atv-accidents-keep-responders-busy/|title=Motorcycle, ATV accidents keep responders busy|website=Themtnear.com|date=August 18, 2015|access-date=July 9, 2018|archive-date=July 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709185506/http://themtnear.com/2015/08/motorcycle-atv-accidents-keep-responders-busy/|url-status=dead}}{{cite web |url=https://i2.wp.com/themtnear.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/rollins-pass-rescue.jpg |title=Rollins pass rescue |date=2015 |website=I2.wp.com |format=JPG |access-date=July 9, 2018 |archive-date=June 30, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200630223413/https://i2.wp.com/themtnear.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/rollins-pass-rescue.jpg |url-status=dead }}
• On Saturday, May 5, 2018, search and rescue services were called for an ATV rollover accident on the east side of Rollins Pass.{{cite web|url=http://www.alpinerescueteam.org/2018/05/2018-25-team-paged-code-3-subject-injured-atv-rollover-off-rollins-pass-rd/|title=2018–25 Team paged code 3 for subject injured in an ATV rollover off Rollins Pass Rd|website=Alpinerescueteam.org|date=May 5, 2018|access-date=July 18, 2018|archive-date=July 18, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718234550/http://www.alpinerescueteam.org/2018/05/2018-25-team-paged-code-3-subject-injured-atv-rollover-off-rollins-pass-rd/|url-status=dead}}
• On Saturday, August 17, 2019, sheriffs responded to a motorcycle crash on the east side of Rollins Pass; the driver was transported to the hospital.{{cite web |url=https://themtnear.com/2019/12/gilpin-county-sheriffs-report-august-2/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191205114229/https://themtnear.com/2019/12/gilpin-county-sheriffs-report-august-2/ |archive-date=December 5, 2019 |title=Gilpin County Sheriff's Report August – The Mountain-Ear}}
• On Sunday, July 9, 2023, a motorcyclist had an accident resulting in a severe concussion. The party called for search and rescue services, resulting in 10 individuals on ATVs and a rescue helicopter, however the injured party left the scene.{{cite web | url=https://www.skyhinews.com/news/motorcycle-and-bicycle-accidents-injure-riders-sunday/ | title=Motorcycle and bicycle accidents injure riders Sunday | date=July 13, 2023 }}{{Cite web | title=SAR Attempting to locate a concussed motorbiker {{!}} Yesterday on Rollins Pass, we met a friendly group of dirt bikers who had someone in their party with a severe concussion near the east terminus of 501.1... {{!}} By Preserve Rollins Pass | url=https://www.facebook.com/preserverollinspass/videos/308723841488471/ | access-date=2025-02-26 | website=www.facebook.com}}
• On Thursday, August 10, 2023, a motorcyclist crashed and broke his leg on the east side of Rollins Pass. The rescue took approximately three hours and the rider was transported by helicopter. The following agencies participated: Alpine Rescue Team, Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, Flight for Life, Gilpin Ambulance, Grand County Search and Rescue, and Timberline Fire Protection District.{{cite web | url=https://bouldercounty.gov/news/injury-motorcycle-accident/ | title=Injury Motorcycle Accident }}{{cite web | url=https://www.dailycamera.com/2023/08/11/motorcyclist-breaks-leg-in-crash-west-of-nederland/ | title=Motorcyclist breaks leg in crash west of Nederland | date=August 11, 2023 }}
• Week of January 1, 2024, two snowmobile wrecks occurred mid-mountain on Rollins Pass, where a 5-year-old girl and a 47-year-old woman "sustained significant traumatic injuries." First responders remarked this was the second accident at the location within a week.{{Cite web | title=First responders rescue 5-year-old child, adult in snowmobile accident {{!}} SummitDaily.com | url=https://www.summitdaily.com/news/first-responders-rescue-5-year-old-child-adult-in-snowmobile-accident/ | access-date=2025-02-26 | website=www.summitdaily.com| date=January 8, 2024 }}
• There are several motor vehicles that have wrecked on Rollins Pass; yet these instances appear to have been done deliberately as no news articles seem to be associated with these wrecks. Four wrecks are still visible on the east side of Rollins Pass—one car and one snowmobile on the first leg of Giant's Ladder near the start of the Rollins Pass road; one car near Guinn Mountain closer to the summit; and one ATV directly off the summit, downslope from the old pergola, on the eastern side of the Continental Divide (recovered in mid-September 2018). On the west side of the pass, a wrecked snowmobile can still be found at the southern slopes of Mount Epworth near the shores of Deadman's Lake.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV0XTQIuhJo|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230512091542/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV0XTQIuhJo|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 12, 2023|title=We explore a car wreck near Moffat tunnel near Rollinsville, CO|last=Craig|date=July 24, 2017|via=YouTube}}

The complete pass is open and accessible for snowshoeing, fatbiking, backcountry skiing, and cross-country skiing in the winter and to hikers, bicyclists (including those on tandems{{Cite web|url=https://chasingmailboxes.com/2014/07/18/rollins-pass-on-tandem/|title=CO Tour Day 11: Rollins Pass on Tandem|website=Chasingmailboxes.com|date=July 18, 2014}} and unicyclists{{Cite web|url=https://www.strava.com/activities/1734179620|title = Unipacking Rollins Pass Day 2 - Dylan Canfield (Unicycle)'s 21.4 mi mountain bike ride|website=Strava.com| date=July 28, 2018 }}), and horseback riders in the summer.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=RCS19070531.2.12&srpos=2&e "Routt County Sentinel May 31, 1907 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.{{Cite web|url=https://www.skyhinews.com/news/sports-outdoors/sanders-riding-rollins-pass/|title=Sanders: Riding Rollins Pass|first=Keith|last=Sanders|website=Skyhinews.com|date=July 28, 2016 |access-date=February 1, 2022}}{{cite web|url=http://chadgibbons.com/tag/fat-bike/|title=fat bike – Chad Gibbons' Blog|website=chadgibbons.com|access-date=July 16, 2018|archive-date=July 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716200347/http://chadgibbons.com/tag/fat-bike/|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://www.denverpost.com/2018/07/05/colorado-summer-skiing-kiszla/|title=Kiszla: Never summer. Forever young. Skis on his back, 71-year-old man climbs Mount Epworth in Crocs to keep streak alive.|date=July 6, 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/generalinfo/arp/recreation/generalinfo/?groupid=30627&recid=28586 |title=Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests Pawnee National Grassland – Rollins Pass Trailhead |publisher=Fs.usda.gov |access-date=2018-07-30}}{{cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/skier-finds-crash-survivors/|title=Skier Finds Crash Survivors|website=CBS News|date=December 31, 1998 }}{{cite web|url=http://longranger.justinsimoni.com/2012/06/01/threading_the_eye_of_the_needle_rollins_pass_trail_ridge_road/|title=Twice Threading the Eye of the Needle: Rollins Pass, Trail Ridge Road|date=June 1, 2012}} For the past {{age|1990|7|15}} years—since July 1990—no motorized route connects across the Continental Divide, effectively making each side a dead-end uphill route that must be traveled again, downhill, to leave the pass.

