Yankee Boy Basin

We started on the trail after completing Imogene Pass and ran this towards Yankee Boy Basin. Along the way we also ran Governor Basin. Heading towards Yankee Boy Basin, the trail become significantly more difficult after Waypoint 11, to a high 3 or low 4 level of difficulty. We used 4Lo for the rest of the trail from that point. There were some rocky ledges and hill climbs to reach the end of the trail at Yankee Boy, and the views of the mountains and the lake made the trip well worth it. Coming out, we ran the trail all the way to 550. After Waypoint 11 it's a 2WD trail. But use caution: you are descending quite a bit in elevation if heading towards 550 and need to control your speed on the gravel. There are many turns and the road narrows in several spots, making it vital to keep your speed under control. You also find a lot of traffic moving uphill towards you, and while the road is wider in spots many people take the turns too fast and cross into your lane. If it's dry dust will reduce visibility. This can be a dangerous feeder road.

It is much more difficult then a 1 towards the top. I made it in my stock cayenne with A/T tires but needed a spotter for quite a few spots and low range definitely would’ve helped. Beautiful views the whole way and definitely worth the trip but don’t expect to waltz up the last couple miles without minimum 11” ground clearance.

This is totally worth the drive.

Amazing views, ran up until we met with Imogene pass. Graded dirt road up to that point from what I remember

Yankee Boy Basin was closed at the governor basin turn-off. What was open had a couple of rock slides that made it more difficult.

We ran this in our Ram 1500 with a 2.5 inch lift and 35s. Very scenic trail. Well maintained dirt road until past governor basin. Up until waypoint 11 we didn’t see anything most stock SUV with 4 wheel would struggle with. After waypoint 11 the trail became much more technical with a couple tight squeezes on the shelf roads while traversing loose rocks and ledges. Definitely 4 low recommended. The view from the top was definitely worth the time.

We used it as a connector to get to Imogene pass. Easy road that’s well maintained. Very scenic.

Went all the way to the end. More difficult than I remember from the last two times. But a fantastic run with incredible scenery. Hiked up to Blue Lakes Pass for fun (see photo looking back to trailhead with my 4Runner parked there). If you're going up soon, take the Governor Basin trail, too. The wildflowers there are fantastic!

One of the best views on the top, been coming here for many years and the top keeps getting rougher, but that's ok with me.

Last 1/3 of the trail definitely requires a lift and locker. Lots of big rocks and the added water makes it pretty interesting. Can’t make it all the at up due to a snow drift at the very top. Great views and awesome wild flowers right now.

The top is fairly difficult and requires greater than stock clearance. Articulation is a requirement.

We only went up so far as Imogene. The trail was busy and dusty. Locals said they haven't had any significant rain since the June snowstorm, so be careful with campfires!!

Epic views make this trail a 5 star for us. Towards the top it starts to get a bit more rough but nothing crazy. A must do trail if you're in the area

As of July 3, the trail is open and passable except the last mile where snow bank encroachment made it unwelcoming. Fun ride and beautiful views. Deepest water crossing was about 9”. There are a couple side trails that can either make the journey a tad harder or a tad easier, but seem to be unmarked on the guide. This year storms are already brewing daily at about 4-4:30.

Although only partially open, this trail still offers great Mountain views. It is currently open to the upper restrooms just past checkpoint 10. Can’t wait to come back in a few weeks to see the rest.

Snowbanks still covering the trail after the wooden bathroom (locked) just past Twin Falls.

Plowed and open to the bathroom at twin falls. Snow remains beyond that point.

A recent winter storm in the Ouray/ Silverton area has dropped a measurable amount of snow and high winds have been in the area. Some high country routes in the area may be passable but high country travel is not recommended.

Either I took the "optional" route without knowing or this trail has gotten a lot tougher. Awesome trail that gets you into some incredible terrain, but definitely not a 1. First 70% is very easy, but then it gets more interesting. It was a fair challenge for my stock 2-door Rubicon JK. No problems, but certainly had to think. It's worth going all the way to the end and doing a quick hike around.

1st part is easy up to twin falls is a 2, the top part has a couple tough rocky spots with a hard obstacle at the top. It was wet and difficult at top. The top is a 4 difficulty.

Operations to clear the vehicle from the Drinking Cup area of Camp Bird Rd should be completed. Please be aware that emergency vehicles may still be present in the area.

Per Ouray County Road and Bridge: Ouray County is closing. Camp Bird Road for vehicle recovery on 9/13/22 from 6am-4pm This will impact travel on Imogene Pass. Vehicles on the Telluride side will be required to turn around at the Ouray County line. Updates will be posted if conditions change.

