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Blue Lakes Trailhead

?CLOSED FOR SUMMER 2025
Starting June 2, 2025, the trailhead will be CLOSED for the summer! GMUG National Forests announce temporary closure of the Blue Lakes area for trailhead construction and restoration efforts. The closure is expected to remain through August 2025 and will be lifted as soon as it is safe to access the area. More Info...
  
5/22/2025
Posted On: 5/23/2025 By: ltlFish99
Info: Road is dry to the trailhead. Trail dry to wilderness boundary, a little snow until the creereek crossing. Deep posthole adventure, between knee and thigh deep from creek onward towards lower BLUE lake.
 
5/6/2025
Posted On: 5/6/2025 By: PaulineAnna
Info: OURAY, Colo. (May 1, 2025) — The Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison (GMUG) National Forests announce temporary closure of Blue Lakes area for trailhead construction and restoration efforts, beginning June 2. The closure is expected to remain through August 2025 and will be lifted as soon as it is safe to access the area.
 
5/2/2025
Posted On: 5/2/2025 By: BillMiddlebrook
Info: Starting June 2, 2025, the trailhead will be CLOSED for the summer! GMUG National Forests announce temporary closure of the Blue Lakes area for trailhead construction and restoration efforts. The closure is expected to remain through August 2025 and will be lifted as soon as it is safe to access the area. https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/gmug/newsroom/releases/gmug-national-forests-temporarily-close-blue-lakes-area
 
12/21/2024
Posted On: 1/30/2025 By: ltlFish99
Info: Snow starts at mile 3, much deeper by miles 5 and 6, with a 5 to six inch snow hawk. We parked at mile 7, as snow was to deep for my vehicle. One vehicle that attempted to go past that point, got stuck .25 mile past mile 7, and had to turn around. we got stuck on the way out, and had to dig out with my shovel. Restroom at the trailhead had too much snow blocking access.
 
7/12/2024
Posted On: 7/26/2024 By: ltlFish99
Info: Dry to the trailhead, and to Lower blue lake. The Road has been graded nicely between mile 6 and 7.5, as it is much smoother than before.
 
5/27/2024
Posted On: 5/27/2024 By: supranihilest
Info: Dry to the trailhead. Bathroom is open. Trail conditions are mostly dry for the first mile and a half or so to the wilderness boundary, patchy to the creek crossing, and then continuous from that point onward. Once the trail begins rising above the creek and traversing the steep forest below "S 4" the packed trail becomes very narrow, typically a foot or two wide, and is extremely icy in the mornings and soft and slippery later in the day. A slip off the trail would send you down the 30-40 degree forested slope. I recommend at least microspikes and appreciated wearing crampons (the only traction we had) up and down it. We saw unprepared hikers in just tennis shoes up where they'd have a hard time getting down. Snowshoes wouldn't really be too useful due to how narrow the trail is right now, and our group didn't try to ski down it either.
2
 
11/10/2023
Posted On: 11/13/2023 By: ltlFish99
Info: More snow than last week. Snow on the road starts at mile 7, and is consistent from mile 8 to the trailhead. Trailhead parking lot is all packed snow.
 
11/3/2023
Posted On: 11/8/2023 By: ltlFish99
Info: Road is dry until mile 7, then muddy. The last mile has some snow and ice, about 3 inches .
 
10/28/2023
Posted On: 11/2/2023 By: ltlFish99
Info: Road is rough in the last 2 miles, as usual. There has been some grading on the road, as it is much smoother than it normally is, especially between mile 6 and mile 7. Very little water, a couple of mud holes, but no snow at all on the road. Restroom open, with no toilet paper.
 
10/13/2023
Posted On: 10/15/2023 By: ltlFish99
Info: Road is rough in the last 2 miles, as usual, with very little water, a couple of mud holes, but no snow at all on the road. Restroom open, with no toilet paper.
 
10/9/2023
Posted On: 10/10/2023 By: supranihilest
Info: The last few miles of the road is rough and covered with medium sized rocks, but people were still driving low clearance sedans to the trailhead. Personally I wouldn't, it'd take forever and you'd no doubt bottom out, but it is possible. Otherwise only one instance of muddy potholes, and some large muddy spots at the trailhead itself.
 
9/23/2023
Posted On: 9/26/2023 By: ltlFish99
Info: There is very little water on the road in the last 2 miles, which are somewhat rough as usual. Restroom is Open without toilet paper.
 
9/9/2023
Posted On: 9/12/2023 By: ltlFish99
Info: There is very little water on the road in the last 2 miles, which are somewhat rough as usual.
 
6/9/2023
Posted On: 6/11/2023 By: Boggy B
Info: Do not bring trekking poles here. There are many great sticks at this trailhead.
6/4/2023
Posted On: 6/4/2023 By: supranihilest
Info: A quintillion potholes on the drive in. You could probably get a sedan to the trailhead but it'd take you ages and you'd probably scrape a handful of times. Anything Subaru or greater will have no trouble.