Rainbow Road

I just wanted to clarify my review below - I went up to the reservoir, not the Chinns Lake split off trail.

I did this trail on Saturday Aug 26, 2023 in a Lexus 470 lifted with oversize tires. Having done it I wouldn't take my stock 4Runner Off Road Pro up there. Not that it couldn't do it but there's a good chance I'd bang the undercarriage on rocks. It's a real rough rocky road with big rocks. A slow crawl. It's safe though as no dropoffs. Probably easy in a Jeep. Though I did see basically every type of truck and SUV up there I'm amazed some of them made it without damaging their vehicle. At 7am Saturday morning no one was there. By 3pm about 15 vehicles. Beautiful area for sure. I went up to Loch Lomond a few days ago also in my 4Runner and Rainbow Road was tougher, though Loch Lomond has a few areas with dropoffs.

Still just a dirt rocky road until after way-point 3. From east to west, seemingly due to heavy rains, the road is much rockier with larger exposed rocks. Vehicles that are not purposely built for trails after way-point 3 will experience much trepidation.

As other have stated, mostly just a rocky dirt road. I drove it until the final fork and then went up to Chinns Lake which is more difficult.

It's just a rough dirt road with some mining equipment. Make sure you follow the road to the right where it splits and becomes more difficult. There are several signs about private property and dust. Please try to be considerate to the folks who live there and drive slow.

Open all the way to the top, pretty Rocky near the top but possible with most vehicles.

Do not attempt!! There’s about 2-3’ of snow/slush/ice past marker 2. I turned around before it got too deep- local told me you can only make it up there with a snowmobile .

Calvary 4-Wheelers ran Rainbow Road as part of our annual "Turkey Wheeling" trip the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We had three rigs along me in my stock TJ, Rich in his stock Ford Ranger, and Jon and Delila in Jon's stock Dodge Dakota. The first mile or two of the trail were hard-packed snow with a few icy places. Higher up, the trail was less packed but well tracked making it a little slick but manageable. Near the end there were two spots that had partially re-drifted making them mildly challenging for our stock rigs but we all made it to the parking area unassisted. The weather was clear and sunny but chilly and windy so we did not hike the last couple hundred yards to the lake but it was very pretty and scenic.

We ran Rainbow Road in a stock Subaru Forester Wilderness (with full skid plates) Mostly rock. The upper portion is similar to other trails rated a 3. Walked up to check out the lake. It's a little low this time of year. On the way back down checked out a few camping spots by the stream.

We had a nice day of sightseeing combining Chinn's Lake, Fall River Reservoir and Loch Lomond. You can easily hit all three of these trails and enjoy some off roading, scenery and hiking. Rainbow Road is very bumpy and has a couple deep puddles, but other than that is pretty easy. (Look for Loch Lomond Road on your map for a nice bypass from Rainbow Road up to the Loch Lomond trailhead.)

Clear to the top, as is tradition this trail seems to get rougher every year. More rock than dirt and some sections which are getting pretty washed out along with a few water crossings that would be decently high for a stock vehicle. May want to bump this one to a 3. Did see a BMW 3 series coming down through some of the first rock sections. Never a dull moment out here in the summer!

I broke through the last 2 snow drifts right at the end of the road on 37s. A side by side was able to follow in my tracks, a stock 4runner was denied. Another week and the drifts should be pretty much gone.

With the recent snow, we were only able to make it up to within .5 miles of the Reservoir. The snow is likely to melt fast and become passable again. Pretty fun in the snow regardless of not making it all the way.

The trail was impassible for us without a winch. There is one spot where you have to go slightly up hill and over a creek with a very slight right and the snow and ice was up past my knees. I made two attempts at it and couldn't get out of the vehicle wheel ruts and my diffs were getting stuck on the ice shelf between the wheels. I had to get pulled back both times. My buddy in his 392 XR locked front and rear made a go at it and got slightly further than I did (I cleared the way for him! :D) but also got stuck. I walked the trail a bit to see if we should try to continue and this looked like the worst of it. With a winch, we would have gotten the extra 2 feet we needed to pass this ice blockage. My little 2.0 pulled out the 392 and we turned around. I should have made a video of the little 2.0 pulling out the 392. ;) I'm willing to bet that by next weekend, it will have melted a bit more and this section easily passible.

