To start, I will say I thought I could do better on the road given the reports I'd read of people driving past 9000 feet and parking at the Jaws rock. As of this writing, some of the trail has been spun out and the holes are pretty big and the rocks are merciless. The road is horrific right from the very start. I have an Xterra Pro4X stock but with off-road mud tires and I was bouncing in 4Low and spitting rocks, bashed my undercarriage and broke my mud guards and that was just to get to 9,000 feet. It took well over an hour to do that because the road is like that from the very bottom. There are places to pull off most off the way, so you can go as far as you feel, but all terrain tires aren't going to work on this road, you need off-road tires and experience. For stock 4x4's with regular tires, be prepared to not get far. I recommend hiking into Lake Como and camping there for the night then doing the hike in the morning. Como has lots of awesome tent spots.

Blanca was my 17th 14er, so I'm a pretty good intermediate hiker. I found a place to park on the road maybe about 9,200' and set off. Even walking the road isn't easy, hah, I'm pretty sure you can walk the road faster than driving it anyway! A couple hours later of steady hoofing I got to Lake Como, it is stunning and gorgeous! I wish I had more time and wished I'd camped here, soooo many great camping spots on all sides of the lake. ....and, there are so many other little lakes above it, also great camping. Going on past Como there are a couple headwalls that make you sweat hard, its not as clear cut as it seems while standing at Como. It's all gorgeous of course though and that's what we're here for!

Pay attention to the carnes as you get to the final headwall, with my head down trying to make good time I veered off the trail and had to remind myself to pay attention to the carnes. :) Once up in the saddle, looking at Ellingwood Point, ...jeez. Ellingwood Point looks impossible from here! (but, Blanca probably looks impossible from there.) Anyway its an awesome hike, the last 100 feet to the summit.... I admit, I got scared, it's intimidating and I questioned whether I should do it because I might not be able to get down it. In hindsight, somehow it was easier going down than it was going up. I loved the summit, it seemed special to me amidst the other 17 I've seen, and there were names carved in the rocks from the early 1900's, one from 1908 that the dude must have spent some time up there to chip it in that good.

Coming down was super hard, but not as scary as I thought it was going to be. ..and all the while Ellingwood Point is just INSANE looking, majestic and intimidating. .....and Little Bear, jeez, I can't believe lots of crazy people climb that.

As the sun was nice and warm I could hear and see lots of little rocks naturally falling down the sides of the mountain (no danger) lots of Pica, and their were mountain sheep too! (not goats, but sheep!)

It was such a long walk back to the car, again I wished I had camped at Como the first night. Got back to the car and stressed myself into a mess trying to get back down the road without ripping my oil pan off. Ugh. If you have a friend with a side by side/UTV, hire him to give you a ride up for crying out loud!! I got down to the dirt road and checked for oil leaks, thank the heavens there were none.

I started walking right before sunrise and got back to the car right as the sun was going down. This was October 21 so the days are getting shorter but I was glad to get to the car before dark. The whole hike I was moving pretty fast and taking only short breaks, it was extreme, for me, a fit 50 year old experienced intermediate hiker. ...all that said it was truly enjoyable and it didn't kill my body, I felt good. I had great luck with my vehicle, the weather, and my fitness. If any of those 3 had been off, I'd have been stuck up there another night. So please, be extra prepared on this one, okay? In my research, I didn't read of too many people saying it was very difficult, but if you're planning to do it in one day, then I'm here to tell you, be extra prepared and be ready to stress yourself crazy on that road, there is no trailhead, and its pretty impossible to gauge how far you'll get, it all depends on how much you're willing to abuse your vehicle. ...again, as stated from me, an intermediate hiker and off-roader.