page_title: Colorado State Highway 82
section_title: Independence Pass to Twin Lakes
hierarchical_section_title: Colorado State Highway 82 / Route description / Independence Pass to Twin Lakes
caption_attribution_description: English: View east from scenic overlook along Colorado State Highway 82
context_page_description: State Highway 82 is an 85.3-mile-long state highway in the U.S. state of Colorado. Its western half provides the principal transportation artery of the Roaring Fork Valley on the Colorado Western Slope, beginning at Interstate 70 and U.S. Highway 6 in Glenwood Springs southeast past Carbondale, Basalt and Aspen. From there it continues up the valley to cross the Continental Divide at Independence Pass. On the Eastern Slope, it follows Lake Creek past some of Colorado's highest mountains to Twin Lakes Reservoir, where it ends at US 24 south of Leadville.
  At 12,095 feet above sea level, the traverse of Independence Pass is the highest paved crossing of the Continental Divide in North America, and the highest paved through road on Colorado's state highway network. The pass is closed during the winter months, isolating Aspen from the east and making Highway 82 the only way to reach the popular ski resort town by road.
context_section_description: The road levels out to a parking area on the south side. A U.S. Forest Service sign indicates the Continental Divide and gives the elevation as 12,095 feet (3,687 m). The Divide also marks the Lake County line. A paved path leads to a scenic overlook with views to Mount Elbert (14,440 feet (4,400 m)) and La Plata Peak (14,336 feet (4,370 m)), respectively the highest and fifth-highest peaks in Colorado and the Rocky Mountains. An old road leads south along the ridge to summits to the south.
  Beyond the pass, the road descends through three more long switchbacks to the floor of the Lake Creek valley. From there it heads south at first but quickly curving to the east. As it assumes that heading it passes the other set of gates, just west of the very small settlement of Everett, near where Lake Creek's North Fork joins the main stream.
  From there the road heads east for the next four miles, passing trailheads for both of the fourteeners on either side and other San Isabel National Forest facilities. Just before the creek widens and empties into Twin Lakes Reservoir, the road curves quickly to the south and then heads more to the northeast along the lake shore. A mile past that bend Highway 82 reaches the small community of Twin Lakes, also listed on the National Register as a historic district as an early tourist town.
  The highway continues northeast for another mile beyond Twin Lakes and then turns east, with a continuous view of the lakes on the south. Shortly past this turn, the Colorado Trail crosses the road and then runs closely parallel to it along the south side. Forest Service roads go down that direction to access points along the lake. After another mile, Highway 82 turns southeast for its next mile. Below the lakes' outlet, it crosses Lake Creek for the last time and then ends at US 24 18 miles (29 km) from Independence Pass and just below the confluence of the creek and the Arkansas River. Leadville is 16 miles (26 km) to the north; in the opposite direction it is 21 miles (34 km) to Buena Vista.
caption: Highway 82 just east of Independence Pass
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "2560", "Image ImageLength": "1920", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "Panasonic", "Image Model": "DMC-FZ5", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2012:10:03 15:16:18", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 14, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Image ExifOffset": "504", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1170", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6841", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/160", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:06:01 14:49:53", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:06:01 14:49:53", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "915241/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-33/100", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "6", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2318", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1725", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1044", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "36", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}