A short drive from the town of Empire, and just down the road from the popular Bill Moore Lake Trail, Mad Creek is a great off-road trail that gets passed up by many offroaders. Whether you are seeking quiet summer seclusion or deep tire-swallowing winter snow, don't let this trail fall off your radar. Along this road you will pass through the trees, the open meadows, and take in the picturesque views of the high mountains all around you, including 13,164ft Mt. Flora. You will also find a handful of great hiking trails at the conclusion of this trail.
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Take I-70 to Highway 40. Go north into the town of Empire. Just past the Hard Rock Cafe, turn right on Main Street. Follow this road up through the neighborhood. Shortly after the road turns into a dirt road, bear left at the fork where the trail starts.
Basically a dirt road. Some wash out that will be easier with some clearance and 4wd and a narrow loose shale stretch with a very steep drop off on one side, but both are very typical of any Colorado forest service road.
Not a hard drive but it's no longer a 1 rating. The section immediately preceding the first camp site is rutted to the point where a sedan couldn't make it through and with the pitch, it's harder than a standard subaru could likely do without some lower gearing. Stock jeeps, trucks etc won't have any issue whatsoever but this I harder than the other 1's around the area.
I think I made it to almost waypoint 6 before encountering an untracked 8"+ deep snow drift that I didn't want to try solo with no lockers. There was even more smaller drifts as far as you could see after that. There was also an untouched drift right below waypoint 3 that I had to make two runs at. Thankfully I had a good turnaround at that spot and went back to 3 to enjoy a beer and scenery. Good day between getting shut down here and Bard Creek.
Awesome trail, wish it was longer! Pretty easy, snow adds a bit of extra difficulty, would be doable by almost any stock SUV when it’s dry. Some moderately rutted areas and small rocky areas but nothing close to an obstacle. The spur is rockier and super fun, not too hard but more difficult than the rest of the trail. Switchbacks at waypoint 2 and 3 are extremely icy so air down and go slow. I’d recommend airing down either way but in the snow it’s a must. Snow gets significantly deeper about 2/3 of the way between waypoint 5 and 6 but I made it to the end no problem with my 32’s aired down to 15psi.
Decent easy trail with a family of six today, only moderately sketchy parts were descending where it was icy. Snow covered half of the length of it in the typical Colorado sun vs no sun sections.
We hiked the spur that went up hill, that looked like fun and I will drive it next time. That seemed to approach a level 3 in a few spots.
Fun and highly recommended for fall leaf peeping! Nothing hard but worth checking out for a fun bonus trail, some smaller campsites, and no trail traffic, super bonus! There's a lot of trails nearby so this and the spur were are great place to call home for the weekend, very convenient location. Close to Empire and easy to find.
I've driven through Empire many times and didn't know this trail existed until I subscribed to Trails Off Road. Nice little trail. One rocky stretch. A couple stretches with no turnouts. Luckily we didn't meet anyone on the trail. There weren't any great views on this trail, but it was fun.
Clear of snow till about the halfway point. We broke through a drift then went a ways till we hit a decent snow field, The last quarter of the trail had snow with three really big drifts at the end. It took some work but we made it all the way to the end.
Ran this on Christmas Eve with 37s aired down to 11psi, but I feel like 33's fully inflated would have been adequate this year. I don't think the snow depth ever hit the rim of my wheel . We did have to clear a couple of trees out of the road due to the recent windstorm I assume, but overall easy and mellow. It was snowing so I can't speak to any views but I think I'll try it one more time this year on a more clear day.
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.
Due to dangerous fire conditions, Arapahoe National Forest has closed the forest to all visitors. This decision will be re-evaluated daily as conditions change. See the order here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/arp/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD831612
Can get roughly a mile or so in to the split between the burn area to the north, and the main trail that continues WNW further into the woods. Both directions quickly turn into inconsistent sugar snow that can go from a few inches to a few feet deep without any indication from the surface. Guessing another week or so of mostly sunny weather should open it up to good ATVs and built rigs.
Made it just shy of a mile along the trail, and it was an extremely hard, fought for mile. About 10" of fresh snow, deeper in some drifts, on top of a hard, frozen layer, made traction extremely difficult. But totally fun!
Hit the trail on March 18th, just before a winter snow rolled in. The beginning of the trail barely had any snow, and what snow there was was a pretty thin layer. About a mile in we started hitting large snow drifts and some pretty consistent snow fields. From this point there was a lot of winching and a lot of kinetic rope pulls. 2 miles in, nothing but snow. We made it about 50 yards shy of the end of the trail where the snow swallowed 37s and made them disappear. After bashing the drifts here for awhile, we called it quits and turned around as the snow started to fall.
Fun day, great views, great snow bashing trail.
We ran the trail at the end of April, all vehicles very well equipped on tires from 35s to 42s, lockers and winches. Because the snow was extremely deep, a heavily modified rig was a must. We were able to push through till the very end, but there was a ton of snow bashing and the recovery strap was used multiple times.
Overall, a great day to be out on the trail in the deep snow. I hear they are still getting snow, so could be awhile before this trail is passable by stock vehicles.
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Hi, I'm Ryan!
I am a Colorado native and I've been wheeling since I was 16 years old. I grew up with a relentless passion for all things Jeep and off road related, and that passion has never died out. I am a member of the Mile-Hi Jeep Club, and currently own a customized '05 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited (LJ) with a 5.7 Hemi swap.
I am a huge supporter of Stay the Trail and Tread Lightly, and have participated and even been in charge of many trail restoration projects. I have been a trail leader several times for events such as All-4-Fun, ColoradoFest, Set Them Free, 14er Fest, and others. I am also the creator of the Unlimited LJ Adventure.
My rig is built for extreme offroading, but I love to get my tires dirty on any kind of trail whether it's rock crawling or just scenic high Alpine drives. I've wheeled all over the country and love a great adventure, especially if I get to share those adventures with others.
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