5/28/2023 Posted On: 5/29/2023 By: kyrawhitworth Info: Not passable by vehicle 0.5 miles from Crystal due to snow. Patchy from that point then patchier (more dry) near the 4WD TH. Melting out fast. Lizard lake is overflowed onto the road so clearance needed getting to Crystal. | ||||
10/29/2022 Posted On: 10/29/2022 By: drchele Info: Lost Trail Road (FR 315) is open all the way to the upper parking lot adjacent to the Lead King Basin TH. This route ("Very Spicy" according to the signage) is the clockwise version of the loop that starts just east of Beaver Lake. 6-9" of snow on the upper road makes it even more challenging. The Crystal TH (the "Spicy" or counterclockwise) route is also fully open. There are quite a few patches along the Crystal Route (FR 314) in the morning; they turn to slush in the afternoon. Assuming you have adequate clearance, skills, turn radius, and traction, you can currently still do the full loop. Both routes are narrow with limited turnouts. I'm fairly certain I added a few racing stripes to my paint job. This route collects treasures from your undercarriage - it was littered with vehicular carnage. | 5 |
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10/21/2022 Posted On: 10/21/2022 By: markf Info: The road is signposted as "4WD" where it leaves the town of Marble. It is in fact quite steep, loose and rocky.loose. A well driven Subaru could probably do it without oncoming traffic, but maneuvering around oncoming vehicles would be problematic. | ||||
9/25/2022 Posted On: 9/27/2022 By: supranihilest Info: The entire town of Marble must vote with fiendish devotion en masse for ever increasing berm budgets. The road isn't particularly difficult, a few rocky parts down low that require clearance and 4WD, but nothing out of the ordinary for a 4WD road. What is out of the ordinary, and why this road is stupid, is the 233 berms that have been built all over it. Yes, two hundred thirty three. I counted them. Some are so close you aren't even off the one you just drove over before you're on the next one. What the hell, guys. Anyway, we drove up in a Tacoma and had to take the hitch off because it was scraping all the berms. Long/extended wheelbase vehicles will probably bash your running boards and rocker panels a lot, or high center. Switchbacks are tight and we had to do Y-turns at a few. Not a road for longer wheelbase vehicles. Overall I'd give this road a 4 out of 6 difficulty rating, not a 5 out of 6 like it currently has. Also kudos to the absolute psychopath who drove a Crosstrek to the trailhead. Perhaps you took the lower road, perhaps you just have gigantic balls and no brains, kudos nonetheless. I wouldn't recommend this to other drivers and those who like to have vehicles with in tact undercarriages. | 2 |
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9/16/2022 Posted On: 9/16/2022 By: swesleyc7 Info: Attached photos representative of the trailhead road. | 2 |
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9/11/2022 Posted On: 9/13/2022 By: 5ClimbingCooneys Info: Drove to about 10,800' on the Lost Trail Creek road in a stock Nissan Xterra to attempt Roach's 20.A1V route for Hagerman Peak. Road is in "good" condition and the avalanche area is no longer of any concern. (NOTE: the road Roach mentions to start that hike is marked as private). Overall, for folks looking for information about the character of the road, the lower portion of the road is fairly rocky with plenty of loose rocks that you have to drive over--anything from baseball to cantaloupe size rocks rolling around, but no big ledges. I lightly scraped bottom once due to bad wheel placement, but in most places clearance isn't a problem for off-road capable trucks and SUVs like 4Runners, Jeeps, Tacomas, etc. Lower clearance crossover SUVs will struggle with this road. The biggest clearance issues come from the large erosion control berms that have been plowed into the road. Even in a short wheelbase SUV with 10" of clearance, I was dragging my empty tow hitch down the back side of some of those. Luckily they're just dirt. The farther up you go, the smoother the road gets until it's mostly smooth and covered in 1-2" of moon dust like powder. This makes the upper switchbacks rather loose. Hopefully the coming rains will help pack that down, but it'll be loose and sloppy if you're up there when those hit. It's definitely a slow affair. It look me about an hour to get from Marble to the high point of the road at around 10,800', but I don't like to bounce around a lot and damage my vehicle unnecessarily, so I took it slow and steady, mostly in 4-low. People in more dedicated off-road vehicles could easily go faster. There was lots of fall hunting traffic up there, so more trucks than normal. Luckily most of the hunters are nice and courteous. It's the occasional self-entitled off-roader you have to watch out for. On two occasions, I was put into a dangerous situation by oncoming drivers who were completely lacking in courtesy. The first incident was while I was driving uphill at night. The oncoming truck was traveling downhill and did not stop. There was a private drive a short distance behind me they must have assumed I could pull into, but in the dark with their headlights shining in my face, I couldn't see it very well and nearly tipped my vehicle trying to hurriedly back into it at an awkward angle. Lesson in that case: if the other vehicle starts backing up, please WAIT, dim your lights so the reversing party can see better, and give them time to safely pull aside before passing. The second incident came when I had just descended one of the steeper, rockier sections surrounded by willows on each side and no pullouts. The oncoming vehicle (traveling uphill) had just passed a pullout about 30' back on relatively flat ground, but kept trying to force me backwards uphill. I stopped and got out and pointed out there was nowhere for me go and I might not be able to