| Date | Status Information Posted by 14ers.com Forum Users | Posted By |
|---|---|---|
| 2009-10-26 | Made it all the way to the Uncompahgre Peak parking lot on 10/23/09. Minimal snow/mud. Not a bad ride at all. Of course needed high clearance 4wd. New snow of late may have changed all of this. | oldschool |
| 2009-07-06 | Drove up 2 Jul with no problems in a 4runner. Some muddy spots due to recent rain & streams were easy to get through. Camped up close to trailhead in a great spot. If you‘re in Lake City for dinner, check out Restaurant & Cafe Sol. Delicious! I had the Virado a Paulista and my fiance had the Salmon Tapas. Both were great!! Mocha Moose Coffer around the corner has great Espresso and Coffee Milkshakes. | theredmex |
| 2009-06-29 | Free of snow. Streams are fast but no problems crossing. Watch for fallin rock. | Ericjlindy |
| 2009-06-21 | Clear and dry, no scrapes in stock XTerra. | Dorje1018 |
| 2009-06-01 | Went up 5/28. Wet and muddy in a few spots, creeks are running high. Made it to 1st creek crossing in a stock Honda Pilot (scraped a few spots, but not bad). Higher clearance could probably make it to upper TH. Logs have been placed over creek to cross on foot. | IWannaGoHigh |
| 2009-02-02 | Plowed to the lower TH | Media Dude |
| 2008-09-09 | On 9/8/08 the road was a bit challenging but not bad with a high clearance 4WD. Nothing compared to S. Colony IMHO. Not sure how a Subaru would do but I‘d be comfortable with any 4WD truck or SUV on this road. The first 200 yards were representative of the rest of the road (though runoff could change that), so check this section out and decide if your vehicle is up to it. Note that the restroom at the upper trailhead is closed. The forest service sign says it‘s due to freezing temp‘s. But someone I spoke with in town said it was closed in July also. There is a public restroom facility on Henson Creek Rd. about 100 yards past the Nellie Creek turn off. Good camp sites at the upper trail head with even better sites a half mile below, where the road opens into a large meadow for the first time on the drive. Several other sites along the road as you drive up. | pete |
| 2008-08-25 | 8/23/08: My view is that this road should not be attempted by a vehicle without considerably high clearance. It is steeper and rougher than I expected and the "speedbumps on steroids" are very large. I consider it almost as demanding on a vehicle as S. Colony Lakes. A vehicle with a long wheel base such as the Suburban I drove will hit bottom several times. But the reward of Uncompahgre is worth it! | ronbco |
| 2008-08-17 | 8/15/2008 A little rougher than Matterhorn trail (the last 3 miles of Matterhorn anyway). The trail is steep and needs 4 wheel low to climb. 2 river crossings were negligable. Got a 2000 Dodge Durango up it with minor scraping. | 3-Bean |
| 2008-07-16 | I drove up the road on July 15th - - it took 45 minutes to drive from Lake City to the upper trailhead, in a stock 4Runner. The first river crossing (closest to Lake City) is currently the highest/the rest of the road is passable with some skillful driving. Watch out for the abundance of 4-wheelers. | ChloeBlue |
| 2008-06-29 | Slides were cleared and road was repaired this week. Passable now all the way to the TH in high clearance 4wd. | Wesley |
| 2008-06-22 | Saturday June 21. Road open to road split at 2.3 miles (see route description). Beyond the split is a mud hole a short ways up which is pretty dry now and may or may not be passable and there will probably be more road work there. Quite a bit farther up there is a land slide that includes whole trees with roots and five feet of earth below the roots, making the road width about an axle width wide, with a drop to the stream to the left - this may take a while to get cleared. It took me about 45-50 minutes to walk from the road split to the regular trailhead. The crossing of Nellie Creek is not too bad but it is running pretty hard. Definitely 4WD vehicles with decent ground clearance only . | robby40 |
| 2008-05-23 | Road still impassable by car. | PKR |
| 2008-04-27 | The road up to the 2WD section is bone dry. The actual 4WD drive road up to the 4WD trailhead is inpassable by any forms of transportation. The snow starts almost immediately and is consistent the complete 4 miles to the Trailhead. Snow ranges from 1-6 ft in places on the road. There are also 3 avalanches that are covering the road. One of them is at least 100ft long along the road. These will require Forest Service clearing. Expect at least Mid June before the snow completely melts. | KirkT |
| 2007-10-28 | Nellie Creek is in good shape for the first 2.3 miles, basically right to the road split mentioned in the trailhead directions. Above this the road is VERY icy in the morning. There is one spot in particular that was impassable and I had to back down the road to a small pullout and go back to the junction. Above that there were several other short sections of icy snow. The road MAY be drivable in the afternoon when softer, but my recommendation is to stop at the road split and hike the extra 1 3/4 miles. Hey look at the bright side, you can get 3000' on your ascent that way! | Chicago Transplant |
| 2007-09-27 | Dry. On the way up I met a party on horseback coming down... don't drive in a manner that might spook horses. Strangely, the toilet at the trailhead was locked. | TravelingMatt |
| 2007-06-24 | The tree is gone, but a boulder has fallen in a narrow, semi-exposed spot somewhere the big creek crossing. Two strong people could move the rock if it's still there. | del_sur |
| 2007-06-21 | I easily drove around the tree on 6/14 and it was removed by the time I drove out on 6/15. | otr13 |
| 2007-06-05 | Road is clear all the way to the trailhead. Near the top of the road was a large fallen tree that required negotiation around. | CRAIGO |
| 2007-05-19 | Made it 2.6 miles in, just shy of 2nd creek crossing. | cjw |
| 2007-05-03 | Drove to the 2.2 mile mark (1.8 from TH) last weekend in a Landcruiser. First stream crossing is easily forded, didn't make it to the second one. No more trees in the road, tore 2 of them out. Stopped at a switchback a ways past the stream crossing, got the Toyota stuck and had to tow out w/ Xterra and then camped there. Probably won't be accessible till later in May or early June. If you have time and interest, you can work on the snowbanks, but with the incline and the road passed, its probably safest to just stop, camp and hike an extra 1.8 miles. | lordhelmut |
| 2006-08-22 | As of 8/18/2006 there are sections of the 4WD road to the Nellie Creek TH (between the 2 stream crossings) that have humongously huge and deep mud wallows because of the almost daily rain. Pick your line carefully to avoid bottoming out in these sections. | contour900 |
| 2005-07-10 | Road is open to the upper trailhead. It has some rough, narrow sections and some tight switchbacks. Short, 4WD vehicle recommended. | BillMiddlebrook |
| Location: | San Juan Mountains |
| 14ers Served: | Uncompahgre Peak, Wetterhorn Peak |
| Road Type: | 2WD dirt to 9,300' at the lower TH. 4WD to 11,400' at the upper TH. |
| Winter Access: | Usually closed a short distance up the Henson Creek road - many miles from the TH. |
| Directions: | From Lake City, turn west onto Second street. Drive 0.1 miles and turn left onto the Henson Creek road. This is the Alpine Loop Scenic Byway. Drive 5 miles to the sign for the Nellie Creek trail (#877). The sign is on the right. There are a few pull-offs along the road in this area. If you do not have a high-clearance 4WD vehicle, park on the Henson Creek road and hike up from here. Continue 4 miles up the Nellie Creek road to reach the trailhead. The road crosses a stream twice. 2.3 miles up this road there is a junction. Turn left and stay on the main road. There is a restroom and large parking area at the trailhead.
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