South Colony Lakes Trailhead

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

Posted On: 2/4/2025 By: JasonCrane
Info: Smooth, easy drive to lower 2WD trailhead from Westcliffe. Completely dry road conditions. There's a very rough patch of dirt & rock near the start of the 4WD, but road conditions improve & appears either OHV or high clearance vehicles have packed down the snow & are making their way to S Colony Lakes without much issue. There's a fallen tree that vehicles seem to have been able to circumvent. Note - I only hiked from the lower 2WD trailhead at ~8,800 feet to the Rainbow Trail junction.

Posted On: 1/23/2025 By: markf
Info: road is smooth and dry to the 2WD trailhead; it looks like ATVs are getting past the Rainbow Trail and probably to the upper S Colony Lake TH.

Posted On: 12/28/2024 By: daway8
Info: Road to 2WD lot still dry but snow and ice patches start a quarter mile after that. Within half a mile afterwards, already signs of vehicles getting stuck. Beyond that the road was a messy mix of snow, ice and various vehicles leaving various signs of distress. Some snowmobiles or such made it all the way to the 4WD TH and even beyond to the old 4WD TH. This made walking up the road much easier, but there were abundant patches of ice to watch for, with a couple being thin enough to punch through. Large tree recently downed across road just past the current 4WD TH which seems to have fallen at some point after the snowmobiles made tracks beyond.

Posted On: 12/8/2024 By: daniel_a34
Info: 2wd trailhead and road leading to it has no snow, truck got stuck in 14" of snow on the road a couple hundred yards after the 2wd trailhead. Some snowcat type vehicle with tracks (and maybe a snowmobile or two) has made it up to the 4wd trailhead, seemingly without difficulty.

Posted On: 11/21/2024 By: bigfoot1
Info: The road is dry to the 2wd trailhead, unplowed past that. I was the only car at the 2wd lot at 830 and 1600 (Thursday). Furthest car tracks got up to (37.98533, -105.4945) and a really nice, decked out 4 runner was parked about 0.2 miles further up the road. Seemed like they tried to go further but couldn't make it up that first hill so they backed down. Got stuck behind a bunch of cows on 119 on the way out lol

Posted On: 11/14/2024 By: greenschist
Info: The road to the lower 2WD trailhead is plowed and clear. The first incline above 2WD parking is a mix of ice, snow drifts, and rocks. Once you get in the forest the snow is continuous to the upper trailhead, averaging at least a foot deep. At least one person has driven beyond the lower parking. From their tracks I can tell they had a high clearance 4WD with big tires. They stopped at one of the first campsites beyond the private property. I wouldn't try to do what they did without a similar vehicle and probably some chains. Their tire tracks are pretty icy in many places. Another storm could make anything beyond the lower lot inaccessible. If you're approaching this TH from the North, Google Maps may try to send you right to southbound Colony Lane and directly to the parking. The last mile or so of this road is not plowed, and the last half mile is holding deep untracked snow. I started slipping immediately, even with 4WD and good tires. If you end up on Colony Lane, you can a take a left on Marble Rd, a right on Colfax, then follow the standard directions. There's a wooden sign on the Colony Lane/Marble Rd intersection saying "Easy National Forest Access" telling you to do just that. Bring snowshoes if you want to hike the road into the basin. I tried to snowshoe to South Colony Lakes, but ran out of time and energy before treeline. I broke trail from the NFS boundary on the road (end of the tire tracks) to the Wilderness boundary. From there I had trouble getting over deadfall in snowshoes, since it was my first time using them. Sorry if my trench is sloppy.

Posted On: 9/29/2024 By: rchacon
Info: Drove in a stock 4Runner with AT tires. Definitely a four-wheel-drive road I would not take a Subaru, even a Wilderness Edition. Road was comparable to Nellie Creek. Saw other 4Runners, Wranglers, Tacomas, and full size trucks at the trail head. Would not recommend anything stock thats not similar.

Posted On: 9/29/2024 By: mmontello1
Info: Definitely been better, but still not really much worse than normal. Most of the "newer" obstacles seemed to be between mile 1-2.

