Rollins Pass Colorado | Exploring an old abandoned railroad in a Jeep Grand Cherokee

Exploring the east side of the Rollins Pass off-road trail with my daughter. This road is located around 20 miles west of Boulder, Colorado. Rollins Pass, also known as Corona Pass started out as a wagon road with the first recorded crossing in 1862. This route became the Boulder Wagon toll road in 1873. Construction on the railroad began in 1903 and the first train reached the top in 1904. After the completion of the Moffat Tunnel in 1927 connecting to Winter Park, this railroad was decommissioned.
0:00 - Intro
0:13 - Start of Rollins Pass Road
1:17 - Tolland Overlook
2:26 - Yankee Doodle Lake
4:21 - End of the Road, time for a hike
5:00 - Needle's Eye Tunnel
6:01 - Devil's Slide Trestles
6:26 - Heading down
This road is rocky and bumpy but should be accessible by most vehicles with higher ground clearance. Side roads off this route will probably require a more aggressive 4wd vehicle. This road is also open to ATV's. It's around 12 miles from the Moffat Tunnel Trailhead parking lot to the end of the Rollins Pass Road. From the top of the road to the west side is not accessible by motor vehicle, but you can hike or ride mountain bikes across. The road is open from mid June through mid November, but depending on snowfall it might not be passible until later in the summer.
To access the east Rollins Pass Road (NFSR 149) from Boulder, drive west on highway 119 to Nederland, then go south on Hwy 119 for 5 miles to Rollinsville. At Rollinsville, head west on Tolland Road for 7 miles to the intersection of Rollins Pass Road. Going straight at this intersection leads to a large parking lot at the Moffat Tunnel East Portal Trailhead.
If you are interested in seeing more old photos of this area when it was a railroad, the Denver Public Library - Western History Collection has an excellent online selection: digital.denverlibrary.org/
Camera equipment used:
iPhone 11 Pro Max - Interior and walking
GoPro HERO8 Black - Forward facing drive
GoPro HERO5 Black - Rear facing drive & wheels
Edited in DaVinci Resolve 18
Phone Mount:
RAM Twist-Lock Suction Cup Base RAM-B-224-1U
RAM Double Socket Arm 2.42" RAM-B-201U-A
RAM Mounts X-Grip
GoPro Mount:
RAM Twist-Lock Suction Cup Base RAM-B-224-1U
RAM Double Socket Arm 6" RAM-B-201U-C
RAM Action Camera Universal Ball Adapter RAP-B-202U-GOP1

[@AustinsADV]

Hey everyone, welcome to my channel and my first off-road video in the Jeep. Do you want to see more off-road videos like this? Thanks for watching!

[@alias-qb9kx]

Drove the whole route in the late 80’s the needles eye tunnel wasn’t open for long 😢

[@AustinsADV]

That’s awesome! It’s too bad that tunnel is closed now. It would be fun to drive all the way to Winter Park.

[@thevigarfeeling]

This place looks so pretty we would love to visit one day, thank you for sharing, we have subscribed to show our support 🙂 Chelsea and Mike

[@AustinsADV]

Thanks! I just checked out your channel, great stuff! Subscribed.

[@thevigarfeeling]

@@AustinsADV thank you, we really appreciate that 🙏🏻

[@roccothataco]

Dope fucking video dude!… Jeep should sponsor you, this was awesome lmao