Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
As the road gradually climbs toward Sylvan Pass, you'll see trees on both sides that are
dying from a mountain pine beetle infestation. Damage from fires in 2001 and 2003 is also
visible to the south.
Corkscrew Bridge afforded a manageable grade up Sylvan Pass on the original East Entrance Road.
6.5/19.5
Stop at the
Corkscrew Bridge Viewpoint
to see a trace of the very unusual Cork-
screw Bridge (also called Spiral Bridge). You can now see only a gently curving smooth path,
but a century ago it was an engineering marvel. At the bottom of the Sylvan Pass grade was
a large and excellent cold spring, Mammoth Crystal Spring, the source of Middle Creek. The
spring is now very hard to locate.
6.9/19.1 Sylvan Pass
(8,541 ft / 2,603 m). In 1901, Army Engineer Captain Chittenden, who
designed this road, wrote that Sylvan Pass
[GEO.6]
is “unique among mountain passes in that
it is almost entirely loosened from the cliffs on either side by the action of frost. This broken
rock varies in size from fine pebbles to pieces a cubic yard in volume.” You may wonder why
it was named Sylvan, meaning forested, when it's so rocky. The pass is named after the larger
of the two tree-ringed lakes near it.
North of the road is
Hoyt Peak
(10,506 ft / 3,202 m), named for John W. Hoyt, first gov-
ernor of the Territory of Wyoming and later University of Wyoming president. Hoyt Peak is
part of the volcanic Absaroka Range.
7.6/18.4 (2) Eleanor Lake,
probably named in 1901 by road engineer Chittenden for his
infant daughter. Look above the east end of the lake for a delightful small waterfall, named
Crecelius Cascade
for Chittenden's subordinate, who was responsible for building this stretch
of road.