Wait until late June for the snow to clear towards the end.

Made it to 1/4mile from the upper gate. There's a steep hill with a 15ft ice patch that I needed a 2nd attempt + rear locker to get up. A couple hundred yards beyond the ice is a hard left with deep snow and couldn't get through. No issue turning around & getting back down though. Running 33s, 20psi, 4lo w/ cdl was a cinch until the hill. Overall fun day out

Beautiful day. I was the only person at Falls Res. Caught several fish. The road in was empty on a Friday Afternoon. Aspens are all very pretty, lots of fall colors. Last two kilometers have gotten rocky and needed 4WD low.

3rd try is a charm, last big snow barrier was gone and we finally made it to the reservoir this time and had a great hike all the way around. Mostly dry with a few puddles. Waterfalls are awesome.

Trail is open full of campers Chin’s lake is open to

Roads a little bumpier than last year, two good sized puddles at the moment but no issue for most stock off-road vehicles (not sure how the Toyota sedan got through, I’d bet his floor is a bit wet). The last two drifts are still impassible, easily 6ft tall and 10+ feet long, few more warm days maybe 7-10 and you should be able to drive to damn. Lakes less than 59% ice and cutthroat are hungry

Only made it a little less than half way due to snow on the ground. Snow is up to about a foot in most areas.

Stage 3 fire restrictions have been lifted as of 6am, 11/10/20. The forest is no longer fully closed. Areas within fire perimeters remain closed. See closure maps here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/arp/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD844558 Expect winter conditions on trails. Some trails may be impassable due to snow, including this one.

Due to extreme fire danger, the National Forest Service has temporarily closed all National Forest land in Clear Creek, Jefferson, Gilpin, Boulder, and Larimer counties. https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/arp/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD831612

Fun little trail , we did chinns lake also in one day, The lakes were low

Fun, short trail with some smaller rocks that shouldn't stop anything with decent clearance from making it up. I saw a Ford Escape that had stopped about a half mile from the end due to a rocky section.

Bumps and rocks but quite passable, scenery at the lake is outstanding.

Easy drive in. Has not changed. Was packed at the parking area with trailers. Plenty of folks camping along the road too. To avoid crowds, go during the week. :)

One of my favorites to take the kids. A short easy drive with just enough puddles to haul thru and enough bumps to keep the kids excited. Once up to Fall River reservoir I recommend parking to the left. The trail around the lake is much more accessible that way and some great fishing spots.

Made it to the top today. Looks like several vehicles drove through the last two snow drifts and cleared the way.

Trail is open and was able to make it to the top no problem.

Probably another 7-10 days before the last 1/4 mile is passable. Solid 2-2. Lots of great dispersed camping along the creek.

the trail was fun and not very difficult. However due to snow i was not able to make it to the end. I think you could go through the snow if you had a modded vehicle or a winch.

Calvary 4-Wheelers went up to play in the snow on Rainboe Road on Saturday, Februaty 15. Along for the trip were me in my wife's stock TJ, Karen in her stock JK (not a Rubicon), and Richard in his stock Ford Ranger. The snow was very deep (3+ ft,) but the local property owners have plowed the road for about the first mile. Even where it was plowed, the wind (and possibly the last strom) had left a few inches of powder, drifting in places up to a foot. We had to use 4wd but did not have to chain up. Once we reached the end of where it had been plowed, we debated about chaining up and attempting to go on. There were some tracks continueing but it looked like mostly quads or side-by-sides (possibly on Matrax), snowmobiles, XC skiers and snow shoes. We decided it would not be worth chain up for the few hundred feet we might be able to make it, turned around and headed for York Gulch and Bald Mountain Lane. Big rigs equipped for heavy-duty snow wheeling could probably make it further.

Heads up - significant amount of snow for Oct and will surely get worse with tonights storm. Years past I've seen less snow at Thanksgiving. Saw a few hunters, started cutting my own tracks & made it to the last river crossing/small bridge before I gave up. Likely could have made it over with a little more effort, 250 yards later you hit the drift that always lingers in June, its probably 6-8 feet deep already. Chinns is done for the season, I'd be very cautious on other trails nearby (Loch Lomond, Hamlin Gulch, West side of Yankee Hill). Travel in groups, recovery gear, etc.