Posted On: 9/11/2024 By: daway8
Info: If you're a hard core 4WD enthusiast who seeks out roads purely for the challenge, with no other goal in mind, you'll likely be bored by this road. But if you're a 14er hiker who rarely does 4WD roads except as a means to an end of reaching a trailhead then this road might terrify you. There are no obstacles, per se, in terms of anything like the Jaws obstacles on the road going up to Lake Como. But there are some impressive ruts, dips, jutting rocks etc. With 4Runner or better clearance most of the road can be easily handled just by driving really, really slow. But there were a couple spots where I was obliged to very carefully pick a line between ruts and dips. Saw a couple Subarus up there but that's probably pushing it clearance-wise unless you're a really experienced and confident driver.

Posted On: 9/1/2024 By: MaryinColorado
Info: Third and final time up the road this season. WOW, has it deteriorated fast! Would I take anything with less than 4Runner/Jeep clearance up? No. No, I would not. Even the initial washout obstacle has gotten much deeper over the past month. I just don't think it's worth the risk. To the truck that hauled a U-Haul trailer up (??!!), kudos to you, but what the heck?! Also, to whoever lost a piece of their vehicle on the road, it's still there in case you want to retrieve it... Remember, just because you see certain vehicles at a trailhead does NOT mean they made it without damage! Grains of salt, folks.

Posted On: 8/31/2024 By: The_Ramp
Info: My 4th time driving this road to the upper TH and I was THIS close to a perfect run in my stock Xterra... bottomed out on one of the lower difficulties on my way out - UGH! Road is definitely gnarly but I think if you can get through the initial switchbacks, you can handle the rest of it. 4WD, high clearance, and a keen eye are definite requirements. Lots of parking available on Thursday night (8/29) but the lot was filling up quickly on Friday afternoon when I left (8/30). Oh - and I had decent cell service with Verizon while at the lot!

Posted On: 9/3/2024 By: ironman1942
Info: Took the road all the way to a 4WD TH in a stock 5th gen 4Runner TRD Off Road w/BFG KO2 stock 265/70R17 size tires. I drove the road a few times as we camped out for the weekend and also did some other activities in the area. I used 4-Lo up and down the road to control speed with downshifting. I didn't bother airing down, but it would absolutely make for a smoother ride (did so when we drove Medano Pass on Sunday and it's definitely a more chill experience). Didn't notice any particularly sharp rocks to worry about punctures - most of the rocks appear rounded and well seated in the dirt. It is not hard to bottom out if you're not paying attention on this road. It is extremely rutted, and there are at least 2-3 good sized boulders that will scrape bottom if you don't pay attention. They're avoidable, but if you aren't lifted, don't just yeet yourself into it - it WILL hit/scrape something. First time up, nothing special. On my way down, I started scraping one of the big boulders on my front skid plate and had to back up to go around it. I was going slowly, so thankfully no damage. 2nd time up, I must have chosen my route in one of the rutted areas just a bit differently and my tires spun. I engaged my rear diff lock and immediately continued on just fine. I could have just backed up and modified my line, but it's so fun to use the tools! :-) I saw a Subaru Outback make it to the upper TH. Also a truck with a U-Haul parked in one of the pullouts before the TH (!? lmao). Hope they plan to live in that thing now bc it looks like a pure nightmare to get it turned around and back down. Overall, this was a really fun drive!!! It takes upwards of 30 minutes to get to the upper TH iirc. For comparison, I would say this is substantially MORE gnarly than Lake Como Road up to the typical ~10k parking spot most people stop at without modified and aggressively lifted vehicles. Como is wild with Jaws, etc higher up, but Colony is overall way more aggressive and constant by comparison up until those points imo.

Posted On: 8/24/2024 By: Sbenfield
Info: Agree strongly with previous reports that this road is worse than prior years. Right now I would only consider taking a proper 4wd vehicle with good clearance.

Posted On: 9/2/2024 By: maff
Info: Two data points: -a Cybertruck made it to the 4WD parking lot (and back down again, as best I can tell) -a (Wilderness Trim) Crosstrek made it to about 200 yards from the 4WD lot. Maybe it was the long water crossing (15-20 ft puddle) that stopped them short or maybe it was parking (plenty of spots Monday morning when I went past but the weekend could have been different). Frankly both of those surprised me. I would not call this Subaru-able (and saw an Outback turn around about a half mile into the attempt) but I guess anything is possible. Wouldn't (and didn't) do it myself. Hike it unless you have a serious vehicle.