successfully reverse up what I'd just come down. He said it didn't matter and that I HAD to yield. I asked him if there was anywhere he could go and he didn't even look; he just told me I HAD to back up and let him by. My only option was to pull off on the side of one of the erosion berms about 200 yards back with one wheel hanging over the air above the creek. So just a reminder to all who drive these roads: in Colorado, while uphill traffic generally has the right of way, there are exceptions and some measure of courtesy is even written into the law. Here's the official text: "On narrow mountain highways with turnouts having a grade of six percent or more, ascending vehicles shall have the right-of-way over descending vehicles, except where it is more practicable for the ascending vehicle to return to a turnout." I've met far too many people up on these narrow roads lately that ignore the content after the last comma. If you're the closer vehicle to a turnout and can safely get there, even if traveling uphill, please practice courtesy and back down. Also, don't be a jerk and just keep driving right at people. Give them time to pull over! | ||||
9/4/2022 Posted On: 9/7/2022 By: ochres Info: Headed up to Lead King Basin TH from Marble to do the S-Ridge in a stock 4Runner with AT tires. Road from Marble to the TH wasn't anything too harrowing, though there are sections where I would hate to meet a vehicle going in the opposite direction. There are quite a few very narrow shelf roads without any pullouts, one particular section has drop offs on both sides (marked by white posts on either side)...a little hairy and we were glad the 4Runner wasn't any wider, but no serious rock obstacles to navigate. A few tight switchbacks that might be challenging in a longer wheelbase. A Jeep, Tacoma, 4Runner, and a Honda Pilot at the TH. We took the road back to Crystal on the way down. VERY rough rocky road with one notable rock obstacle immediately after you pass the Crested Butte junction. Scraped a bit, but could probably be avoided with a good spotter. Wouldn't hurt to have rock sliders and skid plates. Would NOT recommend this road with stock all-season tires, as there are some pretty sharp rocks that could pop your tire. Road from Crystal Mill back to Marble could probably be done in a crossover with some clearance, AT tires, and a good driver. Had we not been trying to get to a climbing crag near Crystal, I'd probably opt to go back the way we came from to avoid the rough ride. Would not recommend doing this in wet conditions. | ||||
7/24/2022 Posted On: 7/25/2022 By: downishardest Info: 4wd road was easily passable in my UTV, although it came really close to tipping a couple times. Saw several trucks that made it up. | 1 |
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7/16/2022 Posted On: 7/17/2022 By: zootloopz Info: Ended up driving the upper road in my access cab 4x4 Tacoma long bed. This was one of the narrowest roads Ive driven so far in my cent/bicent journey. There were a couple times I was concerned about making sure a wheel didnt slide off the side of the shelf road near creek erosion in shitty shale, as well as tight switchbacks and many logs trimmed with some excess left poking into the road. Some stretches of easy driving between some tougher obstacles. Very few pullouts or places to pass. Not a road Id like to repeat tbh. But I did end up making it without issue, and my buddy made it about halfway in his Subaru. The obstruction mentioned in the last comment is no longer present. | 1 |
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6/2/2022 Posted On: 6/2/2022 By: butcher213 Info: Upper route to Lead King is impassable to my stock 4runner, due to logs blocking a quarter of the road, at about mile 2.7, measured from the reservoir/lake. Below this, the road is fairly muddy, but I was able to get through with some momentum. See photo. | 1 |
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5/5/2022 Posted On: 5/5/2022 By: Skimo95 Info: Attempted the loop today, stopped shy due to uncertain snow conditions in the afternoon. Looks like youre able to get up the high path, just prior to the creek crossing (if theres parking). Someone stashed a sled just after, and looks like drove up to the switchbacks which cross the creek. Id give it until the end of the month unless youre skinning/experienced sled. Early morning would most likely be no issue on the approach avy wise, go at your own discretion. Next time Ill probably scope the Crystal road in a friends high clearance 4x4 first. Beautiful day, parking at LKB/Crystal split dry. P.S Bill pictures have to be rotated if taken vertical, hire a high school IT kid to make your life easier ;) | 5 |
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9/17/2021 Posted On: 11/4/2023 By: Ssgustafson Info: The northern part of the loop to LKB TH is IMO a 4 /6 on the road difficulty scale. The avalanche site was easily passable. | ||||
8/29/2021 Posted On: 8/29/2021 By: oorg Info: The road to the trailhead was much less rough that I expected. We made it without any issues in our stock Tacoma. The switchbacks are tight and narrow and passing opportunities are limited. Large 4WD vehicles will probably have issues with the switchbacks and passing other vehicles. Heading to the trailhead, we looped clockwise (stayed left). We returned the same path since it sounded like the road past the Crystal Mill was more rough. | ||||
8/28/2021 Posted On: 9/1/2021 By: soundchaser2112 Info: The upper road is a semi-aggressive trailhead all around that could be completed by most 4x4 SUVs. If it rains at all you will have a much much harder time. Trucks and long wheel base vehicles need some extra height to clear the bumps. There is also a shallow stream crossing | ||||
8/16/2021 Posted On: 8/16/2021 By: Skimo95 Info: Hagerman is in great shape. Permits proposed for next season | 3 |
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