Ran Rainbow Rd and Mackinaw Lane up to Chinns Lake today. Had never been on Mackinaw lane before, followed Google Maps to get me there and wow, that trail/road needs to be added to this site. Shocked that Google Maps would send me there, the majority of the road is barely wide enough for my cherokee, lots of tight angles and big boulders to maneuver. I highly suggest taking that little offshoot if you are up for it. Anyway, Rainbow road was nice and easy as always. Chinns Lake was beautiful, weather was perfect for taking the dog on a hike around the lake. Ran all this in my 2001 Cherokee with a 2" budget boost, open diffs, and 31s. Saw plenty of full size trucks up camping at Chinns lake and one camper. Awesome day trip or camping location.

Did Rainbow Road in a stock 5th gen 4Runner, there was a small amount of snow at the top but made it through no problem with the stock Dueler tires. The gate is still locked, but you can go left and park past the abandoned camper then hike ~1/4 mile to the reservoir. The trail was fun with some great camping spots along the way.

Went up and did rainbow road and made it all the way. Had some snow at the end but made it through. The gate is still locked by the reservoir. Was in a JKU on 37s Locked.

Made it a little less than half a mile from the Reservoir before I lost traction in the snow drifts - I think a couple people made it up all the way but I wasn't going to risk it in my stock-height Xterra. Couple more weeks of sunshine and it should be fully passable all the way up to Fall River Reservoir.

Made it to about 1/4 mile from the reservoir today before hitting some deep drifts, same spot where the drifts are always last to melt in the spring/summer. Shorelines have reopened at the res, nice short hike but bring your snowshoes the drifts are DEEP already especially in the bowl around the res.

The gate at the reservoir (as stated) is closed. This was a decent trip out and i did not take the hike to see the reservoir but in my opinion the trail was far more bumpy than i expected and not worth the drive. i went up to the other 2 lakes with the other trail and they were very low(maybe 30ft), i would recomend going to loch lomond instead.

Open and clear to gate at reservoir. There were a few puddles, nothing more than 3 inches deep for about 10 feet.

Visited the trail just before a large storm hit. At that time we were able to bust through a couple deep drifts just shy of the lake and made it all the way through. I wouldn't expect it to be passable that far now since a big storm rolled through the next day. There is a lot of private land and a lot of new homes being built in the area. Areas that were once great camp spots 10-12 years ago are now blocked off and marked as private.

This was a fun little trail that we just decided to do while out and after we'd done Kingston Peak. The trail is open all the way through and we saw plenty of traffic up at the top.

Open all the way to the reservoir. No snow and very little water on the trail.

Road is open all the way to the top. A Subaru Forester and Honda CRV crawled up behind me with pretty impressive ease.

road is clear to the top. I have 8 inches of clearance

You can almost make it to the Fall River Dam, but there are two large snow drifts approx. 500 feet from the end of the trail. Probably another 2-3 weeks before it will be passable to the top.

In attempting to break through Chinns Lake four-wheel drive road I decided to go the reservoir and take in the views. The area was very crowded with dispersed campers littered along the road and up by the Fall River Reservoir.

Headed up Rainbow Road as it's close to Denver and would give me a good idea of what the snow conditions were like on the higher trails. Had my LJ on 37s, locked front & rear and a buddy's LJ on 35s also locked front & rear. It's was fairly packed snow right from the beginning and you could tell the trail had been well used recently. We made it to waypoint 3 no problems as again, the snow was just packed from other trail users. After the Chinn's Lake Split, the snow got a little deeper and you could tell there were less users going past this point. Eventually there were no more tracks and we were cutting fresh trail. A few hundred yards from the trail end was a large snowdrift that took some time to work through, but we were both able to get through it without using our winches. If anyone is thinking of running this trail this time of year, only someone with a well built rig with lockers will make it to where we did at this point in the season. I would suggest stock vehicles turn around at the Chinns Lake Split. When the trail is dry, it is an easy cruise that could be done in 2wd.