3 Posted By: schumi248 Info: Made it up most of the road, not the rough last 200-400 yards though, in a 2009 Subaru Outback. Breezed through the creek crossings, just take it easy. | ||||
Posted By: drgdclark Info: Trailhead was in pretty good shape if you have a jeep / other high clearance 4wd. I would not recommend going all the way up if you have a 4wd passenger car. Near top, I was balancing on 2 wheels. Fun, but not too much fun. A couple creek crossings would also wreck havoc on my wife’s subie. | ||||
Posted By: Navigaiter Info: The Blackbear creek washout is completely passable for AWD and 4WD. We did it in a Toyota Rav4 and Mitsubishi Outlander Sport. The right turn for the road to the trailhead is obvious, even in the dark. After a stretch of road that goes through an open meadow, you’ll come to a large stand of pines, and the road will start to swing left just after the trees. The road to the trailhead is right after that stand, and you can’t miss it. Go slowly, and most AWD with decent clearance will make it to the lower portion of the trailhead road. | ||||
Posted By: Alan Ellis Info: Definitely 4WD needed to get to the high TH. We did it in the dark and had no idea where we were going. As a result, we parked lower than we should have. When on the road, just keep going and you’ll reach the end and the parking meadow. You’ll pass about three meadows on the way up the road and you’ll want to stop and park in one of them. Ignore these, keep going, and you’ll get to the correct parking meadow. In the daylight, it’s much easier to see, but if you’re doing an alpine start in the dark, it’s kinda hard to find the right meadow to park. Keep going and you’ll come to the end of the road and the parking. | ||||
Posted By: ezabielski Info: The last few hundred feet to the gate are the hardest for 4WD, but there is not really a place to park there so don’t even do it. Park in an open area just below the gate. At the trailhead I saw a Wrangler, a Jeep Compass, a Ford Expedition, Nissan Frontier, 4Runner, and a Mazda SUV of some sort. The Mazda made quite a thunk slamming the underside on a rock. | ||||
Posted By: E_A_Marcus_949 Info: We took a stock Toyota Highlander within a hundred yards of the TH. There’s a meadow-y area where we and another 4Runner parked. There are a few steep up-and-downs and potholes but with careful driving it’s passable and avoidable. Two puddles/stream crossings but not too deep. | ||||
Posted By: two lunches Info: just a sidenote- i disagree with the "obvious" road that rises to the right. we drove past it and had to back-peddle for about half an hour turning on every single pull-off and road until we found the trailhead. i meant to erect a cairn at the turn-off but forgot on the way out. | ||||
Posted By: rocketman5988 Info: Road to Winfield is passable by any sedan with decent tires if you stay under 25mph (watch out for potholes and corrugation). Takes 25-30 min to get to Winfield from Hwy 24 turnoff. (Watch out for elk as they are still down in winter concentration and their was close to 100 about 1 mile west on 390.) The 6-8in thick fallen tree just west of Winfield will stop all but a decently lifted 4x4. If you attempt to get to the old cemetery be prepared with recovery assets and other vehicles to help, as the snow drifts are often a few feet deep and dense. See photo Trailhead wooden post/sign is falling apart but still standing; no longer any signage but others have burnt/carved ’La Plata’ with an arrow into the wood. Trail up La Plata is all but completely lost in the deep snow drifts in the creek-bed area just past the Trailhead sign. | ||||
Posted By: dweiss2 Info: Road is dry to just past the Winfield Junction. Just past the ghost town there is a small tree that needs to be removed. Beyond that, a good clearance 4wd vehicle can make it through 2 deep snow drifts to the old cemetery, and that’s about as far as you’ll get for a couple more weeks. | ||||
Posted By: Josh Bux Info: Road is in great condition, no snow or ice yet. Definitely need high clearance for the last half mile to mile or so of road. I had no problem in a stock Wrangler Unlimited Sahara, but I saw some other 4x4 cars with lower clearance pulled over before the trailhead. | ||||
Posted By: Acook60 Info: Drove our new 4Runner Trail Premium up there today and had no trouble, despite the road being wet. Didn’t have to use any of the car’s bells and whistles. There were 8 cars/trucks up there, 7 of them Toyotas, including a RAV4. The non-Toyota was a Subaru Forester. We thought this road was not as bad as it’s made out to be. It’s rough, but take it slow, you’ll be ok, certainly in any 4 wheel drive vehicle. | ||||
Posted By: EKassan Info: The road was uncomfortable, but otherwise not challenging for a stock Xterra and Tacoma. | ||||
Posted By: johnt Info: The washout is a non issue for any reasonable 4x4. I did it in a stock Tacoma, and an F-150 also did it. I’d probably stop in a Subaru before the washout anyhow, but try it if you like. If you got through the rock garden before the washout, you’d probably make it through there, too. | ||||
