Aspen Public Radio
Water in Lost Man canal passes underneath Highway 82 on Independence Pass. It’s a small part of a massive plumbing system that carries high-altitude snowmelt and rainfall through Colorado’s mountains to its populated cities.
High up on Colorado's Independence Pass, a narrow, winding road weaves through the evergreens and across mountain streams, up and over the Continental Divide at more than 10,000 feet. At one point that road crosses a canal.
It’s easy to miss if you’re not looking for it, but that canal is part of water infrastructure that makes life on Colorado’s Front Range possible.