7/2/2026 Posted On: 7/2/2026 By: markf Info: Very doable in a low clearance 2WD car. | ||||
11/2/2025 Posted On: 11/6/2025 By: nohandz Info: Road open and snow free to TH. Doable, but a bit rough for a passenger car - rebalanced my wheels after. | ||||
10/17/2025 Posted On: 10/17/2025 By: nilaoire Info: Road to the TH has possibly less pot holes than usual once you pass the Hessie TH. The road was dry. | ||||
7/19/2025 Posted On: 7/19/2025 By: infinitealpine Info: A sign near Eldora mentions Fourth of July trailhead will be closed 7/28-7/29 at the Hessie trailhead. No idea if this will be closed to all traffic or just vehicles. | 1 |
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6/29/2025 Posted On: 6/29/2025 By: shaines90 Info: Road is drivable to the trailhead by pretty much any car - my Civic made it with no issue, as did an older model Camry and a Chevy Bolt. There's one pretty major washout about 2 miles from the trailhead on the right side going up, but there's more than enough room to just go around it on the left. A few moderate-sized ruts along the way, but almost all avoidable by a driver paying attention. | ||||
5/28/2025 Posted On: 5/28/2025 By: vertical_volume Info: Open and snow free. | 1 |
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9/15/2024 Posted On: 9/15/2024 By: WildWanderer Info: Active bear in area. This truck got broken into when a bear saw a cooler through the window and wanted to see if anything was inside (there wasnt). | 1 |
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8/31/2024 Posted On: 8/31/2024 By: Willy the Kid Info: Don't know why this trailhead is 3/6, it is passable with most vehicles, as previous updates stated. It is at most 2/6. The lot has a decent amount of room with some street parking, but everything was about 80% full by 5 AM today. Get there early so you can get a spot, at least until the labor day crowds let up. | ||||
8/2/2024 Posted On: 8/2/2024 By: HikerGuy Info: 4th of July Road CLOSED Aug. 6 for Maintenance No access to Hessie Trailhead during closure In order to safely and effectively maintain the surface and drainage of the gravel portion of 4th of July Road/CR 130, the roadway will be closed in both directions between the Hessie Trailhead and Shelf Road/the road to Eldora ski area from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 6. Access to residents of Eldora will be maintained. The hard closure will be located at the west side of Eldora where the pavement ends and gravel road begins. View a map of the construction area. Due to a confined work zone, no motor vehicles, bicycles, or pedestrians/hikers will be allowed through the construction area while work is being performed. | 1 |
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6/3/2024 Posted On: 6/3/2024 By: Logan5280 Info: Road is open and plowed all the way to the summer trailhead. There are some puddles that may be a bit challenging for a low clearance car, but the road is in good shape otherwise. | 4 |
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11/30/2023 Posted On: 11/30/2023 By: blockingthesky Info: The gate was open when I arrived today at 1PM to the Hessie parking area and Fourth of July Road junction. I drove carefully about 300 yards up the road over packed snow before turning back towards Hessie after considering the time of day. Turned out to be a good move - when I returned from Lost Lake to the Hessie area around 4PM, the Fourth of July Road access gate had been closed, and a fella, his dogs, and his 4Runner were trapped behind it. A Ranger came and rescued him after I drove out a bit and sent out the call. I spoke to the fella later on: apparently the gate wasnt closed by a Parks official; it was secured with a dummy lock. The Ranger speculated that a local had taken them upon themselves to close it. So, the gate is still open, for now - but looking at the 3 days of incoming snow, our gate-closing rogue agent may have been onto something. (That said, I do hope that its standard practice for Parks to make sure nobodys got a vehicle behind an access gate before closing it for the season, especially if theres no cell service/callbox onsite!) | ||||
9/25/2023 Posted On: 9/25/2023 By: drummerjohn Info: Road was a little rough but I was able to make it with a Sonata driving carefully with some occasional scraping. Several areas I had to slow down and pick a good line. | ||||
9/24/2023 Posted On: 9/24/2023 By: colingoodman Info: Apparently this trailhead is wildly popular. I drove up for the Arapaho traverse only to get turned away due to the parking lot being full and there being a 90 minute wait time for a spot. Not only that, the overflow area was very crowded with the school parking lot being full and many cars parked along the highway. Not sure if this is just a fall foliage thing but beware of this and get here earlier than I did (9am on an autumn Sunday) | 1 |
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8/27/2023 Posted On: 8/27/2023 By: poseidon Info: Road to trailhead was not muddy at all and easy enough to navigate even in my 2WD Prius with 6" of ground clearance. Got there at around 6:10 with the upper lot mostly full, but found plenty of spaces along the side of the road. Coming back down at around noon there were a few cars headed up, so be prepared to yield. Overall less challenging than I expected! | ||||
6/10/2023 Posted On: 6/10/2023 By: Cereal Info: Road is completely dry and in great shape. I got my Corolla to the TH no problem. |