Image:Needle's Eye Tunnel on Rollins Pass - June 2018.jpg and metal dowels were installed in August 1987 to help reduce additional rock falls and preserve the condition of the tunnel constructed in {{Start date and age|1903|paren=yes}}. |2018 photograph of Needle's Eye Tunnel, near the summit of Rollins Pass. This view shows the northeast portal in the foreground; the southwest portal can be seen in the background. Wire mesh and metal dowels were installed in August 1987 to help reduce additional rock falls and preserve the condition of the tunnel constructed in {{Start date and age|1903|paren=yes}}.]]

For visitors in or on motor vehicles wishing to access and retrace the historic wagon route over the pass (from east to west), there are numerous closures, some permanent, and no motorized route connects over the Continental Divide at Rollins Pass:

• Near Rollinsville, the Jenny Creek motorized trail follows the historic wagon road on National Forest System Road (NFSR) Route Number 502.1 that connects with NFSR 808.1 terminating near Yankee Doodle Lake.{{Cite web|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/arp/news-events/?cid=STELPRD3812346|title=Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests Pawnee National Grassland - News & Events|website=Fs.usda.gov|access-date=February 1, 2022}}{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprd3812279.pdf|title=Exhibit A - Closure Order No. ARP-BRD-2014-03|website=Fs.usda.gov|access-date=2022-02-01}}
• The wagon road becomes NFSR 501 at Yankee Doodle Lake and while this route can be hiked, it has a permanent closure for motorized vehicles of any type and several switchbacks on the steeper parts of this route are within the Indian Peaks Wilderness boundaries.{{Cite web|url=https://umontana.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=a415bca07f0a4bee9f0e894b0db5c3b6&marker=-105.65670803970309%2C39.94110519214774%2C%2C%2C%2C&markertemplate=%7B%22title%22%3A%22Indian%20Peaks%20Wilderness%22%2C%22longitude%22%3A-105.65670803970309%2C%22latitude%22%3A39.94110519214774%2C%22isIncludeShareUrl%22%3Atrue%7D&level=18|title = ArcGIS Web Application|website=Umontana.maps.arcgis.com}}{{cite web|url=https://www.wilderness.net/GIS/Colorado_Wildernesses.kmz|title=Google Earth Pro Mapping|website=Wilderness.net|access-date=2022-02-01}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/arp/recreation/?cid=stelprdb5339508|title=Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests Pawnee National Grassland - Recreation|website=Fs.usda.gov|access-date=February 1, 2022}} This area is monitored for violations.{{Cite web|url=https://denver.cbslocal.com/video/4136174-drone-video-captures-dirt-bikers-on-rollins-pass/|title=Drone Video Captures Dirt Bikers On Rollins Pass|website=Denver.cbslocal.com|access-date=February 1, 2022}}
• NFSR 501 connects above Guinn Mountain and becomes NFSR 501.1, which is {{convert|1.8|mi}}long and connects to NFSR 149, near the summit of Rollins Pass.
• Near this point, the historic wagon route can only be followed on foot into Middle Park.

For visitors in or on motor vehicles wishing to access and retrace the old railroad line,{{Cite web|url=https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1Q91IBeZLh916Q5auDaQ9-x25vh0|title=Abandoned & Out-of-Service Railroad Lines|website=Google My Maps}} the majority of the railroad route or right-of-way over the pass is open and intact with several exceptions, detailed below, and no motorized route connects over the Continental Divide at Rollins Pass:{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5162302.pdf|title=MOTOR VEHICLE TRAVEL AND DEVELOPED TRAIL RESTRICTIONS : ARAPAHO & ROOSEVELT NATIONAL FORESTS AND PAWNEE NATIONAL GRASSLAND|website=Fs.usda.gov|access-date=2022-02-01}}{{cite web|url=http://www.zyster.net/maps/arnfs/south/index.html|title=2012 Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests Visitor Information Map [South Half]|website=Zyster.net|access-date=June 5, 2018|archive-date=May 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180521022747/http://www.zyster.net/maps/arnfs/south/index.html|url-status=dead}}

• Some of the railroad trestles have deteriorated (at Riflesight Notch), have been destroyed (trestle #72.83 on the west side, by the FAA [then the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA)] in 1953),{{rp|83}} or have been dismantled (trestles #51.00 and #54.48 on the east side).[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=STP19370923.2.70&srpos=6&e "Steamboat Pilot September 23, 1937 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. Per the current Motor Vehicle Use Maps, all extant trestles on the pass are closed to any form of motorized traffic, including motorcycles.
• Two railroad tunnels on Rollins Pass are completely caved-in: Tunnel #31 (the tunnel at Ladora) and Tunnel #33 (the Loop Tunnel at Riflesight Notch).{{Cite web |url=http://www.daeunert.com/Mile-By-Mile/Rollins-Pass/rollins-pass.html |title=Rollins Pass |access-date=May 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180524082141/http://www.daeunert.com/Mile-By-Mile/Rollins-Pass/rollins-pass.html |archive-date=May 24, 2018 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}
• Closures also include sections leading to Tunnel #32, Needle's Eye Tunnel—a {{convert|170|foot|m|adj=mid|-long}}{{rp|120}} high-altitude railroad tunnel constructed in 1903 and used through 1928. Surveyors looking to establish the automobile route over the pass in 1949 found, and cleared, considerable rockfalls at the northeast portal of the tunnel. The tunnel was open to automobiles, as part of the thoroughfare over the pass, from 1956–1979 for seasonal and inessential purposes. In 1979, the tunnel was closed due to rock falls at the northeast portal; following a geologic engineering study in 1981, a Mine Safety and Health Administration study in 1985, engineering design work in 1986, and repair work in August 1987,{{cite web|url=https://www.gettyimages.com/license/161877182|title=8-1987; Rollins Pass Road; Needles Eye Tunnel {{as written|restr|ation; [sic]}} |date=February 15, 2013 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.historycolorado.org/stephen-h-hart-awards-historic-preservation-1986-1999|title = Stephen H. Hart Awards for Historic Preservation 1986-1999 | History Colorado}} the tunnel was re-opened in 1989.{{rp|10}}{{cite book|title=Needle's Eye Tunnel opening ceremony|date=July 30, 1989|isbn=9780816511105|oclc = 427374903|last1=Zwinger|first1=Ann|last2=Willard|first2=Beatrice E.|publisher=University of Arizona Press }}{{Cite web|url=https://localhistory.boulderlibrary.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A14234?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=3e5a2c4e794021c78d0d&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=0|title=Needle's Eye Tunnel opening ceremony 1989|website=Localhistory.boulderlibrary.org|access-date=2022-02-01}} The following year, in July 1990, several thousand pounds of rock fell from the crown of the tunnel, injuring a United States Navy veteran and Denver firefighter resulting in a below-knee amputation.{{cite web |url=http://dbeasy.net/CindyCharltonSpeaks/pdfs/Fall2005_Newsletter.pdf |title=Fall newsletter |date=2005 |website=Dbeasy.net |access-date=August 9, 2013 |archive-date=December 23, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223083256/http://dbeasy.net/CindyCharltonSpeaks/pdfs/Fall2005_Newsletter.pdf |url-status=dead }}{{rp|10}}{{cite news|title=Passed by|last=Hughes|first=Trevor|date=September 17, 2003|work=Louisville Times}}{{cite web|url=https://www.gettyimages.com/license/837878578|title=Airlife and rescue workers assist victim of Needles Eye Tunnel|website=Gettyimages.com|date=August 23, 2017 }} Since then, the tunnel was sealed by Boulder County officials along with the United States Forest Service and sizable rockfalls continue to occur at the northeast portal, southwest portal, and center of the tunnel from both the crown and shoulder of the structure.{{rp|120}}Christoph Goss, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE; Don W. Deere, P.E., M.ASCE, Needle's Eye Tunnel Repair Feasibility Study, 2014 Biennial Rocky Mountain Geo-Conference, November 7, 2014; Lakewood, Colorado In November 1990, the post-accident engineering report, by independent geotechnical consultant Ronald E. Heuer, PhD, cited restoration errors and faulty work: design specifications were not consistently followed, rock bolts were incorrectly spaced, and gravity along with seasonal temperature variations were also listed as factors in the accident."Restoration errors led to tunnel collapse – Faulty work caused rock fall, report says". The Denver Post. November 10, 1990.{{cite web|url=https://www.themoles.net/media/aboutUs/awards/press/RonaldEHeuer.pdf|title=Ronald E. Heuer|website=Themoles.net|access-date=2022-02-01|archive-date=August 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802233513/https://www.themoles.net/media/aboutUs/awards/press/RonaldEHeuer.pdf|url-status=dead}}

