Capitol City from Lake City CR20 Road Conditions

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ultrarunningkid
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Capitol City from Lake City CR20 Road Conditions

Post by ultrarunningkid »

Hello,

Thinking about doing Wetterhorn/Matterhorn/Uncompahgre from Capitol City TH parking. The rest of my trip is all using paved parking lots as I really don't want to add much stress on my trip in terms of worrying about getting to THs. I have a 2WD Honda HRV with about 9in of ground clearance.

How is the road in terms of quality and width coming from Lake City on CR20? I got my car to Silver Creek/Grizzly Gulch last year fairly easily in the dark but I don't really want to do that again as it required watching out for ground clearance and multiple cases of trying to fit 2 cars on a one lane road with cliffs.

Thanks for any info.
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9patrickmurphy
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Re: Capitol City from Lake City CR20 Road Conditions

Post by 9patrickmurphy »

Henson Creek road to Capitol City is typically graded. Much, much easier than the road to Grizzly Gulch
ultrarunningkid
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Re: Capitol City from Lake City CR20 Road Conditions

Post by ultrarunningkid »

9patrickmurphy wrote: Mon Jul 19, 2021 2:24 pm Henson Creek road to Capitol City is typically graded. Much, much easier than the road to Grizzly Gulch
Thank you! Grizzly Gulch was pretty stressful at 3am and this was more of a vacation trip so I didn't want to induce any unwarranted stress. Google still estimates it will take me 45 minutes for 9 miles so that is something.
ltlFish99
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Re: Capitol City from Lake City CR20 Road Conditions

Post by ltlFish99 »

I was there last july 30th and thought the road to Capitol city was great.
The road from there to the 2wd materhorn creek trailhead was pretty good shape. It's only 2 to 3 miles. I parked at the 2wd trailhead since I was meeting others.
enoki
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Re: Capitol City from Lake City CR20 Road Conditions

Post by enoki »

I drove both to Silver Creek/Grizzly Gulch and Capitol City a couple of weeks ago. I drive a Forester and am not at all comfortable with rough roads (as I learned lol). I found the CC road only mildly easier/less stressful than SC/GG. I parked before the actual 2WD road to Matterhorn Creek - I think this was the right decision for me as there were probably 5 places on that road up where I was glad I was not driving it. It's an extra 2 miles to the 2WD trailhead, but it's pretty easy hiking.

CC is definitely less narrow, so that helps. But road quality did not feel significantly better to me than the road to SC/GG.

All of this has the caveat that I have learned I am a driving weenie - really did not have a taste for these roads.


I loved the Wetterhorn/Matterhorn/Uncompahgre combo tho. Probably my favorite day in the mountains so far. Enjoy!
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