Trailhead condition requests, questions, alerts, etc.
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In a few weeks my dad and I are going to be doing some backpacking in the Indian Peaks and James Peaks Wildernesses. Since our permits for the IPW are on the west side of divide, I was hoping to save driving time and park near the Rollins Pass Rd railroad trestle on the Winter Park Side and take the Rogers Pass trail over the divide at Rogers Pass and drop down to the east side of the divide in the James to fish some of the lakes (Rogers/Arapahoe/Forest) and loop back around via Rollins Pass on foot back to the car.
My question is how is the west Rollins Pass Rd up to Riflesight Notch (railroad trestle) where the Rogers Pass TH is? Would it be passable by a passenger car? I've seen conflicting info that that section requires high clearance and others that say its fine for a passenger car.
It's a pain in the butt, but it is doable in dry conditions for a passenger car.
It's a pretty consistent challenge. The areas that stood out for me were: a ton of potholes around mile 3.5, a lot of consistent rockiness from mile 7.5 to 8 or so. Just take it nice and slow, and you should get through it.
Once the trestle comes into view (mile 9 or so?), you have a couple more switchbacks. It gets a bit steeper here, it wouldn't be the worst idea to park before the switchbacks, as there isn't much parking right at the turnoff for Rogers Pass.
It has admittedly been quite a while since I was up that side (which for reference is known as Corona Pass rather than Rollins in terms of road name) so 12ers info holds much more weight. It's possible they just haven't maintained it in a while/yet this season. I don't remember anything that would stop a normal passenger car from going all the way to Rollins Pass, and have seen them up there every time I've been. Not a Corvette or something low-slung mind you, but the real 'must have clearance and 4x4' is just the section from Rollins Pass over to the tunnel (FR531 I think?). It is a forest road, so expect washboarding and rutting in places.
12ers is correct, I was up there on both the 3rd and the 4th for some hiking and skiing. There were some passenger cars at the railroad trestle by Rogers pass and some Subarus at the top of Rollins/Corona Pass but I don't think any other passenger cars that far. Lots of minivans were going up as well. It will certainly be slow going but with a good driver you should be able to make it. I'm always happy to have a truck on those roads.
I haven't been on the road yet this year, but I was on it in both 2014 and 2015. I'm not sure whether it's Grand County or the Forest Service who is responsible for maintaining the road, but whoever it is is doing a lousy job. Yes the road was passable for passenger cars, but there were tons of potholes, ruts, washboards, rocks sticking up, etc.
Every village has at least one idiot. Successful villages choose someone else to be their leader.
