South Colony Lakes Trailhead

Posted On: 12/21/2025 By: Kiefer
Info: Trucks & Jeeps can only make it another .2 mile past the lower 2wd trailhead. If you have tracks on your ATV, you can make 1.2 miles further up the road before a HUGE tree completely blocks the road.
This recent wind storm wasn't kind. I lost track of all the downed trees across the road.

Flotation isn't needed until .3 miles past the upper 4wd trailhead. It was mashed potatoes this morning by 10:00 am.

Posted On: 12/13/2025 By: bigfoot1
Info: A bit if snow and ice on the road in the quarter of a mile before the 2wd lot that I scraped bottom on. If you have 5" or more of clearance, you'll be ok. I'm guessing it'll be melted and completely snow-free to the lot in less than a week. The lot itself is dry and actually a bit muddy.

Posted On: 12/7/2025 By: emself
Info: Road above 2WD parking lot is snowed in & inaccessible to vehicles

Posted On: 10/11/2025 By: Nosimplehighway
Info: Plenty of nice dispersed campsites once you enter Nat'l Forest land 1.5 miles from the lower trailhead. The upper trailhead is doable, but approaches the limits, of what most stock AWD vehicles can safely handle. I did this in a stock 2021 Subaru Crosstrek sport with 8.7 inches of clearance and all-terrain tires. The most challenging driving difficulties were at roughly 1.3-1.4 miles from the lower trailhead - just before entering Nat'l Forest land. This stretch of road was passable in AWD by picking a line carefully, but traction on this section would be smoother with 4-LO. After crossing onto Forest service land, the final 1.2 miles or so is a bit easier and has plenty of places to camp.

Posted On: 10/2/2025 By: drewskiclimbs
Info: Road to the upper trailhead was very bumpy / rutted out. 4WD and good clearance are a must. Took ~30 mins to get from lower TH to upper lot (worth it though, if you can make it). The pictures do not do justice to how dicey it is in a few sections. Plenty of parking available up top.

Posted On: 9/19/2025 By: bdloftin77
Info: Saw three Subarus at the upper TH: a Forester, an Ascent, and a Crosstrek. Also an H3, a Tacoma, and a few more similar vehicles. Though I’m generally a bold driver, I’d definitely hesitate to take my old 7.5” clearance RAV4 up. Lots of very careful line choosing, and even then every bit of clearance helps. Summer conditions.

Posted On: 9/2/2025 By: darkhelmet1983
Info: Road is very rough. High clearance or careful driving is necessary. Couple places that would be considered obstacles for AWD and moderate clearance vehicles, but nothing of note for a wrangler.

Posted On: 9/2/2025 By: Adventuredan
Info: Made it to a Pull-out Camp site inside the NF Land just a half mile or so below the 4WD Trailhead in a rental Hyundai Palisade with 7.9" clearance! Took a lot of problem solving and moving rocks and building bridges, but we made it! Could have made it all the way to the 4WD but at that point we weren't saving much time or hiking vs the slow crawling up rock and we had already made it out of the Private property.

Posted On: 8/18/2025 By: Lepeterson30
Info: Made it to the 4x4 trailhead in our Jeep Renegade, 8" of clearance. This is the spiciest road we've put her through but we made it so wanted to give hope to others :) Also, wanted to add that the worst part in my opinion was the beginning just after the 2x2 lot, once past this point it's still rough but doable with the exception of one other steep spicy area. Going down was easier than going up.

Posted On: 8/18/2025 By: Benito_Esposti
Info: Road is in rough shape in a couple of places. Was able to get a 2015 Subaru Outback up there but it took some thinking and planning to get through some of the roughest sections. Typically stuck to the far right through them. Someone else got a 2008 Subaru outback up there as well, but they got a flat tire on the way back down going through the highest of the rough spots. We were able to help them throw on a spare on got it down the rest of the way but it was tricky with that little tire. Any high clearance vehicles shouldn’t have too much difficulty. Be careful with outback-type vehicles but it is possible.

Posted On: 7/29/2025 By: nutella262
Info: Agree with other comments that the road is in pretty rough shape beyond the 2WD TH. Not Nellie Creek bad but maybe comparable to Castle Creek minus the stream crossing. Able to do with stock 4Runner - impressed someone got up with a Subaru outback.

Posted On: 7/20/2025 By: jgregory
Info: The 4WD trailhead is very rough and has deteriorated in the past few years. If you care about your vehicle or do not have a capable 4WD, high-clearance vehicle, plan to use the 2WD trailhead. There are signs saying "No Overnight Parking", but enforcement seemed questionable at best. You may get lucky and be able to hitch a ride with someone from the 2WD to the 4WD, but don't count on it!

Posted On: 7/8/2025 By: 8000too
Info: Lower trailhead has "No Parking" signs posted. Does anyone have more info on this?

Posted On: 7/7/2025 By: davidclimbs
Info: Drove up to the 4WD trailhead on 7/4, road is pretty rough and I saw lots of vehicles have to deal with more than they bargained for. Looking back at previous posts it seems that the road has gotten worse this year. Made it up in a moded Xterra. Lower and upper lots were full either way for the holiday.

Posted On: 5/19/2025 By: mmontello1
Info: Summer conditions to Upper Trailhead.