East Dallas Creek Trailhead

Location

Range: San Juan Mountains

Road Difficulty

2 (0=Paved, 6=Very Difficult 4WD)
2WD Dirt to the TH.

Driving Directions

Take CO-62 from Ridgway (there's only one direction: west) and follow it for a few miles up a steep gain and around a bend. You descend a gentle hill where there is a brown recreation sign that says "National Forest Access East Dallas Creek" with an arrow pointing to the left (south). Take this turn and follow the road for approx. 9. There are a number of turnoffs/driveways for various ranches, but just stay on the well-marked, main road. The trailhead is easily accessible for two-wheel drive, and there is plentiful camping in one of the finest car-accessible campsites in Colorado.The trailhead itself is about a quarter mile further up the road from the open meadow where the first campsites are located. It gets a bit more rough on this final stretch, but it's still an easy road and a 2wd shouldn't have any trouble making it.

Winter Access

Usually closed at least 4 miles below the TH.

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Status Updates
2021-11-27 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: More snow on the road thus week. Patchy snow starts about mile 2 with continuous snow after mile 7 until the trailhead. Not impassable, but quite slippery the last 2 miles. Restroom is still open, with no toilet paper.
2021-11-20 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: Road is dry until the last mile where there is a little snow. It was snowing hard at lower blue lake. Restroom is open with no toilet paper.
2021-11-13 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: Road has a little snow and ice in the last mile. Restroom is still open with no toilet paper.
2021-11-06 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: Road is clear, and dry all the way to the trailhead. The restroom is still open with no toilet paper.
2021-10-30 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: Even with the new snow last Tuesday, the road is mostly dry until the last mile where there is mud and a little snow. Restroom is still open with no tp.
2021-10-23 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: Road is mostly dry until the last mile where there it is wet and muddy. No snow on the road. Restroom is open with no tp.
2021-10-16 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: The last mile of the road is wet and muddy with some ice and snow. Restroom is open with no tp.
2021-10-09 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: Ouray county road 7 is quite wet, and a little muddy the last 3 miles to the trailhead. Restroom is open, with no tp. The fall colors were wonderful on the trail to blue lake.
2021-09-25 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: Road is clear and dry to the trailhead. Restroom is open, with no tp.
2021-08-21 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: Even with all of the recent rain, the road to the trailhead is mostly dry. Restroom open, with very little toilet paper.
2021-08-04 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: Road is somewhat muddy with a lot of puddles from all of the recent rain. Restroom open with no tp at all.
2021-07-10 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: Road is clear and dry to the trailhead. Restroom is open, with no tp at all.
2021-07-03 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: Clear and dry to the trailhead. Restroom is open, with no tp at all.
2021-06-26 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: Road is a little muddy from the recent rain, but no big deal. Restroom is open, no tp at all.
2021-06-19 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: Dry and clear to the trailhead. Restroom is open, but there is no tp at all.
2021-06-12 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: Clear and dry to the trailhead. Toilet is open, and well stocked with tp.
2021-05-29 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: Ouray county road 7 is clear and dry to the trailhead. Extremely small puddles with a little mud, nothing that would be an issue for anyone who wanted to get to this trailhead. Restroom is open no toilet paper. There is A LOT of snow on the trail to blue lakes.
2020-12-09 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: Today, I attempted to get to the blue lakes trailhead. On Ouray county road 7 just past mile marker 4, they had the sign out stating that the road was closed to wheeled vehicles beyond that point. I tried to go a little further and had to stop about mile 5.25 as I was in pretty seep snow. So I just walked the road to the trailhead where there was about 12 to 15 inches of snow in the parking lot. The only "vehicle " at the trailhead was a snowmobile. I had snowshoes but did not need them as I followed the snowmobile tracks.
2020-11-19 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: Yesterday, 11 18 2020 there was quite a bit of snow/ice on ouray county road 7, especially the last 2 miles before you get to the blue lakes trailhead. Coming back, later in the afternoon it had all turned to slush and mud. If they get more snow up there, I’ll probably be parking before the trailhead.		2
2020-11-06 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: Ouray county road 7 is clear to the trailhead with very little snow or mud. Only in the last mile of the the road is actually wet.
2020-10-24 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: Ouray county road 7 is dry to the trailhead. Restroom is still open, no tp.		1
2020-09-16 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: Road is clear and dry all the way to the blue lakes trailhead. Restroom still open, no tp.
2020-06-29 Posted By: Askgeeves Info: Road is washboarded on the gravel section. A car can make it though. went up over the weekend in a sedan no issues. Trail to Sneffels was clear of snow majority of the way.
2020-06-05 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: Clear and dry to the trailhead. Restroom open with tp.
2020-05-28 Posted By: ltlFish99 Info: Clear and dry to trailhead. Restroom unlocked, no TP.