Made it very close to the end, about 2/3rds the way between waypoints 11 and 12. At that point, I really needed a spotter. Since I was alone, I turned around and headed back down. On one of the switchbacks on the way back down, I was balancing on two tires for a moment. Thankfully, I was taking it very slowly and didn't rock much. Definitely worth the drive up to waypoint 11. From there, it gets technical on off-camber trails. As a novice off-roader, I wouldn't attempt that last leg again without a spotter.

Ran through to waypoint 7 and would agree with a rating of 1 or 2 up to that point under dry conditions.

The last leg or 2 of this trail is far from a 1. Solid 4. Worth the little drive if ur camping at angel creek or thistledown. On a 1 an xr jlur should not belly rub at any point.

The last leg or 2 of this trail is far from a 1. Solid 4. Worth the little drive if ur camping at angel creek or thistledown. On a 1 an xr jlur should not belly rub at any point.

Scenic easy drive. Last sections get more technical

Per Ouray County Road and Bridge: Good news! Camp Bird Road, Yankee Boy Basin and Imogene Pass are OPEN! We thank everyone for their patience and understanding while we closed the roads to clean-up and repair them after the mudslides on July 27. Please be safe out there and ENJOY! U.S. Forest Service-Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre & Gunnison National Forests

From Ouray County Road and Bridge ‼️ CR361 UPDATE: 7/28 3:50PM Much progress was made today in the clearing of debris from County Road 361, specifically in the Senator Gulch area where a critical Hilfiker wall and culvert were significantly damaged in yesterday’s mudslide. After consulting with the contractor of the Hilfiker wall, it was determined that this area would not suffer from a catastrophic failure if we receive more rains this weekend. Water flow has been restored through the culvert at Senator Gulch and along with the progress made in clearing multiple debris fields, Road and Bridge has decided to RE-OPEN County Road 361 / Camp Bird Road / Yankee Boy Basin / Imogene Pass for the weekend. The road will re-open in the next couple hours and there will be two bulldozers continuing to work into the early evening. There is approximately 1000 cubic yards of rock that needs to be moved and cleared so please be patient with crews if you encounter them. Please note, County Road 361 / Camp Bird Road / Yankee Boy Basin / Imogene Pass (on Ouray County side) will be CLOSED on Monday, August 1, for repairs to the damaged road. Please continue to follow us for more updates. We appreciate your patience while we have worked through this today.

From Ouray County Road and Bridge: ⚠️County Road 361 (Camp Bird Road/Yankee Boy Basin) remains CLOSED. There is no estimated time of re-opening. Mudslides have damaged multiple sections of the road and crews are working hard to make it safe for travel. We are expecting another afternoon of rains and we are under another Flood Watch. ⚠️Access PAST Thistledown / Weehawken Trail area is not allowed. 👉If you are camping in Angel Creek or Thistledown, access to these campgrounds is open as is access to the Sutton Mine Trail and the Perimeter Trail.

I completed this in my Nissan Frontier Pro 4x with 2 1/2 in lift and rock sliders. It was a fun yet quite challenging trail very steep and possible for rollovers if you pick the wrong line. I was balancing 2 wheels a couple of times. Very rocky and took some good spotting at the end with the switchbacks up to the top

We all made it all the way up but at least on the day we visited I thought the uppermost part was a little harder than Imogene. It also started raining on the way down, and we were sliding the rear-ends around some of the switchbacks which made it even sketchier. Still, with proper attention to the trail we had no real problems and it was gorgeous in both directions.

We drove up this in my Viking SxS today, it was clear and beautiful. I was VERY LEARY since I’m pretty new to this and a 60 yr old woman so nerves were a factor especially at these heights. However, it wasn’t very busy and the buggy handled beautifully all the way to 11. Just going slow on the shelf and lowered tire pressure my the ride much more enjoyable. It was absolutely gorgeous, well worth the momentary bits of ****.

Announced as open per Ouray County Road and Bridge!

Gate is down and locked.

Weather Forecasts for the San Juan Mountains call for a significant amount of snow in the coming days. Although some routes may be open, travel over these high mountain passes in winter conditions are not advised.

Easy trail with epic views of waterfalls and the San Juan Mountains. The flowers this time of year are not to be missed! Make sure you put this trail on your list if your visiting the area

Very easy trail to the large waterfalls. Made it all the way to the top without airing down, it was late or we would have and in hind site, we should have aired down as it got rather bumpy and the rocks are sharp. The views back down the valley are pretty spectacular especially at sunset but I wouldn't go to the end again. Would stop at the waterfalls, enjoy those and turn around.

