YOUR AD HERE »

Bob and Sherry Carter: Roads need attention

My husband and I moved to Routt County in 1969 and have spent most of the past 46 years here in this beautiful place. We have traveled many of the back roads, both county and Forest Service. We have enjoyed fishing, hunting and seeing the beauty of God’s creation here in the Rocky Mountains. A great deal of traveling has been on Forest Service roads, and most of them are quite good.

There, of course, are those that are not well maintained, but the traveler understands as they are so remote, and not too many people drive on them.

Sunday, we had the opportunity to travel to see a relative at a hunting camp behind the Ears. We drove over Rabbit Ears Pass and then up Forest Service roads (pretty good roads, I might add) to get to the hunting camp. After we left them, we decided to come home through Buffalo Pass, as it was about a third of the distance. It took us longer to get home that way than it would have if we had traveled back over Rabbit Ears.



We are concerned about the last approximately four to five miles up Buffalo Pass on the Steamboat side. There has been no maintenance on it for years, or so it appears. The large rocks in the roadbed could ruin a vehicle if the driver were not careful. A regular car should not be on that road.

Buffalo Pass is a great feature in our area, with its hiking trails and access to fishing, hunting and camping. Once you get up to the top and go over the other side, the road is a very good gravel road. But, we would never send any tourist there if they did not have a high-wheel-based, sturdy vehicle and were familiar with that kind of driving. It is a shame, as it is so easy to get into the mountains that way.



We realize this is a road closed most of the winter. It is a great area for snowmobiling. But we also have driven up there in the summer in years past, and there were many campers, hikers and fishermen enjoying this beautiful area.

We think the poor road conditions have cut the number of users. We are just wondering why it has been neglected to make it a deterrent for easy traveling and why it is that way just on the Steamboat side.

Bob and Sherry Carter

Steamboat Springs


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Steamboat and Routt County make the Steamboat Pilot & Today’s work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.