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Pitkin County (Aspen) CO OHV rules 2019

5K views 5 replies 6 participants last post by  spamdawg 
#1 ·
Since several of us ride Taylor Park and surrounding areas in Gunnison and Pitkin Counties I decided to reach out to the Pitkin County officials to get clarification about their current OHV rules for 2019. To be specific, the rulings that effect riding from the top of Taylor Pass and Pearl Pass in to Pitkin County (Aspen) on unlicensed OHVs.

The answer is, we cannot ride unlicensed OHV on the trails as we have in the past. This actually took effect in 2018.

My question which I sent to the Pitkin County Sheriff (shown below) was forwarded to the County Commission and they did reply. Their reply is also shown below.

Pitkin County Sheriff
I am contacting you in an effort to clear up some confusion about the OHV rules in your county.
For 50+ years our family has vacationed in the Taylor Park area. In that time we have seen a lot of changes, some good and some not so good. It seems that every year there are more and more restrictions on use of public lands, camping areas being closed and trail closure. I realize that this is in Gunnison County but we often ride the trails over Pearl Pass and Taylor Pass to your county.
My question is, can we still ride over Taylor Pass into your county and continue on to the ski lift (Sun Deck) for lunch? This has been a high lite of our annual trips and I have been told that we can no longer make that run with OHVs. Our trip was cut short last year so we didn't get a chance to make that run.
What about Pearl Pass? In the past we have ridden over the pass from the Crested Butte side and had lunch at the Smoke House before returning to the Gunnison County side. I did contact your department back in 2014 after we bought our RZR and ask if we could ride to the Smoke House. I was told at that time it was allowed if we weren't going past the Smoke House. The person I spoke with said it wasn't legal to ride on hard surface roads but was over looked as long as the distance was short and we didn't cause any issues.
What about the trail down to Ashcroft from Taylor Pass? Can we ride down to tour the area?
We have no desire to ride on any highways except to get to the Smoke House and we seldom go past the Sun Deck restaurant. However we have ridden down under the ski lift to the bottom and then turned around in the parking area.
I have heard several different stories so felt it was necessary to contact you directly for an answer. Hopefully we can continue to enjoy your county. Thanks for any help clearing this issue up. Mark


The reply from the County Commission

Good Afternoon,

Thank you for the email in regards to OHV travel in Pitkin County.
OHV travel on County Roads has never been legal in Colorado, however it was historically loosely enforced. As of last summer, directed by the Board of County Commissioners, Pitkin County has chosen to enforce unlicensed OHV use on County Roads.
Please click the link for some quick info: https://pitkincounty.com/1119/OHV-Rules

In regards to the roads in question, they are all County Roads, thus unlicensed OHV use is still illegal.

Richmond Hill Rd (connects Taylor to the sundeck), is a County Road so unlicensed travel would be illegal.

Summer Rd (Sundeck to City of Aspen), County Road and illegal

Pearl Pass (in Pitkin County), County Road and illegal.

Express Creek Rd (Ashcroft to Taylor), County Road and also illegal.

The only OHV vehicles currently available to be made "street legal" in Colorado are motorcycles.

I hope this adds some clarity to the situation.

Feel free to call me at 970-920-5046 if you have further questions.

Scott Mattice

Manager
Pitkin County
Road and Bridge

Monday-Friday
0730-1530
 
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#6 ·
Update, we have a group that just did Taylor pass and we had planned to have lunch in aspen. We were un aware of the rules and there are NO CLEAR markings from taylor pass that indicate allowed or not, which is a major problem. One of our group lost a driver side rear bearing right after the top of taylor pass. Going back down Taylor pass wasn't really an option so we opted to head to aspen so we could get a trailer there and get it off the trail. It was not well received even for a failure and could have been stranded.... But anyway. Just for future reference, just avoid aspen, Spend more time in the small towns and food trucks, restaurants where you're welcome.
 
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