As highlighted in the trail description, this is an easy drive that increases in difficulty late in the climb. We took this trail over Memorial Day weekend and found snow covering the trail between waypoints 10 & 11. Although we didn't finish the trail, getting to the twin falls waypoint is well worth the drive. The falls are really flowing this time of year, and the views of the avalanche remnants and deep ravines are some of the finest scenery in all of CO. The road up to the falls can be traversed by a stock 4x4 easily enough. We saw a 4Runner get to the same point as our Jeep JKU before turning around. There is spring runoff but the only mud to be found is in a few small water crossings and the final turn around point before the snow covers the trail.

Yankee Boy Basin is officially OPEN per Ouray County Road and Bridge. Please use caution when traveling these routes early in the season as snow and ice may still be present.

Per Ouray County, snow and icy conditions may exist. Travel on the 4x4 roads this time of year is not recommended. Expect winter weather at high elevations. https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/sanjuan/maps-pubs/?cid=fsbdev3_002300

Snow is beginning to fall making for hazardous conditions for the high country passes in the San Juans. Yankee Boy Basin is listed as "OPEN" but it is doubtful that travel will be safe past this point.

2018 Subaru Crosstrek 1.5" Lift 235/75R15 Toyo AT2 ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS. I would love to say that we successfully made it to the end of the trail . . . but sadly we had to throw in the towel right before the Twin Falls waypoint. There is nothing really too technical on the trail, it was the long steep climbs that got the best of the Crosstrek. Elevation is a real deal and our Subaru limited on power to begin with and loaded to the teeth with camp gear was struggling. We got to a point were we had to call it and I didn't want to risk break anything while we were 500 miles away from home. Beautiful trail though and I do believe if we were unloaded it would have been a different story. We came down the mountain to Waypoint 9 (Governor Basin) and parked so we could hike around and check out some of the old mines. All in all it was still a good day. We will be back soon to tackle the challenge.

Took this from Imogene to get to ouray. The town is amazing, I prefer it’s views over telluride. There looks to be some good hikes in the area, but we had a busy day knocking out a lot of trails.

Very nice trail. Did catch some autumn colors half of the way can be accessible with 2WD. The higher elevations you get more difficulties. But nice views for sure.

Entire trail has amazing views and a nice water fall in the middle. Easy trail that progressively gets harder. The switch backs near end of trail definitely felt like a high 4 or even low 5 however I am still a beginner.

It was pouring rain in the morning when I set out for Yankee Boy and the views were pretty much nonexistent. So, I didn’t go all the way up and instead started on Imogene to head to Telluride. Either way, Yankee Boy was an easy road to begin with and got tougher as I progressed but never turned into anything that I was nervous about. Loved the rock overhang on the road!

Easy off road trail until last few hundred yards from the Blue Lakes Pass trail head. At that point, 4wd low and clearance required. Beautiful waterfall, cool mining structures, rock face mountain views, and amazing tundra basin. Camped at Thistledown which is a nice campground.

Did Yankee Boy and Imogene Pass on 7/30. Yankee Boy was rougher than I expected - a lot of big rocks and a couple of somewhat scary off-camber rock face climbs. The skid plate on my 2019 4Runner TRD Pro took a couple of serious whacks (no damage) and the steps welded on to my slider bars took a beating. The payoff is huge though. The end of the trail in Yankee Boy Basin is incredible!

Spend most of our time on high mountain passes while camping near Ouray, but this is one of my favorite out-and-back trails for scenery alone. If you can time the wildflowers, it's that much better.

This trail was my favorite around the area. The basin is beautiful and surrounded by huge mountains, including 14ner Sneffels. Drove to the top of the trail in a stock FJ on 285s. The snow bank was nearly gone and not stressful. There are definitely a few fun obstacles. I only got out to check my line once, right after the snow bank towards the end of the trail...it’s definitely a busier trail until you hit the 4x4 bit. Once you start climbing it gets even more epic!

This trail has some great views. Not a hard trail, although about 1/4 mile from the very top/end of the trail, there's a snow bank that we had to cross. As long as you have lockers, you should be okay to cross - keep your momentum through the snow bank (37.992568, -107.780342)!

Officially listed as OPEN per Ouray County Road and Bridge. Please adhere to any local orders and lets value our chance to get back out into the glory of the San Juans!

Ouray County Road and Bridge has been hard at work on Yankee Boy. Pictures on the Bridge dept Facebook page show Yankee Boy to be open to the bathrooms just past Waypoint 9. Please syl keep in mind local regulations regarding Covid-19 may limit travel and lodging in the area.

