Cameron Pass (Colorado)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Cameron Pass | |
|---|---|
| Elevation | 3132 m./10,276 ft. |
| Location | Colorado,  United States |
| Range | Rocky Mountains |
| Coordinates | |
| Topo map | USGS Clark Peak |
| Traversed by | Colorado State Highway 14 |
Cameron Pass (el. 3132 m./10,276 ft.) is a mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains in north central Colorado in the United States. The pass is a gap between the south end of the Medicine Bow Mountains and the north end of the Never Summer Mountains. It sits on the border between Jackson County and Larimer County, approximately 3 mi (5 km) north of the boundary of Rocky Mountain National Park. The pass provides the most convenient route between Fort Collins and Walden in North Park, using Colorado State Highway 14.
The pass was named for Robert Cameron, the founder of the Fort Collins Agricultural Colony in the 1870s. The pass was surveyed several times for railroads, including once by the Union Pacific Railroad as a possible route for a line through the Rockies. No railroad was ever built over the pass however. The pass is located within Roosevelt National Forest. A small parking lot at the summit allows access to nearby trails that are popular both for hiking in the summer and cross-country skiing in the winter. The pass receives much snow during the winter months, but it usually remains open all-year round, due to the relative ease of plowing the route.
The pass is drained on the north side by side Joe Wright Creek, a tributary of the Cache la Poudre River in the basin of the South Platte River. It is drained on the south side by the Michigan River, a tributary of the North Platte River in North Park.