Several trails on Rollins Pass are adopted.{{cite web |url=https://staythetrail.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=266593&module_id=234668 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180509150816/http://staythetrail.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=266593&module_id=234668 |archive-date=May 9, 2018 |title=WTG: East Rollins Pass - Stay The Trail}}{{Cite web|url=https://risingsun4x4club.org/xf/threads/rollins-pass-jenny-creek-report-5-25-06.1473/|title = Rollins Pass - Jenny Creek report 5/25/06|website=Risingsun4x4club.org| date=May 26, 2006 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.playwinterpark.com/sites/default/master/files/HikingTrailsMapSouth_11x17_100714.pdf|title=Arapaho National Forest Hiking Trails Map|website=Playwinterpark.com|access-date=2022-02-01|archive-date=August 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190828191510/https://www.playwinterpark.com/sites/default/master/files/HikingTrailsMapSouth_11x17_100714.pdf|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3D2117460814960594%26id%3D116456708394358|title=Headwaters Trails Alliance|website=Facebook.com|access-date=2022-02-01}}

• East: NFSR 502 & NFSR 808 (Jenny Creek Trail and spurs), Rising Sun 4 Wheel Drive Club of Colorado
• West: N76 (Riflesight Notch Trail), authors of Rollins Pass

In 2002, the James Peak Wilderness and Protection Area Act (Public Law 107-216) was passed by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush. The act amended the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993Skaggs, David E. (August 13, 1993). [https://www.congress.gov/bill/103rd-congress/house-bill/631 "H.R.631 – 103rd Congress (1993–1994): Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993"]. Congress.gov. and designated lands within both the Arapaho National Forest and the Roosevelt National Forest as the James Peak Wilderness area and added lands to the Indian Peaks Wilderness, establishing these lands as federally protected territory. The act contained an administrative provision:

If requested by one or more of the Colorado Counties of Grand, Gilpin, and Boulder, the Secretary shall provide technical assistance and otherwise cooperate with respect to repairing the Rollins Pass road in those counties sufficiently to allow two-wheel-drive vehicles to travel between Colorado State Highway 119 and U.S. Highway 40. If this road is repaired to such extent, the Secretary shall close the motorized roads and trails on Forest Service land indicated on the map entitled 'Rollins Pass Road Reopening: Attendant Road and Trail Closures', dated September 2001.{{cite web|url=https://www.congress.gov/107/plaws/publ216/PLAW-107publ216.pdf |title=Data |website=Congress.gov }}

Historically, both Gilpin and Grand counties have requested to re-open the road; however, Gilpin County has publicly withdrawn their support and opposes re-opening the thoroughfare over the pass, along with Boulder County.[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=LVT20060712-01.2.49&srpos=3&e "Louisville Times July 12, 2006 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.{{cite web|url=https://www.weeklyregistercall.com/2018/01/11/gilpin-commissioners-make-2018-appointments/|title=Gilpin Commissioners make 2018 appointments – The Weekly Register-Call|website=Weeklyregistercall.com|access-date=October 19, 2018|archive-date=October 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181020013017/https://www.weeklyregistercall.com/2018/01/11/gilpin-commissioners-make-2018-appointments/|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://www.skyhinews.com/news/a-mountain-of-an-issue-local-officials-push-for-reopening-of-needles-eye-tunnel-providing-a-second-thoroughfare-over-the-continental-divide/|title=A mountain of an issue: Local officials push for reopening of Needles Eye Tunnel, providing a second thoroughfare over the Continental Divide|website=Skyhinews.com|date=October 19, 2018 }}

To date, only minor repairs (mostly washout repairs) have been made. The difficulties and expenses of making improvements to the road, including coordination of maintenance and re-introduced liabilities—coupled with intractable disputes surrounding the 1990 accident in the tunnel, have become contentious and ongoing issues; however, alternative routes utilizing the Moffat Tunnel have been proposed.{{cite web|url=http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-county-news/ci_25148824/rollins-pass-road-reopening-remains-controversial-24-years|title=Rollins Pass Road reopening remains controversial 24 years later|website=Dailycamera.com|date=February 14, 2014}}{{cite web|url=https://www.skyhinews.com/news/rollins-pass-hearing-does-little-to-bridge-divide/|title=Rollins Pass hearing does little to bridge divide|website=Skyhinews.com|date=February 26, 2014 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.skyhinews.com/news/a-treacherous-trail/|title=A treacherous trail: County revisits discussions about reopening Rollins Pass|website=Skyhinews.com|date=January 31, 2020 }}{{cite web |url=https://winterparktimes.com/government/bocc-workshop-on-reopening-rollins-pass-road/ |title = BOCC Workshop on reopening Rollins Pass Road|website=Winterparktimes.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://grandgazette.net/rollins-pass-a-rich-history-and-a-perpetual-question-to-reopen-or-not/|title=Rollins Pass: A rich history and a perpetual question to reopen or not|website=Graqndgazettte.net|date=January 30, 2020|access-date=February 3, 2020|archive-date=February 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200203213752/https://grandgazette.net/rollins-pass-a-rich-history-and-a-perpetual-question-to-reopen-or-not/|url-status=dead}}

