I lived in Paonia in the early 1980's and stopped there on the way to visit a few people and thank others.

It seemed that I remembered a way to get over the mountains to Palisade directly from Paonia, and I found it on the map and checked with the Forest Service, and ... it works. But it was a gruelling pull up 3000-4000 feet on a dirt road (a good one). It was a delightful journey. I was happy to figure it out! (Stevens Gulch to Buzzard Divide Road to the Colbran-Silt Road, if you must know :-)