| Date | Status Information Posted by 14ers.com Forum Users | Posted By |
|---|---|---|
| 2009-08-11 | The info page on driving time lists the time from Durango to the TH as 2.5 hours via Alpine Loop road starting at Ouray. I‘m not sure how they did that since it took me 4 hours. The road to Engineer pass is the roughest one I‘ve been on. | towmanjim |
| 2009-06-28 | We talked with someone that said this was a bit tougher than the 4wd road into American Basin. Most of it looks easy, but some places would take clearance and tire placement. It gets much more difficult after a flat area with a grassy spot to the left, about half way up. I saw an XTerra, Tundra, and a Jeep at the top. | emcee smith |
| 2009-06-24 | Road clear of snow and dry to upper 4WD trailhead. | Pappy |
| 2009-06-21 | Clear and dry. | Dorje1018 |
| 2009-05-16 | North Henson Creek Road is open, dry and passable to the 4WD cutoff. The 4WD road is clear except for a 40 foot long section of knee deep snow in the first several hundred yards. | elchivoloco |
| 2009-05-11 | North Henson Creek Road is open driveable for 1.2 miles. At 1.2 mile mark there is a 12" dia. aspen over the road. After the aspen, the road is clear to the 4WD cutoff. There was one drift at about mile 0.9 easily crossed by Toyota Tacoma, should be 2wd crossable this coming weekend (or right now with given ten minutes work with a shovel). 4WD road is drifted edge to edge soon after 0.1 mile, drifts were knee deep post hole soft on May 10th. But for drifts lower on 4wd road, remainder is open to the 4wd parking area. | Wyoming Bob |
| 2008-08-17 | Up to about 3 miles from the trail head, a passenger car can make this. After that, a 4WD is probably recommended. I got a 2000 Dodge Durango (in other words, long and low) up it with no problem. A high clearance or subaru type vehicle should be able to do it. There is large open camp spot 1/4 mile from the trail head and then one more 200 yds from the trail head. | 3-Bean |
| 2008-07-10 | Clear all the way up. 2wd/passenger cars can make it without a problem. | bradyj |
| 2008-06-15 | The 4wd road is snow free to the trailhead and parking area. | piper14er |
| 2008-05-29 | North Henson Creek Road (Forest Service Road 870) is now passable in a 2 WD vehicle all the way to the lower Matterhorn Creek Trailhead. The 4WD road on up to the upper trailhead is drifted in areas and is still impassable to any vehicle. | PKR |
| 2008-05-23 | North Henson Creek Road (Forest Service Road 870) is now passable in a high clearance vehicle all the way to the lower Matterhorn Creek Trailhead. The 4WD road on up to the upper trailhead is still heavily drifted in areas and virtually unskinable due to the sporadic nature of the drifting. | PKR |
| 2008-04-27 | The Henson Creek road is totally dry. There is however a winter closure gate about 1/4 mile further than the Nellie Creek Trailhead. Call before heading out to see if opened. | KirkT |
| 2007-09-27 | Mostly OK, any decent SUV can do this road. About halfway up is a rather muddy and rutted stretch about 3-400' long. Try not to tear it up too much through here. | TravelingMatt |
| 2007-06-04 | As you'd expect, the road is completly clear to the lower TH. Driving up further to the middle TH, road is still clear and clear all the way up to the 4x4 TH. Only some minor mud patches. The road was surprisingly dry. | Kiefer |
| 2007-05-14 | Drove 500 feet past the lower trailhead, but a drift still blocks access to the upper trailhead. Expect the drift to be gone in a couple weeks. The alpine loop is car accessible, but after the first turn it gets a lot rougher. A car could make the lower trailhead once the snow is gone, but it would be slow and may be a little hard on the car. The road to the upper TH is rough, but any stock 4x4 could do it. | CO Native |
| 2007-05-03 | Drove up last weekend in a Toyota Landcruiser w/ BFG all-terrain tires to just before the junction (0.7 miles from TH). Couple snowbanks that can be driven over w/ momentum and 4wd low. We cleared out 2 trees in the middle of the road. With the temperatures what they were, the snowfield that prevented us from going any further might very well be melted down by now. | lordhelmut |
| 2005-07-06 | Road is snow free. Rough but passable by high clearance vehicles. Can\'t drive a car up this road. | SarahT |
| Location: | San Juan Mountains |
| 14ers Served: | Wetterhorn Peak, Uncompahgre Peak |
| Road Type: | Rough 2WD dirt to 10,300'. 4WD to 10,800' at the 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. Start measuring mileage from here. At 5 miles, pass the Nellie Creek trailhead sign. At 8.8 miles, there is a junction. Turn right and follow the sign for North Henson Road and Uncompahgre Peak. This new road is rougher than the Henson Creek road but can still be driven (slowly) by most good-clearance cars. At 10.8 miles, there is another junction with a sign for the Matterhorn Creek trailhead. Park near this junction if you don't have a high-clearance 4WD vehicle. Turn right and follow the sign up the hill on a rough 4WD road to the trailhead and parking area at 11.4 miles.
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