A proposed land exchange in 2020-2021 between the US Forest Service and a private developer was halted by historic preservation professionals and advocacy groups.{{Cite web|url=https://www.coloradowildpubliclands.org/pdf/COWPL-Spring-and-Annual-Report-2022.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20221216152504/https://www.coloradowildpubliclands.org/pdf/COWPL-Spring-and-Annual-Report-2022.pdf|url-status=dead |title=Keep It Open, Keep It Ours|archivedate=December 16, 2022|website=www.coloradowildpubliclands.org}}{{Cite web | title=Land Exchanges - Preserve Rollins Pass | url=https://www.preserverollinspass.org/take-action/land-exchanges/ | access-date=2025-02-26 | website=www.preserverollinspass.org}} The proposal would have seen the "literal entrance to the western portion of Rollins Pass [...] become an entrance to a private development."{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMwkKFZMGh4 | title=2022 Dana Crawford & Alpine Bank State Honor Award - B. Travis Wright | website=YouTube | date=June 18, 2022 }} The developer sought to trade between 1,536 and 2,261 acres of land for 543 acres held by the US Forest Service. Rollins Pass holds resources in a National Historic District spanning Grand, Boulder, and Gilpin counties and this land exchange would have damaged the historic district as well.{{cite web | url=https://www.preserverollinspass.org/take-action/#land-exchanges | title=Take Action }} Unfortunately, this project had initial support from local leadership and economic influencers—including multimillion dollar resorts—yet none of their letters of support mentioned Rollins Pass nor its cultural and non-renewable historic resources. Instead, community leaders mirrored the developer in writing to the US Forest Service that the 543 acres "are squarely in the development path and are a logical place for future growth to occur."{{cite web | url=https://grandcountyhistory.org/action/ | title=Take Action | Grand County History }}{{cite web | url=https://winterparktimes.com/government/municipal-beat-fraser-board-of-trustees-3/ | title=Municipal Beat: Fraser Board of Trustees | Winter Park Times }}{{cite web | url=https://issuu.com/winterparktimes/docs/wpt_080720_final_24 | title=August 7, 2020 | Winter Park Times by Winter Park Times - Issuu | date=August 7, 2020 }} This land exchange was discussed in a 2022 book on Rollins Pass:

In recent years, the historic integrity of Rollins Pass has come under new threat from unsympathetic developers longing to build atop soils rich with history that hold panoramic views. Of late, one attempt at a land exchange with the US Forest Service would have transformed the entrance of the western portion of Rollins Pass into an opening, quite literally, for a private development. Advocates rallied on behalf of public lands, and for now, the area remains in public hands. Embarrassingly, continued pro-development aspirations and the failure to see beyond real estate values only reinforces the area's inclusion as one of Colorado's Most Endangered Places.

{{Clear}}

Image:Emergency Landing Zone at the summit of Rollins Pass.jpg of Rollins Pass is visible in this image as the summit itself (in the foreground and midground) is plainly lower in elevation than the surrounding mountains. The wood debris consists of both remnants from snowsheds that covered the tracks as well as discarded railroad ties that were removed from service in the summer of 1936. |An aerial view of the emergency backcountry helicopter landing zone located at the summit of Rollins Pass; the white prong of the landing zone, furthest from the camera, points north. The comparatively low saddle of Rollins Pass is visible in this image as the summit itself (in the foreground and midground) is plainly lower in elevation than the surrounding mountains. The wood debris consists of both remnants from snowsheds that covered the tracks as well as discarded railroad ties that were removed from service in the summer of 1936.]]

The entirety of Rollins Pass currently resides in Class G airspace.{{Cite web|url=https://app.airmap.com/geo?39.922381,-105.664871,12.752757z|title=AirMap Web App|website=app.airmap.com}} Per the FAA Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, "Although ATC has no authority or responsibility to control air traffic, pilots should remember there are visual flight rules (VFR) minimums that apply to Class G airspace."{{cite web|url=https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/phak/media/17_phak_ch15.pdf|title=Chapter 15 : Airspace|website=Faa.gov|access-date=2022-02-01}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/phak/|title=Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge|website=Faa.gov}}

Rollins Pass is traversed by a low altitude enroute airway radial, Victor Eight, the width of the airway is 4 nautical miles on either side of the centerline which skirts the summit of the pass.{{cite web|url=https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/orders_notices/index.cfm/go/document.information/documentID/1031566|title=8260.19H – Flight Procedures and Airspace – Document Information|website=Faa.gov}} Pilots have recommended to avoid the area in bad weather due to extreme downdrafts, mountain waves, and turbulence on the east side of the pass.{{cite web|url=http://www.flycolorado.org/index.php/mountain-passes/pass-routes/rollins-corona-pass/|title=Fly Colorado :: Rollins / Corona Pass|website=Flycolorado.org}}{{cite web|url=http://www.pilotgetaways.com/mag/mj06/crossing-the-continental-divide-part-2|title=Crossing the Continental Divide – Part 2 – Pilot Getaways|date=March 15, 2013|website=Pilotgetaways.com}}

Drone (UAS) flights are permissible in Class G airspace on/over Rollins Pass provided all flights adhere to the FAA's regulations for recreational or commercial drone flights. The one major restriction is that drones cannot take off from, land in, or be operated from congressionally designated wilderness areas.{{cite web|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprd3844690.pdf|title=Recreational Drone Tips|website=Fs.usda.gov|access-date=2022-02-01}} Remote pilots and drone enthusiasts should exercise extreme caution as the enroute airway radial brings fast-moving aircraft within the area, including Flight for Life helicopters, aerial firefighting aircraft, search and rescue helicopters, and high-speed military aircraft; many of which fly below 500 AGL.

A non-illuminated summer emergency backcountry helicopter landing zone exists at the summit, placed sometime between September 1999 and October 2005.{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Rollins+Pass/@39.9335708,-105.6833219,148m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x876bc97c9b13003d:0x31db9f7e2499dd95!8m2!3d39.9341537!4d-105.6827817|title=Rollins Pass|website=Rollins Pass}}

