The Crow Creek four-wheel drive trail is a great trail to experience mesas of ponderosa pine and stretches of rolling grasslands. The trail is situated in the Pole Mountain unit of the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest in between Cheyenne and Laramie Wyoming. The Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests and Thunder Basin National Grassland cover nearly 2.9 million acres from north central Colorado to central and northeastern Wyoming. The Pole Mountain section of this magnificent national forest lies just 30 minutes west of Cheyenne. Prior to 1959, this 55,000-acre area was administered by the Department of Defense for military training. There are two old bunkers in the area, and one you get to see from this trail.
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Take Interstate 80 east 9.5 miles to Exit 323, Happy Jack Road. Turn onto Exit 323 and go left across the bridge. At the stop sign, turn left/west onto Happy Jack Road (Wyoming Highway 210). Follow Happy Jack Road for 7.7 miles and turn left/north onto USFS 701. Follow USFS 701 north for 1 mile where you will find the Crow Creek Trailhead on your right as it heads east.
I had a friend interested in knowing about the old military bunker at Waypoint 2. What a great excuse to take Crow Creek. I was surprised by the amount of side-by-sides on the trail and how busy it was. There were campers throughout the area for the weekend. The recent rain left considerable mud on the trail.
Fun short trail. It has gotten more rutted out and a few obstacles but nothing major. We did run into some mud a few fairly deep water holes. We combined this with a couple of other trails in the area. There are some nice dispersed camping spots along the way.
Crow creek is fun as always. Seems like the forest service is letting it go to get more fun. Letting the ruts etc. form. However the wimps in their SxS and ATVs have made a bypass around every muddy, or difficult section. Guess they can't get dirty. Did it all in 2wd. The creek crossing at way point 9. I didn't even get my tires wet.
All gates are open in the pole hill area. Forest service got rid of some fun places on a few trails. I even saw a stock Focus ST camping off of 712. It is still a good place to drive Forest Service roads
Fun trail we completed today. Group of 10 and our least capable vehicles were three stock vehicles; an F150, LR2, and JLUR. Just a couple of hang ups but nothing a good line or a little tug on a kinetic could get you through. Fun little trail for snow wheeling!
Good fun trail that is not too technical. There are some rocky bits that lower clearance vehicles may find challenging. There are also several ruts that add a bit of fun to the drive, most can be bypassed if needed. A good amount of dispersed campsites can be found along this trail as well as connector trails
Trail rating was spot on to me. But there were a few spots where I had to be careful to not end up off camber going downhill. Pretty dry trail this morning, no water or mud. I ran the trail counter-clockwise, like the trail guide here. If I were to do it again, I would probably just turn around at waypoint 10 and do it out and back. The rest of the trail in my opinion was just pretty basic dirt road (still beautiful as Medicine Bow always is though). Then again I would have missed the coyote had I turned around.
We visited the trail over Labor Day weekend. There were lots of people and campers up to about waypoint 3. Beyond that there are some pretty severely rutted out sections that discouraged most and eliminated most campers from proceeding. We saw a large bull Moose at around waypoint 7. All in all, a pretty easy trail that we did in our slightly lifted 5th get 4Runner, but in 2WD the whole way.
This trail has it all from camping, biking, hiking , climbing, dispersed camping and close to 2 towns. Most of the roads up here are east enough for a Prius but this trial is not. I doubt a Subaru could make it past some of the Rocky areas with out some bottoming out. I have a stock Liberty on street tires and has to choose lines carefully. Not complaining it was awesome ! Just don’t want anyone to come in here with a van or car and tear something up. The history in the area is really cool too! 2 observation bunkers and other relics from the military base from the first half of the 1900s. There is a website if you Google ‘secrets of Polemountain ‘ that gives some history and places to find some historical sites.
Oh, the creek crossing has concrete bricks in it now for some easy crossing :)
The trail just opened! The trail condition was relatively dry and Crow Creek had little/no "over flow" (as of 5/25/22) which meant Waypoint 9 had zero mud to worry about.
Fun trail! Was in good shape and offers some amazing dispersed camping. Although, people need to pack their trash out and leave the sites in better shape. There were a few washed out areas but no problems for a high clearance vehicle. The water crossing was not a problem, although we crossed just before a massive thunderstorm came through.😬
Memorial Day Weekend Camping. Crowded as usual but were able to find a spot. Trail was in great shape, looks like someone stacked rocks at the shelf between 3 and 4, the off camber "rock garden" after the shelf might be an issue for regular clearance cross-overs without a spotter. Was mostly dry for us unlike years past where it's a boggy mess after waypoint 4 and people just kept shifting more and more to the side of the trail to avoid the mud. I'd imagine this trail will be bone dry rest of the summer, except days following any big storms. The out-and-back(point7&8) leading up to the reservoir overlook has been blocked off, which is a bummer cause that was one of my favorite little off-shoots of this trail. Hopefully people learn to stay the trail out here more as it's definitely an issue I've seen over the years and liekly the cause for the closure at 7&8.
Ran it today. Open. Way point 10 is changed. Forest service has taken all the mud out and placed bricks at the water crossing. Some muddy spots on the trail still.
This trail was absolutely beautiful. The trees are perfectly coated with snow. The train is very easy which helps you enjoy the scenery. Saw a bunch of deer along the road. Cant wait to camp here. Now one of my favorite local trains to relax on.
