Cochetopa Pass is a mountain pass

Mountain pass

A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. If following the lowest possible route, a pass is locally the highest point on that route...

 in Colorado. It lies between the city of Gunnison

Gunnison, Colorado

The historic City of Gunnison, a Home Rule Municipality, is the county seat and the most populous city of Gunnison County, Colorado, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 5,854. It was named in honor of John W...

 and the town of Saguache

Saguache, Colorado

The historic town of Saguache is a Statutory Town that is the county seat and most populous town of Saguache County, Colorado, United States. The population was 578 at the U.S. Census 2000.-Name:...

. It lies on the Continental Divide

Continental Divide

The Continental Divide of the Americas, or merely the Continental Gulf of Division or Great Divide, is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain...

, which separates the Gunnison and Rio Grande National Forests. It is named after the Cochetopa Hills that it lies within, Cochetopa being the Ute Indian word for "pass of the buffalo" The original pass is traversed by Saguache Count Road NN14, a maintained gravel road. The new Cochetopa Pass is more often called "North Pass

North Pass

North Pass is a mountain pass over the Continental Divide in Colorado traversed by state route 114 between Saguache, Colorado and Gunnison, Colorado. It is an all-weather paved road, but, as of 2011, there are no snow plows operating between 7 PM and 7 AM....

," and is located nearby on Colorado State Highway 114

Colorado State Highway 114

State Highway 114 is a long state highway in southern central Colorado.-Route description:SH 114 begins in the west at its junction with U.S. Highway 50 approximately eight miles east of Gunnison...

, which is paved, and at a slightly higher elevation.

History

The area of the Cochetopa Hills was a hunting ground of the Ute Indians. The area of the pass would be explored by many men in search of a route over and through the Rocky Mountains. Many would end in disaster.

1848

In 1848, St. Louis business men in an effort to have the intercontinental railroad pass through St. Louis, financed an expedition to find a route over Cochetopa Pass. These men set out with John Charles Fremont leading them. The expedition crossed over the San Juan Mountains at Bill Williams Pass but soon after reaching Pool Table Mesa in mid December the men and mules began freezing to death. After one rescue party failed to reach help and began resorting to cannibalisim, Fremont with the help of the Ute Indians led the men out to Taos, New Mexico Fremont left the men behind in Taos and ran for California. It took until January to rescue the remaining expedition from the mountains. The expedition was a failure and took the lives of 10 men.

1853

In the Fall of 1853 Captain John W. Gunnison explored and surveyed the area in search of a route for the intercontinental railroad. Not long after exploring the area Captain Gunnison was killed by Indians and his second in command, Lt. Edward G Beckwith took over and decided that the best route for the railroad would be further North through Wyoming across the Great Divide Basin

Great Divide Basin

The Great Divide Basin is a drainage basin of the Continental Divide of the Americas. The basin is between the Green River watershed on the west and the Medicine Bow River watershed on the east . From the northwest, the basin begins in the "Wind River Range .....

.