| Date | Status Information Posted by 14ers.com Forum Users | Posted By |
|---|---|---|
| 2009-10-26 | Made it all the way to the Handies 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 |
| 2009-08-11 | Was here on July 21. Was in someone else‘s raised pickup getting here. The portion of road from Grizzly Gulch is definitely rougher and then gets very rough near the TH. High clearance a must for the entire road, else park 1/2 mile from the TH. Jeep preferred. | nyker |
| 2009-06-25 | Forgot to mention, I have been up there twice this week. For me, it took about 1hr 20-30 minutes from Lake City to the upper trailhead. I took it fairly slow. | emcee smith |
| 2009-06-25 | The road to the upper trailhead is totally clear. There are some wicked gullies and bumps in the road, it would take some very slow driving in a 2wd to the lower trailhead. From the lower to the upper is a bit rutted out, but very passable for a high clearance vehicle. The creek is running heavy, and the downhill entrance is very steep. No problems in my Tacoma, and saw some Suburbans, XTerras, and an FJ as well. | emcee smith |
| 2009-06-09 | The American Basin 4WD road is clear to the trailhead as of 6-7-2009. | ScottN |
| 2009-06-01 | In a 4Runner. Passable up to 11,350. The road had deep muddy ruts for about 50 yard in between the snow banks. It might be passable but I didn‘t want to chance it. If you get passed this its clear all the way up to the parking lot. | BAUMGARA |
| 2009-05-09 | Cinnamon Pass is OPEN and the road to American Basin is plowed to the stream crossing, 0.8 miles from the upper trailhead. | BillMiddlebrook |
| 2008-07-12 | Drove my Suzuki Samurai up to American Basin on 11 JUL 08. It is 4WD with good clearance. It handled the rough road and stream ford without problem. There is one washout on the way up to AB (after the Silver Creek/Grizzly Gulch trail head, but before the Cinnamon Pass turn off) that would stop passenger cars without careful wheel placement. | Sourdough |
| 2008-07-12 | Drove my Suzuki Samurai up to American Basin on 11 JUL 08. It is 4WD with good clearance. It handled the rough road and stream ford without problem. There is one washout on the way up to AB (after the Silver Creek/Grizzly Gulch trail head, but before the Cinnamon Pass turn off) that would stop passenger cars without careful wheel placement. | Sourdough |
| 2008-06-26 | The creek crossing is as far as you can right now due to snow blocking your exit out of the stream. There is also quite a bit of snow on the road leading up to the upper parking lot and it may be a while before it clears out. | thatguy |
| 2008-06-10 | 4WD road to American Basin is still mostly snow-covered and undrivable as of June 8. Cinnamon Pass Rd is open all the way from Lake City to Silverton. | scotthsu |
| 2008-05-23 | The Cinnamon Pass road is now plowed and passable to the American Basin Trailhead turn off. The road is a bit of a mud fest currently. The road on up to the parking is still impassable, however the bulldozer has taken a pass at this section and is making progress. | PKR |
| 2007-06-28 | Road is dry to 4X4 TH with the exception of the creek crossing | native_mntguy |
| 2007-06-27 | Road is dry all the way to the 4X4 TH | native_mntguy |
| 2007-06-04 | As the previous two posts state, the road up to American Basin TH is clear. The road is muddy and wet in places but quite doable. There is a small turnout area just past the first stream crossing and as Del_Sur said, not too deep, yet! The upper 4x4 TH is not accessable yet due to continous snow. | Kiefer |
| 2007-05-30 | Plowed up to the first creek crossing, which isn't deep at all. Big area for parking. American Basin is full of snow. | del_sur |
| 2007-05-19 | cinammon pass open to Silverton | giarcd |
| 2007-05-19 | road is plowed and accessible across creek,trail still coverd with snow | giarcd |
| 2006-07-11 | Open to the end. The stream crossing is now ok for any 4WD with good clearance. | BillMiddlebrook |
| 2006-06-19 | On 6/12/2006 there was still snow over the road above the river crossing just below the trailhead. It may take until the last week of June or so to melt out enough to get a vehicle to the upper trailhead. | BillMiddlebrook |
| 2006-05-21 | I was up there on May 20, 2006 to climb Handies. The road is passable all the way to the fork to Cin. Pass. There was a large snow plow pile that didn't allow us to pass. I tried but ended up in really soupy gloppy stuff on the left and almost got stuck. So it was about a 1.3 mile walk up to the normal Handies Trailhead p.lot. | marbleman |
| 2006-05-21 | closed at the turn off from cinnamon pass, however cinammon pass is open all the way to silverton | jcwhite |
| 2005-06-01 | On 5/29 I tried to drive to American Basin from Silverton. There was a couple of big boulders on the narrow part of the road that stopped my progress. I couldn't move them myself or drive around them. I'm sure they'll be moved relatively soon but if you're going up right now they might still be there to block your way. | daveartusi |
| 2005-05-15 | Road is plowed clear of snow all the way to the trailhead. Muddy; you will need 4WD. Camping at trailhead very difficult due to enormous plow snow walls. | mouser |
| Location: | San Juan Mountains |
| 14ers Served: | Handies Peak |
| Road Type: | Rough 2WD dirt to 10,400' at the Silver Creek/Grizzly Gulch TH. Easy 4WD to 11,300' at the turn-off for American Basin. 4WD to 11,600' at the TH. |
| Winter Access: | Closed far below the Silver Creek/Grizzly Gulch TH. |
| Directions: | From Lake City, drive 2 miles south on Colorado 149 and turn right on the Lake San Cristibol road (County Road 30). This is the southern entrance to the "Alpine Loop" scenic byway. Follow the signs to Cinnamon Pass. Drive about 20 miles to a signed fork in the road. Left is to American Basin and right is to Cinnamon Pass. Turn left. If you do not have a 4WD vehicle with good clearance, park in the pull-offs near the start of this road. It's 0.9 mile to the trailhead from the start of the American Basin road. After 0.2 mile, you must cross a stream. There is more parking in this area. At the end of the road, the trailhead has a large parking area and the trail leading to Handies is obvious.
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