A rotating airway light beacon (Beacon 82 on aeronautical charts), was placed very near the summit of Rollins Pass atop what was then later termed Beacon Peak, in the mid-to-late 1940s at an approximate elevation of {{convert|12080|ft}}.{{cite news|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=EVE19471031-01.2.3&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-fraser+CAA+beacon-------0-|title=Eagle Valley Enterprise|date=October 31, 1947|access-date=July 16, 2018}}{{cite news|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=EVE19471003-01.2.31&srpos=2&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-fraser+CAA+beacon-------0-|title=Eagle Valley Enterprise|date=October 3, 1947|access-date=July 16, 2018}} The glass-domed lighted beacon rotated six times per minute, marking the airway between Los Angeles and Denver, and it held a two-million candlepower electric lamp with a {{convert|24|inch|adj=on}} parabolic reflector.{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=OCT19280927.2.69&srpos=10&e|title=Oak Creek Times September 27, 1928 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}} The beacon was removed in the late-1960s and is currently in storage (not on display) at the Pioneer Village Museum in Hot Sulphur Springs, Colorado; however an {{convert|11|by|9|ft|adj=on}} concrete foundation remains near the top of the peak{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/39%C2%B055'02.7%22N+105%C2%B041'01.0%22W/@39.917413,-105.6841612,210m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d39.917413!4d-105.683614|title=Concrete Pad atop Beacon Peak|website=Concrete Pad atop Beacon Peak}} along with the leg stubs used for the beacon's lattice tower.{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/39%C2%B055'03.9%22N+105%C2%B040'58.2%22W/@39.917755,-105.6833672,232m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d39.9177537!4d-105.6828199|title=Beacon location on Beacon Peak|website=Google.com}}

There have been many documented airplane and helicopter crashes on and near Rollins Pass:

• On Sunday, August 21, 1949, two people were killed instantly when their plane crashed on Rollins Pass.{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19490825.2.79&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-two+bodies+taken+from+plane+crash-------0-|title=Steamboat Pilot August 25, 1949 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}
• On Wednesday, January 6, 1954, a single engine airplane—a Beechcraft C35—with a tail number of N792D, crashed on a shoulder of Guinn Mountain near Yankee Doodle Lake on the east side of Rollins Pass.{{cite web|author= |url=http://planecrashmap.com/plane/co/N792D/ |title=Beech 35 crash in Colorado (N792D) |website=PlaneCrashMap.com |access-date=8 May 2018}}
• On Saturday, March 3, 1962, a Beechcraft 35 with a tail number of N430B, crashed near Rollins Pass close to Jenny Creek.{{cite web|url=https://www.1af.acc.af.mil/Portals/93/documents/afrcc/crash_locator/AFD-100208-033.pdf?ver=2016-02-12-094804-343 |title=Info |website=1af.acc.af.mil}}
• On Tuesday, March 6, 1962, a Bell UH-1 Iroquois military helicopter with a tail number of AF91635, crashed near Rollins Pass close to Jenny Creek.
• On Friday, January 24, 1964, a single engine airplane, with a tail number of N4351N, crashed in turbulent, cloudy, and stormy conditions near the Riflesight Notch Loop on Rollins Pass. One pilot and three passengers of the Cessna 195 were killed on impact and recovery did not occur until August 20 that year.{{cite web|author=NTSB |url=https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=82396&key=0 |title=Unknown |publisher=National Transportation Safety Board |access-date=8 May 2018}}
• On Monday, July 11, 1966, a nonscheduled operation of an Alamo Airways De Havilland 104-6A, with a tail number of N1563V, impacted a mountainside in turbulent, cloudy, and stormy conditions on Rollins Pass. The crash of this dual engine plane occurred upslope of Deadman's Lake, opposite Mount Epworth at the crest of the Continental Divide.{{cite web|url=http://planecrashmap.com/plane/co/N1563V/|title=DH-10(AF)Dehaviland 104-6A(NTSB) crash in Colorado (N1563V) |website=Planecrashmap.com}} Upon impact, the plane did not catch fire, presumably due to low fuel reserves, and was completely disintegrated; recovery efforts salvaged all debris except for the front landing gear as it could not be located. To date, the nose wheel still has not yet been located.{{cite web|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/las-vegas-sun-jul-13-1966-p-7/|title=Las Vegas Sun Newspaper Archives, Jul 13, 1966, p. 7|date=July 13, 1966|website=newspaperarchive.com}}{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/groups/246105815411275/permalink/2052105628144609/?comment_id=2052195608135611¬if_id=1534787440220092¬if_t=group_comment_reply|title=Bruce Florquist|website=Facebook.com}} Two crew and one passenger were killed.{{cite web|author=NTSB |url=https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=68982&key=0 |title=DEN67A0005 |publisher=National Transportation Safety Board |access-date=8 May 2018}}
• On Saturday, January 3, 1970, a Cessna 172 with a tail number of N7104A, crashed into an alpine lake at "11,700 {{sic}} feet" near Rollins Pass, killing both aboard.{{cite web|url=https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=6602|title=Accident Cessna 172 N7104A, 02 Jan 1970|first=Harro|last=Ranter|website=aviation-safety.net}}
• On Tuesday, December 14, 1971, a single engine AT6 trainer crashed near Rollins Pass, killing the pilot.{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19711223-01.2.5&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-baar+dies+in+plane+crash-------0-|title=Steamboat Pilot December 23, 1971 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=6339|title=14ers.com • Trip Report – "Jasper" – one tough 12er|website=14ers.com}}{{cite web|url=http://invertedsky.net/?p=615|title=N160JN « Inverted Sky|website=invertedsky.net|date=August 6, 2011 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=63245&key=0 |title=DEN72AD026 |publisher=Ntsb.gov |access-date=2018-07-30}}
• On Saturday, September 14, 1974, a pilot and his passenger crashed near Rollins Pass.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/don-teets-member-of-rocky-mountain-rescue-team-walks-news-photo/837581766|title = Don Teets, Member of Rocky Mountain Rescue Team, Walks Dejectedly|website=Gettyimages.com| date=August 22, 2017 }}
• A helicopter pilot crashed near the Riflesight Notch Trestle on the western side of Rollins Pass on Friday, July 30, 1982. The pilot was later charged with reckless endangerment.{{cite web | url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=VLT19820917-01.2.69&srpos=10&e=--1980---1988--en-20--1---txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA--------0------ | title=The Vail Trail September 17, 1982 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection }}
• On Wednesday, December 30, 1998, a single engine airplane—a Piper PA-28 Cherokee—made an unplanned forced landing on the east side of Rollins Pass in the midst of extreme wind and low visibility conditions. A cross-country skier was able to phone for a rescue, conducted by snowmobile, of the two passengers and one pilot who were injured; yet all three survived and were released from the hospital that evening.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-dec-31-mn-59362-story.html|title=Skier Saves 3 in Mountain Plane Crash|agency=Associated Press|date=December 31, 1998|via=LA Times}}{{cite web|url=https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/rec.skiing.nordic/f1ti9H2YtTs/CVIZX4xM1jUJ|title=Google Groups|website=groups.google.com}}{{cite web|url=https://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/morgue/news/1999_Jan_6.CRASH.html|title=Menlo pilot, Palo Alto passengers walk away from crash|website=Paloaltoonline.com}}{{cite web|url=https://nypost.com/1999/01/01/courageous-skier-rescues-three-plane-crash-victims/|title=COURAGEOUS SKIER RESCUES THREE PLANE-CRASH VICTIMS|website=Nypost.com|date=January 1, 1999}}
• On Sunday, July 30, 2006, a single engine airplane, with a tail number of N5232X, crashed in clear conditions on Rollins Pass, approximately equidistant from Bob, Betty, and King Lakes.{{cite web|author=NTSB |url=https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20060801X01066&ntsbno=DEN06FA107&akey=1 |title=DEN06FA107: Full Narrative |publisher=National Transportation Safety Board |access-date=8 May 2018}} The two occupants of the 1969 American Champion 7KCAB were killed on impact.{{cite web|url=http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/9599679/detail.html |title=Corona Pass Plane Crash Kills 2, UPDATED: 7:48 am MDT July 31, 2006 |publisher=TheDenverChannel.com |access-date=29 April 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16079coll32/id/92249/rec/50|title=FROM CHANNEL 4 WEBSITE: Rescue crews set up a command post in southwestern Boulder County Sunday in their efforts to reach the scene of a small plane crash in the mountains in which two people died. The single-engine plane crashed during the day on Sunday near Rollins Pass, close to the intersection of the county lines of Boulder, Gilpin and Grand counties. That's close to the Continental Divide. The crash scene was hard to reach by vehicle, according to crews. Members of Grand County's rescue teams were helping Boulder County crews's with the effort. :: Rocky Mountain News|website=digital.denverlibrary.org|access-date=October 5, 2018|archive-date=October 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181005073727/http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16079coll32/id/92249/rec/50|url-status=dead}}
• On Wednesday, August 4, 2010, a single engine airplane, with a tail number of N8974A, crashed in clear conditions on Rollins Pass, near Jenny Creek, southeast of Yankee Doodle Lake. All three occupants of the 1951 Beechcraft C35 airplane were killed on impact.{{cite web |url=https://www.denverpost.com/2010/08/05/no-survivors-in-rollins-pass-plane-crash/ |title=No survivors in Rollins Pass plane crash |work=The Denver Post |date=August 5, 2010 |access-date=8 May 2018}}