Posted By: shaberer0511 Info: The West Winfield Trailhead is in good shape, but 4wd and good clearance is a necessity. The road is rocky, and good clearance is necessary. The stream crossing/washout is passable, but only with a lifted SUV with high ground clearance, maybe at least 12 inches. I drive a Jeep Wrangler 4 door, with a 6 inch lift and 35" tires (about 20 inches ground clearance to running boards), and I came awfully close to scraping the running boards coming down the stream crossing. Just below the upper trailhead, there’s a pothole that I didn’t have the guts to cross in my Jeep. It’s about 100 yards shy of the trailhead, but I had my jeep teetering on two wheels. Maybe it was the wrong line, but its so close to the trailhead that it’s not even worth the risk. | ||||
Posted By: vidoona Info: We took a Land Rover LR2 with 9" of ground clearance, A/T tires, recovery gear, and an experienced off-road driver up past the washed-out road section across the creek and up a final steep, rocky section to the trailhead. We got a couple of rock hits to the skid plates, but nothing major. Land Rovers, some Jeeps, most trucks, Xterras, and 4Runners with 4-wheel drive will be able to do the same with A/T tires and a competent driver if the road is dry. If you have ground clearance under 10", expect some uncomfortable sounds from your undercarriage. Other SUVs and crossovers (including Foresters and Outbacks) will want to stop at the washed-out creek or earlier if you get uncomfortable.....it really doesn‘t add that much distance to the route in the grand scheme of things. I would not take a passenger car very far up the road to the trailhead. | ||||
Posted By: khub91 Info: Trucks are now making it over Blackbear Creek to the right of the new footbridge. Takes a bit of clearance but nothing too crazy. I was able to make it over in my stock Expedition and, although I still don’t believe it, the gentleman in the Forerunner towing a trailer with his three pet goats also ended up on the other side. | ||||
Posted By: ronichen Info: The bridge is still washed off 1.3 mile from TH. There is also a small creek crossing before the wash off (after the warning sign) that is best to have high clearance. We saw regular SUV crossing it and bottomed out doing it. There are a lot of good camping spots off 390, the lower you are the more buggy they are. | ||||
Posted By: dogballs Info: Trail is washed out 1.3 miles from Winfield. There is a sign at the 2wd TH warning you to turn around, but you can continue up to where its washed out and there is room for 3-4 cars to park there. Many thanks to whoever built the bridge across the wash out. I don‘t think that anyone will be driving past that point anytime soon. Needs major repair and proper culvert. | ||||
Posted By: Trotter Info: Road is rough, 4WD non-low clearance vehicles will make it fine, with a lot of slowing down and bumping around. After the meadow at 10,700 I would recommend NOT driving further. Road becomes much rougher, and its only about a 200 yard walk to TH anyways. | ||||
Posted By: 4 LO Info: The road is clear and easily drivable all of the way to the trailhead. I drove it today and I had the trail all to myself. Great place to hike La Plata from! | ||||
Posted By: bnlarochelle Info: The road to the 4wd trailhead was driveable. A little snow and mud, but easily passable. | ||||
Posted By: RyGuy Info: My buddy and I made it to Winfield today in a stock 2012 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. We were fully aired down to about 4PSI and needed the front and rear lockers engaged past Rockdale. We did up hitting ice and sliding into about 3 feet of snow on the right side of the road right by the town sign. Took an hour to dig out. I wouldn‘t recommend anyone else trying it with anything less. Clearance isn‘t really the issue. There is a layer of ice about 4-6 inches thick on the road itself, and then about 4 inches of wet snow on top of that, so traction is pretty bad. As the previous post mentioned, there is a fair bit of snow on the sides of the road, so if you slide (which you will) there is a good chance you‘ll end up in the snow bank. No signs of anyone around Winfield for a awhile. No marks in the snow at all. The Belford/Oxford/Missouri trailhead is reachable if you are willing to air down and have front and rear lockers. As I mentioned above, I wouldn‘t try it without serious recovery gear in case you slide off the road crest. | ||||
Posted By: fourseasoncyclist Info: Made it only 4 miles up county rd 390 in a buddy‘s 2012 Xterra. A Tacoma got stuck and had to hike down to get the sheriff. Snow is deep and very hard. If you get off the crest of the road it‘s all over. 3-4ft of snow on the side of road. I work for a Jeep dealer that does 2.5- 4.0" lifts and I don‘t think one of them could even make it to Winfield. I will try again in April, maybe... | ||||
Posted By: alpinenut Info: Drove all the way to the ATV road that goes to the TH. Did not see the road in the dark. In fact we went about .25 past. Turns out it was 1.75+ from 390 390a fork at Winfield. 1.3 from High clearance vehicles only sign which is on the left. Some snow, definitely high clearance 4WD required. |
