Rabbit Ears Pass, Mountain pass in northern Colorado, United States.
Rabbit Ears Pass is a mountain pass in northern Colorado that crosses the Rocky Mountains at about 9,422 feet (2,873 m) and divides two river basins. The highway that runs through it connects multiple counties and provides access to outdoor recreation areas across a large region.
The highway through the pass was built between 1911 and 1917, opening up travel across this previously difficult mountain terrain for the first time. This project connected multiple Colorado counties that had been isolated from each other by geography.
The name comes from early fur trappers who saw the twin rock peaks and thought of rabbit ears as they approached Yampa Valley from the east. Local people still use this name when describing the landscape to visitors.
The pass stays open year-round but winter brings heavy snow that can make driving difficult and slow. Check weather conditions before you go and make sure your vehicle is ready for mountain roads, especially from late fall through early spring.
A severe storm in 1997 with winds around 150 mph devastated a large wooded area near the pass and toppled thousands of mature trees in Routt National Forest. The landscape in that region still bears the marks of this event.
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