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• Country music artist, Tracy Byrd, recorded a music video for the 1996 single, Big Love, which featured sights on the west side of Rollins Pass, including: Ptarmigan Point, Mount Epworth, Deadman's Lake, Riflesight Notch trestle, and more. The album cover pictures the artist himself in front of a scenic backdrop that can be seen at the summit of Rollins Pass, looking northeast; the back of the album features the artist holding his guitar while seated on a rock outcropping near the railroad-era dining hall foundation at the summit.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFMcKdmrPvU |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/QFMcKdmrPvU |archive-date=2021-12-13 |url-status=live|title=Tracy Byrd – Big Love|date=October 6, 2009|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}
• The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 1925 silent film, The White Desert, starring Claire Windsor as Robinette McFarlane and Pat O'Malley as Barry Houston was filmed on Rollins Pass in the winter of 1922 and released to the public on Monday, May 4, 1925. The film features moving pictures of long trains ascending Riflesight Notch trestle and of rotary snowplows in action between Ptarmigan Point and the summit. The railroad imagery is displayed only at both the beginning and the end of the movie with dramatic scenes (mostly indoor or pseudo-outdoor) and both dialogue intertitles and expository intertitles filling most of the film's runtime. The film is considered to be rare and has historical significance due to the footage of trains and rotaries operating on Rollins Pass.{{cite web|url=https://clairewindsor.weebly.com/the-white-desert.html|title=The White Desert|website=Claire Windsor}}[https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=BRE19791025-01.2.30&srpos=4&e "Broomfield Enterprise October 25, 1979 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection"]. Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.{{Ref|Note††|††}}
• The 1928 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer silent drama film, The Trail of '98, was filmed in part on Rollins Pass as well as inside the Moffat Tunnel using specialized lighting. The film was directed by Clarence Brown and starred Harry Carey as Jack Locasto.{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19270413.2.63&srpos=4&e|title=Steamboat Pilot April 13, 1927 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=CRC19270216-01.2.5&srpos=5&e|title=Craig Courier February 16, 1927 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=CRE19290116-01.2.24&srpos=12&e|title=Craig Empire January 16, 1929 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=CRE19270302-01.2.14&srpos=13&e|title=Craig Empire March 2, 1927 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19290719.2.42.4&srpos=14&e|title=Steamboat Pilot July 19, 1929 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=CRE19260602-01.2.11&srpos=2&e|title=Craig Empire June 2, 1926 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19270302.2.66&srpos=3&e|title=Steamboat Pilot March 2, 1927 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=CRE19270330-01.2.66&srpos=11&e|title=Craig Empire March 30, 1927 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=CRE19260602-01.2.11&srpos=4&e|title=Craig Empire June 2, 1926 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=CRC19270216-01.2.5&srpos=2&e|title=Craig Courier February 16, 1927 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19270413.2.63&srpos=10&e|title=Steamboat Pilot April 13, 1927 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=CRE19290116-01.2.24&srpos=14&e|title=Craig Empire January 16, 1929 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}
• In the late 1920s, movie producers scouted Rollins Pass as a possible location for a third motion picture.{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19290111.2.79&srpos=3&e|title=Steamboat Pilot January 11, 1929 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}
• On Saturday, November 3, 2012, Colorado State University archaeology professor Dr. Jason M. LaBelle and colleague Dr. Pete Seel debuted their documentary film, Stone and Steel at the Top of the World which describes the ancient hunters of the Colorado high country as well as the Moffat Road railway. As part of a Rollins Pass Mini-Film Fest event held at Colorado State University, the documentary was shown prior to a rare screening of The White Desert in Fort Collins, Colorado. This occasion marked the first time Reginald Barker's silent film had been shown since 1978.{{cite web|url=https://anthropology.colostate.edu/tag/jason-labelle/|title=Jason LaBelle Archives – Anthropology|website=Anthropology.colostate.edu|date=April 27, 2021 }}
• On Saturday, May 12, 2018, Colorado State University archaeology professor Dr. Jason M. LaBelle along with the authors of multiple archaeological and research-based publications{{cite web|url=https://issuu.com/wideawakemedia/docs/mmac.may2018/12|title=MMAC Monthly May 2018|website=Issuu.com|date=May 2, 2018 }} on Rollins Pass, B. Travis Wright, MPS and Kate Wright, MBA, held a book launch event and presentation for Rollins Pass titled, Rollins Pass: Through the Lens of Time that included an encore screening of Dr. LaBelle's documentary film, Stone and Steel at the Top of the World as well as a rare screening of The White Desert at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Littleton, Colorado.{{cite web|url=http://www.westword.com/arts/denvers-five-best-literary-events-may-7-through-may-12-2018-10285499|title=Book It: The Five Best Literary Events This Week|first=Teague|last=Bohlen|website=Westword.com|date=May 7, 2018}} At the event, as a central part of the authors' founding movement Preserve Rollins Pass, the authors discussed the importance of leaving artifacts in place and their efforts to build a database of the GPS locations of prehistoric and historic artifacts that is made available for the benefit of archaeologists and land managers.{{Cite web|url=https://www.preserverollinspass.org/resources/contact-an-archaeologist/|title = Contact an Archaeologist|website=Preserverollinspass.org}} They also revealed The John Trezise Archive for Rollins Pass Imagery—the "world's largest collection of Rollins Pass imagery for non-commercial use that is crowd-sourced, completely searchable and available to the public through partnerships with requesting museums/libraries, and secured from loss."{{cite web|url=https://www.skyhinews.com/news/local-authors-of-rollins-pass-history-book-to-hold-launch-party-saturday/|title=Local authors of Rollins Pass history book to hold launch party Saturday|website=Skyhinews.com|date=May 10, 2018 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.skyhinews.com/news/new-book-sheds-light-on-diverse-history-of-rollins-pass/|title=New book sheds light on diverse history of Rollins Pass|website=Skyhinews.com|date=May 16, 2018 }}Martin, Bryce. [https://www.skyhinews.com/in-depth/20-under-40-kate-wright-committed-to-betterment-of-fraser-valley/ "20 Under 40: Kate Wright committed to betterment of Fraser Valley"]. Skyhinews.com.{{Cite web|url=https://www.preserverollinspass.org/rollins-pass-photos/the-john-trezise-archive/|title=The John Trezise Archive|website=Preserverollinspass.org}}
• The 2018 Peak to Peak Chorale's spring musical told "the tale of a train trapped for days by a spring blizzard atop Rollins Pass in the 1900s." The singers, musicians, and actors portrayed the passengers and crew that departed from The Stage Stop (in Rollinsville, Colorado) and became stranded when a huge rotary snowplow stopped working.

