thanks for the input, everybody.

I heard enough from locals that there is a pretty tippy narrow section that I probably *could* have handled, but I decided to avoid this route and just take Kebler Pass instead. With another vehicle and/or spotter (my wife has no interest in this) I would have given it a go.

As an aside, we camped at Paradise Divide pretty much all week and it is so great. Amazing to camp at 11k+ feet. Hiked through Paradise Basin, and then my friend convinced me to climb Purple Mountain at sunrise with him and a few other CB buddies. I had never summited a CO mountain before so this was really incred. 10/10, five stars, strongly recommend