Posted By: supranihilest
Info: Potholed and washboarded but clear to Winfield townsite. Deep, drifted snow and ice starts 0.2 miles up the 4WD road.

Posted By: Jonathan Deffenbaugh
Info: Had tracks through the snow all the way to Winfield and the 2WD trailhead, recommend vehicles that have good 4WD/traction for the snow, as it gets pretty well packed the further you drive in, would not want to get stuck up there, however pretty much impossible to go any further near/before the Lulu Gulch turnoff unless conditions improve. On the other hand, getting to Missouri Gulch TH ended up being lower difficulty due to it being further east than Winfield.

Posted By: dennywitte
Info: Drove a 1996 Ford Explorer to the Huron/Lake Ann 4WD TH today. There are three spots where you need both 4wd and ground clearance to get through some holes and around big rocks. The road is currently dry with one brief creek crossing. The big mud hole near the meadow is currently dry. Pretty much only vehicles with 4WD and high clearance at the upper TH, although I did see one Ford Edge up there.

Posted By: Giff47
Info: As of August 23 the road to Lulu Gulch is closed and gated at the junction with CR 390 (the road to the standard Huron trailhead). There are two private inholding above this gate. MV access is available to the owners only. Foot traffic is welcome.

Posted By: vswrman
Info: The road to the upper trailhead is definitely rough and narrow. The recent rains have refilled all the mud puddles. That said, I’m a novice 4WD driver, and I was able to navigate it in a Tacoma by going slow and carefully picking my lines. I was lucky, though, because I didn’t have to try to negotiate meeting someone coming the opposite direction -- that would have been a significant challenge. Saw a number of other 4WD trucks, 4-Runners, and Jeeps at the upper trailhead.

Posted By: cfitzpatrick
Info: The road wasn’t too terrible in a 4Runner, and the large mud pit has mostly dried (as of 7/17/22). Wouldn’t recommend driving the 4X4 road in a smaller car or SUV. Saw a few smaller SUVs at the 4X4 lot but I’m sure they scraped on the drive up.

Posted By: Pine Martin
Info: The road has seen a lot of rain and a lot of use in the last week. With that being said, it was easy going in a Chevy Colorado. Good clearance, 4wd, and patience is all you need!

Posted By: hsfedina
Info: 4wd access was tricky. A few vehicles stopped 3/4 of the way due to big mid pit, which looked worse than it was. Our Tacoma TRD, an Expedition, FJ Cruiser, F150 all made it. Lots of obstacles tho. Mostly dry even after yesterdays rain/snow.

Posted By: angry
Info: I didn’t think the road is any worse than prior years. No issue going up in a Taco.

Posted By: bananabobby
Info: The road is snow free. The stream crossing is going strong. Halfway to the TH there is a new mud disaster I didnt see last year. I only saw two trucks past the obstacles, everyone else was parked at the 2wd th

Posted By: d_baker
Info: Road to Huron TH is clear of any snow drifts.
A couple of inches of snow fell last night (5-29),
and at least a couple more this morning but probably won’t affect road much.
Driving out this morning while it was snowing and the road was snowed over, in flat light, wasn’t fun.

We were going for W Apostle via Lake Ann trail, but quickly after crossing creek on a bridge and then entering trees, snowpack is still consistent and mostly knee deep.
Didn’t bring snowshoes, and it was snowing pretty good with a fair amount of terrain ahead of us to posthole in, so turned around at about 11,400.
Was a good idea given the drive out with the new snow on road.

Posted By: SRV724
Info: Road is well maintained with summer conditions through Winfield up to 4WD sign for road to Huron TH. Good amount of snow remains after 4WD sign, and did not see any tracks going far past it.

Posted By: JasonCrane
Info: Chaffee County Road 390 has complete snow coverage starting approx. 1/4 mile from Winfield and the AWD road to Huron TH has at least 2 feet of snow. There’s a hiker trench near the start of the AWD road sign to the start of the summer TH.

Posted By: maverick_manley
Info: Road packed down same as January update, by a cat track all the way to Winfield. Tire tracks for the first couple 100 feet and then smooth cat track afterwards. No more tracks from Winfield to the summer TH and this latest upcoming snow will cover our skin track.

Posted By: mtngoatwithstyle
Info: Road is packed with snow. Did not see any tracks on the 4WD road and/ or at Huron TH when I was there. I am sure conditions will change with the next snow storm.