• Some ski runs (and one chairlift) at the nearby Winter Park Resort are named after Rollins Pass itself (Rollins Ridge, Corona Way), features on Rollins Pass (Riflesight Notch, Rainbow Cut, Needle's Eye, Phantom Bridge, Sunnyside, Lower Arrowhead Loop, Upper Arrowhead Loop), or are inspired by general railroad terminology (Runaway, Trestle, Sleeper, Boiler, Coupler, Railbender, Derailer, Re-Railer, Whistlestop, Hook Up, Sidetrack, Gandy Dancer, Iron Horse, Black Coal, Switchyard, Golden Spike, Brakeman, Vista Dome, Roundhouse, Narrow Gauge, Zephyr).{{cite web|url=http://assets.winterparkresort.com/PDF/WPRMaps/WPR-TrailMap.pdf|title=WPR-TrailMap|website=Assets.winterparkresort.com}}
• Winter Park Resort's summer downhill mountain bike park is called Trestle.{{cite web|url=http://assets.winterparkresort.com/PDF/WPRMaps/TrestleMap17.pdf|title=TrestleMap17|website=Assets.winterparkresort.com}}
• Some of Winter Park Resort's buildings and services infrastructure are named after features on Rollins Pass (Mount Epworth), the neighboring Moffat Tunnel (West Portal), and general railroad terminology (Zephyr).{{cite web |url=https://www.winterparkresort.com/plan-your-trip/rentals/ski-and-board/shop-services |title=Rental info |website=Winterparkresort.com |format=PDF |access-date=May 9, 2018 |archive-date=May 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180510051638/https://www.winterparkresort.com/plan-your-trip/rentals/ski-and-board/shop-services |url-status=dead }}
• Two ski runs at the nearby Eldora Ski Resort are named after Rollins Pass: Corona and Corona Road along with the Corona Lift chairlift.{{cite web|url=https://cms.eldora.com/sites/eldora/files/inline-images/Eldora-2017-18-Alpine-trail-map%20ver1.jpg |title=Mapdate=2017|website=Cms.eldora.com |format=JPG}}
• A real estate development in downtown Winter Park, next to Volarios, has been named after the town of Arrow on Rollins Pass.{{Cite web|url=https://www.arrowatwinterpark.com/|title=Arrow at Winter Park|website=Arrowatwinterpark.com}}
• The Ski Idlewild featured several runs named after geographic landmarks of Rollins Pass and railroad terminology, including Arrow, Yankee Doodle, and Gandy Dancer.https://www.coloradoskihistory.com/images/map_idlewild75.jpg {{Bare URL image|date=June 2025}}

• For the past {{age|1966|7|1}} years—since July 1966, the Epworth Cup has been one of the nation's longest-running downhill skiing races held annually in early-to-mid July (usually the Sunday following Independence Day) on Mount Epworth.{{cite web|url=https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/epworth-cup?sort=mostpopular&mediatype=photography&phrase=epworth+cup|title=Epworth Cup Stock Photos and Pictures|website=Gettyimages.com}}{{cite web|url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=STP19780316-01.2.149&srpos=2&e|title=Steamboat Pilot March 16, 1978 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection|website=Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org}}
• On Thursday, May 10, 2018, it was announced that the Indian Peaks Traverse, a single-track trail of at least {{convert|60|mi}} open only to "hikers, bi[cyclists], horseback riders and any other form of non-motorized transport" will traverse a portion of Rollins Pass and was slated for a soft-opening in 2022.{{cite news|url=https://www.skyhinews.com/news/new-single-track-off-road-trail-will-extend-from-boulder-to-downtown-winter-park/|title=New single-track, off-road trail will extend from Boulder to downtown Winter Park|website=Skyhinews.com|access-date=14 May 2018}}{{cite news|url=http://indianpeakstraverse.org/trail-segments/|title=Trail Segments|date=September 28, 2017|work=The Indian Peaks Traverse|access-date=14 May 2018}}[http://indianpeakstraverse.org/supportingorgs/ "Supporting Orgs"]. indianpeakstraverse.org. January 30, 2018.
• In June 2019, a digital magazine's photo shoot featuring summer mountain gear occurred at (and near) the historic cabins at East Portal.{{Cite news|url=https://www.magneticmag.com/2019/06/gear-up-for-summer-festivals-with-the-alpine-modern-look/|title=Gear Up For Summer Festivals With The Alpine Modern Look|website=Magnetic Magazine|date=June 24, 2019 }}
• On Thursday, January 30, 2020, the five remaining East Portal Camp Cabins (located at the East Portal of the Moffat Tunnel adjacent to Rollins Pass) were classified by Colorado Preservation, Inc. as one of Colorado's Most Endangered Places.{{Cite web|url=https://www.westword.com/arts/colorado-endangered-places-lists-adds-four-more-historic-spots-11626505|title = Four Historic Sites Join Colorado's Endangered Places List|website=Westword.com|date = January 31, 2020}}{{Cite web|url=http://coloradopreservation.org/2020-list-colorados-most-endangered-places/east-portal-moffat-tunnel/|title = East Portal Camp Cabins|website=Coloradopreservation.org}}{{cite web |url=http://coloradopreservation.org/2020-list-colorados-most-endangered-places/ |title = 2020 List – Colorado's Most Endangered Places|website=Coloradopreservation.org| date=February 11, 2020 }}{{cite web |url=https://denver.cbslocal.com/video/4455914-east-portal-moffat-tunnel/ |title = East Portal Moffat Tunnel – News, Weather & Sports For All Of Colorado|website=Denver.cbslocal.com}}
• Equipment outfitters use Rollins Pass as a testing ground for gear.{{cite web | url=https://www.singletracks.com/mtb-trails/epic-routes-rollins-pass-on-a-gravel-bike/ | title=Epic Routes: Rollins Pass Adventure on a Gravel Bike | date=October 26, 2022 }}