Based on some reports that the trail was closed, I led a Trails OffRoad crew to visit the area to check the trail Status. The trail is open with no construction impeding the trail what-so-ever. Southern Wyoming has not received much snow this season and that allowed easy access to the entire trail. There were snow drifts in the usual areas with the worst one being between Waypoint 3 and 4. Even this notoriously difficult drift was easily conquered.
We spotted some deer along the trail laying down as if keeping watch over the area. With a light snowfall during the trip, the trail was peaceful .
Portions of this trail are permanently closed. to the point of the forest service digging up the trail. Way point 9 and 10. Not sure of the earlier section.
Pretty easy trail with a few rutted sections. I'd imagine in the spring this would be a bit more muddy. Ran the whole thing in 2hi in my Jeep JKUR. The stream crossing and mud shown in the pics and video above were either dry or nearly dry. Fun route and relatively tame.
Amazing trail just right beside Laramie, and Cheyenne. You will need to have 4x4 and more than 8 inches My sequoia is 10 inches and I did tap my skid plate just once it did snow, rain, and very cold and windy so the trail was a bit slippery, nothing too much for Cooper at34s and a second gen sequoia cant handle. Just don't listen to the people who says "you probably won’t need 4wd" You certainly do but you don't need to lock it in 4lo and lock all your diffs I did the whole trail in 4hi and at dusk and made it out at 9pm because at the end the road is closed so beware. It's a great trail not too far from home and spectacular fall foliage and lots of wildlife.
Actually some parts are a little challenging, definitely need clearance there are a few places where about a foot tall rock sticks out the ground and since my xj is stock I had to climb it, spun tires up a few of those parts, you probably won’t need 4wd, (I didn’t until I drove though a fat snow drift, a nice creek crossing that can be deep at times of the year, over all a nice trail to go on to kill some time and there are some killer camp spots along the way aswell
Open and the trail is in great shape. With all the late snow this season, the trail had a few wet and muddy spots, but nothing that was difficult to negotiate. There seemed to be quite a few ATVs and UTVs using the trail this particular weekend.
First time taking the gf out.She was well less then overjoyed.Now I had a blast.This is my first Wrangler so was a let's see what it will do kinda thing.Nice warm day,little bit of breeze,trail was fun.Got a little damp at the crossing but no deal.Cant wait to do it again.I know the last one isn't Crow Creek but we did see both bunkers and the stoves on the trip
The entire Pole Mountain area is closed for the season. The area has a new road use plan that closed roads to motor vehicles from February 1st through the end of May.
Thanksgiving weekend is usually a good weekend to get out and enjoy the trail. This year did not disappoint. A trip to Southeast Wyoming found use enjoying a dry and unseasonably warm day on the trail. There was not any snow on the trail, but the Wyoming wind was a bit brisk despite the enjoyable temperature. This trail will soon be snow covered and the winds will drift the snow making the trail difficult. Until then, Crow Creek is a nice spot for a quick get away and a great excuse to pack a left-over turkey sandwich for your trail picnic.
At the end of the day when it came time to air-up, we did encounter a brief snow squall that lasted only a few minutes. What a great day!
The Laramie Ranger District - Pole Mountain area is now closed. Typically the area remains closed until near the end of May to prevent resource damage during the spring melting season. For specific information, the Pole Mountain MVUM map has specific details about all road closures in the area during the spring.
The winter season has settled into the Southern Wyoming area. The road and trails around the Happy Jack Recreational Area remain open through most of the winter allowing for some 4X4 snow drift fun. If this year is like others, the snow is here to stay throughout the rest of the winter season.
The week preceding my trip left about 8-10 inches of snow in the vicinity. Southern Wyoming is really known more for the wind than the snow. Early December did not disappoint. Snow drifts are starting to form in the usual areas making travel difficult to impossible. I could not complete the entire Crow Creek Road on this trip because of the drifting. I was able, however, to get plenty of practice with my winching techniques.
First time ever taking an off-road adventure into Wyoming. We wanted to hit the Pole Mountain Unit as we heard there was a scenic, yet adventurous route available. The trails had just opened from the season closure and were very wet and muddy. We really enjoyed the high mesa, grassland, and ponderosa pine scenery. There were plenty of locations to camp and a zillion side roads to explore. With it being wet, we had a chance to check out our 23Zero Recovery Gear. We were very pleased with the compact bag that had ever tool we needed to get through a few muddy spots!
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Tim is retired and calls Southern Mississippi, near the gulf coast, home. Tim spent most of his adult life in Northern Colorado. He has owned and driven 4X4 vehicles his entire adult life, including Jeeps, pickups, ATVs, and UTVs. After high school, Tim's first 4X4 was a 47 Willy's CJ-2A with a flat four and a 6-volt electrical system. With a history of wheeling in Northern Colorado or Southern Wyoming, Tim loves being in the mountains and the backcountry. Because of a desire to enjoy and promote responsible off-roading and to keep it available for the future, he belongs to a local 4X4 off-road club. Being part of the Trailsoffroad.com community furthers that goal as well.
A love for off-road adventures, camping, fishing, and hunting keeps Tim away from the pavement and continually exploring. While his wife likes the comfort of a Jeep Grand Cherokee, Tim prefers the ruggedness of the Jeep Wrangler. The recent move to southern Mississippi means he will spend time learning a whole new region and style of off-roading than he experienced in the Colorado Mountains. Tim will spend the summer going topless and enjoying the value of the great outdoors. Amateur Radio Technician license call sign: ke0npg
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