4WD Adventures

Colorado Guidebook: Hancock Pass

by AngelaTitus

Choosing one Colorado 4-wheel trail is hard, but Hancock Pass from St. Elmo ghost town has it all — challenging sections, well-preserved mining era ruins, location near the Alpine Tunnel and Station, and perfect for a stock truck, that is powerful and has good off-road tires.

This trail starts in St. Elmo ghost town, located 24 miles southwest of Buena Vista off Highway 285, is easy to find and accessible by car. Buena Vista is the closest town for lodging, gas, food, and supplies.

One of Colorado’s best-preserved ghost towns, St. Elmo sprang up in 1880 from activity at the nearly 150 gold and silver mines nearby. During summers these days, vehicles lining the dirt road through town seem out of place next to the run down buildings. Because new businesses are popping up here, the best photo ops are on the west side of town where the buildings rest undisturbed. Visit the old general store to rent 4x4s and buy neat antiques, gifts, cokes, and snacks.

From St. Elmo, we head east toward Hancock Pass. The unmaintained dirt road is rough with potholes. Soon we notice an old building and some other ruins in a clearing below near mile 2.5. This is the Romley town site. After following a short rerouted section of road around an unsafe trestle bridge, we turn off to Pomeroy Lakes and the Mary Murphy Mine.

Hancock Pass Trail descending the west side of the pass.

The Allie Belle Mine ore storage building is precariously cantilevered beside Hancock Pass Trail.

Climbing the steep, rocky grade we see dilapidated miner’s cabins and old aerial tramway towers. Even the thick, steel cable from the old tramway still remains beside the road. The ramshackle Mary Murphy Mine building also still stands. In sections along this steep and narrow road, I must find a line through groups of large, awkwardly positioned rocks. The obstacles become increasingly challenging until the turn around near Pomeroy Lakes parking lot after 2.7 miles.

Returning to the main trail, another two miles stretch out just below the timberline where we can see naked 13,000-foot peaks darting in and out of view above the trees. Next appears the famous old building, once used for storing paydirt from the Allie Belle Mine, teetering precariously on the slope beside the road. Although in this position for years, the structure rests menacingly over the road and most don’t linger below.

St. Elmo ghost town’s old general store, called the Miner’s Exchange, still operates today.

Hancock Pass Trail ends shortly beyond the beginning of Tomichi Pass Trail at the intersection with Alpine Tunnel Road.

We pass hills of tailings, more abandoned mining structures, and Hancock town site. One-time residents of Hancock constructed the amazing Alpine Tunnel. Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad needed a tunnel under the Continental Divide in order to reach St. Elmo by rail. The ill-fated project also required constructing a road on a sheer mountain slope among other construction feats. From the Alpine Tunnel Trailhead, near Hancock town site, it is a three-mile hike up the old railroad grade to the east end of the Tunnel.

We immediately begin a rocky climb to Hancock Pass, encountering early summer snowdrifts at elevations where it still snows in mid-June. The road gets increasingly challenging with more rocks, potholes, and ruts, but the view is worth the effort.

Hancock Pass is a spectacular overlook of Brittle Silver Basin, enclosed by walls of towering peaks, which Tomichi Pass shelf road clings to alluringly. I marvel at how similar the view must have been back in the mining days. Descending over the low-traction rocky trail into the basin, we continue our incredible drive along Alpine Tunnel Road to explore the location of the remote railway outpost.

The 30,000-gallon Tunnel Gulch water tank is still standing along Alpine Tunnel Road, thanks to restoration efforts of the Mile High Jeep Club.

The huge, ramshackle Mary Murphy Mine building is perched on the steep slope above the trail. The mine ceased operations in 1926.