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McClure Pass
Independence Pass, from Aspen over to Twin Lakes, gets more attention but McClure Pass should not be passed up. Starting from Carbondale, about 20 miles down the road from Aspen, Colorado 133 crosses McClure Pass and drops down to Paonia and Hotchkiss in the Grand Valley. Along the way you pass the picturesque old coking ovens, Redstone Castle, and the town of Marble. Marble is a few miles off the main road but well worth the detour. This solid mountain of marble has provided materials for numerous buildings and monuments, including the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Lincoln Washington Monument. A hike up the hillside will take you to where you can enter the old mineshafts and peer down into the bowels of the still functioning marble quarry. There is one motorcycle-accessible campground along this road, Redstone Campground, just north of the town of Redstone. Click a thumbnail for a larger image; arrow through the photos; click on a large image to close it. Below are the coking ovens at Redstone. 
These photos show the marble quarry at Marble. 
Now here are some shots going up and over the pass, from Carbondale toward Paonia. The second shot is of Pitkin County Road 3, which is a really nice alternate route paralleling the highway for a few miles on into Redstone. It then rejoins the highway at Redstone. The final picture shows the road running along Paonia Reservoir as you near Paonia. 
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