Posted By: Chicago Transplant
Info: First creek crossing was passable in stock XTerra and we parked just after it before the road steepens with an ice floe on it (less than half mile from camping meadow in Winfield). Decent amount of parking there for a few cars. The steeper icy section was followed by a couple more closely after that did not have anywhere to really turn around. Not really much snow on the road, its just the ice floes that are the issue.

2WD trailhead is easily reached, a few spots with a little bit of packed snow but its less than an inch deep.

Posted By: Tornadoman
Info: A couple minor spots of snow/ice on way to the 2wd TH. No problem in any car (the usual potholes and bumps require some slow driving). The 4wd road has snow and ice at the start of it, including the steep rough hill which marks the beginning of the 4wd road. If you can make it up the steep hill at the start, probably will have no problem making the 4wd TH.

Posted By: mightycuine
Info: Made it to 4wd TH in a Ford Ranger. Couple patches of ice in deep ruts just after the second "4wd required" sign required some momentum to get over. If you can get past the ice, you can make it to the upper TH.

Posted By: JasonCrane
Info: Chaffee Road 390 provides access to both Missouri Gulch TH & Winfield/Huron. Past Missouri Gulch TH, 390 is has some "washboarding" & potholes, but generally passable for 2WD with careful driving. About 1/4 mile past Winfield, there’s a 4WD sign & the road narrows to one lane & deteriorates drastically into deep ruts, as it ascends. A few of the humps must be at least 2-3 feet deep. Use your best judgment. A couple of SUVs were parked in spacious pull-offs just before the start of 4WD.

Posted By: Hslawson86
Info: I drive a stock 09 grand Cherokee and not much off road experience. I did briefly get stuck in a rut near the start of the 4wd road because I couldn’t see a good approach going up. It was rougher than I expected from looking at pictures posted here. Road was easy after that and no problems on the way out.

Posted By: JROSKA
Info: I drive a standard 2018 Jeep Cherokee (8.7 inches clearance) and based on a prior report, planned to park about .4 miles up the rough 2.1 mile 4WD road. Didnt happen. Got stuck in a steep wet section only .2 miles up and promptly backed up & parked on the side.

Stream crossing would have been doable but there was another section a little further up that would have been a big problem. I wouldnt mess around with this part of the road unless you have a true high clearance vehicle. Seems risky with a Subaru or anything else with less than 9 inches clearance.

Posted By: noob_hiker
Info: Can a Subaru make it? yes. i saw a forester and a rav4 at the 4WD TH. is the potential vehicle damage worth the extra 2 miles? the choice is yours.

Posted By: coloradoDDS
Info: About 1.75 miles from the parking lot that has Huron Peak and Lake Ann trail starting points is probably the worst part of the trailhead. There was parking/camping for 4-6 cars off to the right about 100 yards short of this point and the creek/stream that crosses the trailhead was probably another 100 yard past this point. On the trailhead there was a relatively steep incline with a large rock protruding out of the dirt that I made solid contact with. at 4:30am. We couldn’t see what the rest of the trail looked like so we went back and parked at the lower spot, but on my hike back I saw that if I would have steered to the right it would have been very doable.

Posted By: GuiGirard
Info: I hiked the road up from my dispersed campsite near Winfield (drive up to Winfield is painstakingly slow and long if one wants to avoid the nasty potholes and stones but passable by any vehicle, judging on the vehicles I saw in Winfield). I knew I COULD possibly make it with my Outback BUT it’s one lane all the way, and crossing other vehicles can be sketchy (last year, I helped a driver get his stranded CR-V back on the road after he got stuck in a nasty ditch when yielding to two uphill vehicles, so my reasonable self walked up the road). Of course, at the trailhead, there was an Outback just identical to mine. One’s ability to make it through the only two early tricky sections without true high clearance 4WD will depend a lot on whether or not they will have to share the road and where exactly. Which is unfortunate because the road profile rapidly gets much nicer. Being a popular 14er trailhead, I tend to think it’s a bad idea to ignore the 2 warning signs and attempt without the proper vehicle.

Posted By: RUN_IT
Info: From Winfield to Upper 4WD TH was as expected, high clearance required. 4Runner made it ok with no scraping but a few areas felt a bit sketchy in the early AM before sunrise. Saw a stock forester at TH (I wouldnt have the guts), the rest were Jeeps and a full size pickup. Tons of great looking campsites between Winfield and TH.

390 is not in great shape with lots of potholes. Saw an abandoned minivan near sheep gulch that evidently met a pothole and was majorly leaking something all over the road.