• The Denver & Salt Lake Railway Derrick No. 10300 that helped clear wrecks more than a century ago on Rollins Pass is now housed in Granby, Colorado at the Moffat Road Railroad Museum.{{cite web |url=https://www.historycolorado.org/location/denver-salt-lake-railway-derrick-no-10300 |title = Denver & Salt Lake Railway Derrick No. 10300 |website=Historycolorado.org}}{{cite web|url=https://www.craigdailypress.com/news/moffat-railroad-museum-moves-225000-pound-crane-into-place/|title=Moffat Railroad Museum moves 225,000 pound crane into place|website=Craigdailypress.com|date=July 16, 2018 |access-date=2022-02-01}}{{cite web|url=https://digital.denverlibrary.org/digital/collection/p15330coll22/id/67330|title=DMIR wreck, engine number 224, engine type 2-8-8-4|website=Digital.denverlibrary.org|access-date=2022-02-01|archive-date=April 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407160452/https://digital.denverlibrary.org/digital/collection/p15330coll22/id/67330|url-status=dead}}

• In July 2016, the United States Forest Service held a Passport in Time project on Rollins Pass where volunteers joined "Heritage Program staff from the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests/Pawnee National Grassland (ARP) for an archaeological survey along the known trajectory of Moffat [R]oad."{{rp|121}}

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{{portal|United States|Colorado|Mountains|Railways}}

• Colorado mountain passes
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Boulder County, Colorado
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Gilpin County, Colorado
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Grand County, Colorado

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:†.{{Note|Note†}}No passenger lives were lost during the years Rollins Pass served as a railroad; the Passenger deaths column reflects this fact with a value of N/A for each row.{{rp|68}}

:‡.{{Note|Note‡}}For archaeology projects where federal laws apply, patterned cultural activity or features older than 50 years are considered historic.{{Cite web |url=https://www.oregon.gov/oprd/HCD/ARCH/docs/faq_for_hist_arch.pdf |title=Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for Historic Archaeology |access-date=September 22, 2018 |archive-date=February 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219152217/http://www.oregon.gov/oprd/HCD/ARCH/docs/faq_for_hist_arch.pdf }}

:††.{{Note|Note††}} Otto Perry's Moffat Route DVD, released on July 13, 2006, contains select motion picture rotary footage from The White Desert.

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{{Reflist}}

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• Black III, Robert C. (1969). Island in the Rockies. Grand County Pioneer Society. {{ASIN|B000HJMIRM}}.
• Bollinger, Rev. Edward T. (1979). Rails That Climb. Boulder, Colorado: Johnson Publishing Company. {{ISBN|978-0918654298}}.
• Bollinger, Rev. Edward T. & Bauer, Frederick. (1981). The Moffat Road. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press. {{ISBN|978-0804002073}}.
• Bowles, Samuel. (1869). The Switzerland of America: A Summer Vacation in the Parks and Mountains of Colorado. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. {{ISBN|978-0806126258}}.
• Boner, Harold A. (1962). The Giant's Ladder. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Kalmbach. {{ASIN|B0007EB0H6}}.
• Church, Minette C. et al. (2007). Colorado History: A Context for Historical Archaeology. Denver, Colorado: Colorado Council of Professional Archaeologists. {{ISBN|978-0974313719}}.
• Crossen, Forest. (1976). Western Yesterdays: David Moffat's Hill Men. Fort Collins, Colorado: Robinson Press, Inc. {{ASIN|B000HJIBSW}}.
• Griswold, P.R. "Bob." (1995). David Moffat's Denver, Northwestern and Pacific. Denver, Colorado: Rocky Mountain Railroad Club. {{ISBN|978-0962070723}}.
• Griswold, P.R. "Bob." (2010). The Moffat Road 2-26-28. Aurora, Colorado: Double R Publishing.
• Hitchcock, F.C., and C.C. Tinkler. (1927). The Contractors' Story of the Moffat Tunnel: Not an Engineering Treatise. Denver, Colorado: Hitchcock & Tinkler.
• LaBelle, Jason M. & Pelton, Spencer R. (2013). Communal hunting along the Continental Divide of Northern Colorado: Results from the Olson game drive (5BL147). Quaternary International: Volume 297, May 29, 2013, Pages 45–63.
• Miller, Wick R. (1986). Numic Languages in Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 11: Great Basin. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. {{ISBN|978-0160045813}}.
• Sells, John A. (2011). The Moffat Line: David Moffat's Railroad Over And Under The Continental Divide. Bloomington, Indiana: iUniverse Publishing. {{ISBN|978-1462026548}}.
• Sprague, Marshall. (1964). The Great Gates: The Story of the Rocky Mountain Passes. Boston, Massachusetts: Little, Brown and Company. {{ASIN|B0006BLWXM}}.
• Sundquist, Elizabeth Josephson. (1994). Dismantling the Rails that Climbed. Denver, Colorado: Egan Printing Company.
• Wright, B. Travis & Wright, Kate. Foreword by Jason M. LaBelle, PhD. (2018). Rollins Pass. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. {{ISBN|978-1467127714}}.
• Wright, B. Travis & Wright, Kate. Foreword by Jason M. LaBelle, PhD. (2018). Rollins Pass. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. {{ISBN|978-1540233325}}.
• Wright, B. Travis & Wright, Kate. (2018). Rollins Pass. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. {{ISBN|978-1467129053}}.
• Wright, B. Travis & Wright, Kate. (2022). Rollins Pass: Past & Present. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. {{ISBN|978-1467107952}}.

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{{commons category|Rollins Pass}}

{{sister project links}}

• [https://www.google.com/maps/place/Rollins+Pass/@39.9341518,-105.7002913,7018m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x876bc97c9b13003d:0x31db9f7e2499dd95!8m2!3d39.9341537!4d-105.6827817 Google Maps view of the Rollins Pass summit]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060711165204/http://ghostdepot.com/rg/mainline/moffat%20route/rollins%20pass.htm Artist renderings of the rail line over Rollins Pass]

{{Colorado}}

{{National Register of Historic Places}}

Category:Rail mountain passes of the United States

Category:Mountain passes of Colorado

Category:Landforms of Boulder County, Colorado

Category:Landforms of Gilpin County, Colorado

Category:Landforms of Grand County, Colorado

Category:Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad

Category:Tourist attractions in Boulder County, Colorado

Category:Tourist attractions in Grand County, Colorado

Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado