One of these things is not like the others.

Once we finally got to Cumberland Pass in Laurie's Mazdaspeed3 just before noon, we were the only people around. We got out and wondered at the views as we wandered around on the large, relatively flat area that made up the pass. Soon a lone motorcyclist rode up, parked his bike and started looking around at the views with Laurie and me. About 10 minutes later, a group of four motorcyclists showed up and we all started talking about the conditions of the roads, where we'd been where we were going, etc. The first motorcyclist discovered his front tire was flat, came over and asked the other cyclists we were talking to if any of them had a hand pump — he had apparently forgotten his. I told him to hold on, because we had an emergency kit in the car that had an air compressor. We got the compressor hooked up to his valve stem and had his tire pumped up in a few minutes. He headed towards Pitkin and asked if we were going back that direction, so if his tire went flat before he got to Pitkin we could help him again. Although we originally planned to drive to Tin Cup, we had nixed that plan because the road to Cumberland Pass from Pitkin was very rough, gullied, rocky and slow going, and all the people who had arrived from Taylor Reservoir said the road was terrible and they were on dirt bikes, ATVs or Jeeps. We assured him we'd be along to help if he needed it.  Not long after that Various ATVs and more motorcyclists arrived. Everyone was friendly, had comments about the roads and the scenery, and stories to tell. It seemed that no matter what people were riding or driving, no matter what our backgrounds were, we all had one thing in common — we had prevailed, conquered the mountain and made it to the top of the world on Cumberland Pass at 12,015 feet  (3,662 meters) above sea level.

While is says 15 M.P.H, the max speed I could set the cruise control on was 5 M.P.H.

While you might expect a group of young folks on these large 500 cc and 600 cc dirt bikes, most of the riders were around my age.

Happy to be on top of the world

Motocycles and various ATVs.

Vitual Tour of Cumberland Pass.

Click here to go to the web page with the tour.

One ATV had Bowser, a 175 pound Saint Bernard, in the back. When he saw Laurie and I walking toward the ATV, he slipped through an opening in the bars he wasn't supposed to fit through, and he got tangled up in leashes. Laurie held onto Bowser while the owners and I got him untangled. Bowser was very excited, ready to play, and the owners didn't want him to get loose and then have to chase him all over the top of a mountain. We finally got him untangled and back in his proper place in the ATV.

Laurie and Bowser

Bowser giving Laurie a big sloppy saintly kiss

Laurie's Mazdaspeed3 with the motorcyclist who had the flat tire in the background.  With all the socializing, wandering round, checking out the old mine shafts, and then more socializing with all the different people who had come up to the pass, we were there for almost 2 hours. On our way back down, we came across the cyclist who had the flat tire on his way back up to the pass from Pitkin. We stopped and talked for a few minutes. He found some campers who had tools and tire irons, so he was able to change the tube in his front tire. He said he figured out that he had not forgotten his pump and tire repair kit, but that they had been stolen. He had his bike shipped out to Utah from Missouri. He had zip-tied the pouches where he had his gloves, pump and tire kit, but after he picked up his bike from the shipper, the zip-ties had be cut on the pouch where his gloves were and the gloves were missing. He hadn't noticed that the pump and tire repair kit were missing until he had the flat on Cumberland Pass.