Huerfano/Lily Lake Trailhead

Posted On: 8/19/2026 By: drewskiclimbs
Info: Made it to the upper trailhead just fine in a Mazda CX5 AWD with 7.5" clearance. Had to crawl over some sections but never bottomed out. Was worth it going slow to avoid hiking up that road. Make sure you're gassed up before you go in because it's a long way in/out before you'll have a change to refill.

Posted On: 8/22/2026 By: colton
Info: Drove out in a Subaru Outback the evening of 8/19. I stopped 2 miles from the trailhead, as soon as you get through the private property (I think it's 37.64761643900111 N, -105.4679650998408 W, but I'm not sure). I was worried about going any further because it was getting dark, but after walking the road, I'm pretty confident I could have made it. The road is rough in places, but manageable if you go slow. I didn't find the driving directions for the trailhead to be very useful, and I could not tell where the landslide area referenced was. There is a location on google maps called "Lily Lake Trailhead (for Mt. Lindsey)" but it seemed to be still in the private property section of the road, and I had to drive another mile or two to get past the private property to a place I could camp.

Posted On: 8/16/2026 By: josephsiefers
Info: I knew the road would be bad but I was still surprised tbh. I didn't really see a comfortable 2wd bail out point since so much of the leading road is flanked by private property. 2 miles from the trailhead at the forest service boundary is the "2wd trailhead" I guess (not even listed on Google maps) but there's only 2 parking spaces there and there are at least 3 sketchy sections before that are not typically present on a typical 2wd trailhead.

28 14ers in and this one felt like the final boss of roads for the 2wd hiker.

Posted On: 8/5/2026 By: nilaoire
Info: Easy to reach the trailhead in a high clearance vehicle. A sube outback, maybe not. I didn't see any outbacks at the TH on 8/2/26. Sections of the road prior to entering the trees have deep pot holes, currently avoidable.

Posted On: 7/31/2026 By: Ed_Groves
Info: I drove up to this trailhead in a stock Tacoma 6 cylinder 4wd. The road is quite moderate but it is very, very long. There is a rock here and there where good ground clearance is needed. To dodge a taller rock or two you may get some racing stripes on the side of your vehicle from scraping branches. Otherwise, this road isn't too difficult.

Posted On: 7/31/2026 By: EvanKBlack
Info: Drove in a 2WD stock Nissan Rogue w/ 8.4" clearance up to probably 4WD, at least this summer. Could have possibly gone further but divots got deeper & exposed rocks bigger. Some of the loose steep hills might cause a little skidding, too. I've added a new marker to GMaps called "Lily Lake TH (for Mt Lindsey)" that hopefully will help w/ navigating in future.

Posted On: 7/5/2026 By: beamersauce
Info: Good dirt road to landslide area (2 miles prior to trailhead). Slightly rougher but manageable for the last 2 miles. Narrow road so keep an eye on pullouts for passing. Made it up in Kia Telluride, mostly trucks up top, few subarus, Nissan rogue. 20 miles from highway so long and slow ride back.

Posted On: 5/24/2026 By: ryansappleid
Info: Completely dry & subaru-able! Lots of spots at trailhead to park & camp.

Posted On: 3/27/2026 By: eastcoasthiker
Info: DON'T USE GOOGLE MAPS! Follow instructions from this website or use coordinates. If your 4x4 can drive one tire over a somewhat skinny fallen conifer that is partially blocking the road, you can likely make it to the upper trailhead. Otherwise v easy for Land Cruiser.

Posted On: 3/19/2026 By: supranihilest
Info: Drivable to the landslide. Some downed trees prior to the landslide make for narrow navigation but still doable. Snow and large ice flows blocking the road continue in spurts all the way to the summer trailhead. I expect a few weeks before it's possible to drive much past the landslide.

Posted On: 3/14/2026 By: the_hare
Info: Road is blocked at the end of the meadow at the foot of the landslide beneath Montez Reservoir by loaded snow shaded by the forest. This will take a while to melt out, and then there are several large downed trees just past this. There's a few drifts that have been rutted thru & might require 8in or so of clearance & a couple large puddles & muddy spots but otherwise all clear

Posted On: 3/9/2026 By: oliverrobinson1224
Info: Made it up to landslide area (10050 ft), after that got stuck in too deep of snow and .3 miles after, there is a slew of fallen trees that completely block the road. Pretty easy to get to this point with some clearance and continuous snow from after the ranches, and did it with a stock f150 with all seasons. May be able to bypass with a snowmobile, higher above the road in the woods, but there are multiple fallen tree sections as the road gets to the summer trailhead, and the road is completely blocked after the landslide area.

Posted On: 2/9/2026 By: Jimmy Jay
Info: Trail is impassable after the avalanche area ( 37°39'2.1671" N 105°28'2.5752" W ) unless you have a snowmobile.
Recommend high clearance 4wd right now due to some deep mud spots and snow along the road up to this point.

Created a snowshoe trench up Zapata to the ridgeline heading for California Peak, but turned around due to the wind and my slow pace due to the deep snow. Might try again Friday or Saturday.

NOTE: There were fresh mountain lion tracks padding along on some older snowshoe tracks on the road between the avy area and the Zapata TH.

Posted On: 1/4/2026 By: daniel_a34
Info: Managed to ram through the snow to about half a mile from the Huerfano trailhead in a mostly stock Tacoma. Tree across the road stopped us there.

Posted On: 10/3/2025 By: Summitwise
Info: Dry all the way to the 4WD TH. We have a 80 series Landcruiser that's lifted with 35's and nearly 12" of clearance. Aired down to 14psi and had no issues. Did not have to drop into 4WL.

These updates are always biased based on experience so know that we spend tremendous amounts of time in the back-country driving 4WD roads. I would rate this road as it stood yesterday as easier than the Huron, Wetterhorn, and Uncompaghre approach roads.