High Country Roads Opening Priority May 12, 2020 Update Crews will begin work May 18, 2020 with the goal to have all High Country Roads open by the July 4th weekend. Please note: some services may be unavailable or slow to respond due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Please be respectful of local Public Health Orders and restrictions. Visit https://ouraycountyco.gov/396/Coronavirus-COVID-19-Updates-and-Resourc to check current orders and for more information. (Note – Crew 1 and Crew 2 work concurrently) Crew 1: Yankee Boy (Depending on snowfall, anticipated time to reach the Outhouses is 4 days.) Crew 2: Red Mountain Town – Open the Main Loop Crew 1: Corkscrew Crew 2: Engineer Crew 1: Imogene Crew 2: Crews will move to help open Imogene after the completion of Engineer Updates will be posted periodically on the Ouray County Website (www.ouraycountyco.gov) and on the Road and Bridge Facebook page. ***Subject to change due to weather and emergencies***

Currently, San Juan County has issued CLOSURES on all their backcountry passes. San Miguel, Hinsdale, and Ouray County issued a travel at your own risk advisory. https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/sanjuan/maps-pubs/?cid=fsbdev3_002300

This trail was easy up to twin falls then gets more technical with lots of switchbacks, we didn't make it up to blue lakes trailhead, turned around and did Imogene pass

Driving with a Land Cruiser group all week from back east, we'd done half a dozen roads/trails across Colorado with the aim of ending the expedition in Ouray/Silverton. We arrived to Ouray on Friday and drove straight through town to Yankee Boy! The road is in decent shape, with some erosion and ruts, but overall Yankee Boy posed no problem for our group. Mountain views were awesome, though we did observe some haze due to smoke from a nearby controlled/prescribed burn. Overall, a fantastic 4x4 road!

The trail is 100% open from beginning to end including the spur around wrights lake. I would say the trail rating here is very deceiving... up to the split with Governors, yes, the trail is a 1, but beyond that no way. The remains of the avalanche just before twin falls have totally melted out around the road, but a massive amount of snow remains in the valley. Above the falls the trail might be a bit more rutted out in places, but is pretty much how I remember it from a few years ago. The trail is extremely busy, even during the week. Expect traffic the entire way. That is why I gave it only 3 stars. Dealing with all the traffic becomes tiresome.

The trail shows pretty obvious signs of avalanche damage and repair. There was a pretty big one that hit right near the Imogene turn off. Lots of snapped fir and bent Aspen trees. I counted at least 4 avalanches between the start of Camp Bird road and the second mine activity. Just past the fork to Governor basin, the trail becomes difficult as drainage has routed itself down the road. This particular spot generated a bevy of traffic jams as vehicles had difficulty negotiating this new obstacle. Just at Twin Falls, there is a 36" washout you have to cross. We did a pickup truck recovery here as this full-size Silverado tried an alternate line over the dirt bank to the left and got high centered. Strapping down the hill (With gravity) did the trick. . Always try first to get unstuck the way they got stuck. A little past the bathrooms is the end of the line at a snowbank. It was still a beautiful trail ride with abundant wildflowers

Although the trail is open, it is not 100% passable. The road is only cleared to the parking lot and bathrooms just beyond Twin Falls and waypoint 10. Beyond there it is not plowed so I assume they will let that melt out naturally.

Per Ouray Country: YANKEE BOY BASIN is now OPEN!! Thank you to our outstanding road and bridge crew! It was a challenge this year. Please enjoy with caution as road conditions are very wet and there may be standing water as well as ice or mud.

Per Ouray County Road and Bridge Dept: Yankee Boy Basin is nearly done being bulldozed and is projected to be open within the coming weeks.

Heavy snow pack and late season snow falls have greatly affected the opening date to many of the trails in the San Juan Mountains. I will try to quickly update these trail guides to reflect when the hard working plow and dozer operators are able to dig these wonderful trails out for all of us to enjoy. https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/sanjuan/maps-pubs/?cid=fsbdev3_002300

Ouray County has announced that plowing operations have begun for these trails. From the county:

High Country Roads Opening Priority

May 6, 2019 Update

Crews will begin work May 6, 2019 with the goal to have all High Country Roads open by the July 4th weekend.

***Please be aware: Southwestern Colorado received an exceptional amount of snow during the 2018-2019 winter. Roads may be cleared later than usual, and dangers like avalanches may still exist into the summer months. Please use caution when venturing into these areas.***

(Note – Crew 1 and Crew 2 work concurrently)

Crew 1: Yankee Boy (Depending on snowfall, anticipated time to reach the Outhouses is 4 days.)

Crew 2: Red Mountain Town – Open the Main Loop

Crew 1: Corkscrew

Crew 2: Engineer

Crew 1: Imogene

Crew 2: Crews will move to help open Imogene after the completion of Engineer

The county announced today that Yankee Boy Basin is open all the way through. Plow crews have been working there all week and cleared it today. This is weather pending and can change if there is a storm.

Snow has fallen making this trail impassable until next season, closed at the top by snow according to the U.S Forest Service. https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/sanjuan/maps-pubs/?cid=fsbdev3_002300