Ute Creek Road

I feel as though this must have suffered some serious washout this season, definitely needed 4Lo and high clearance. The last section before Lamartine will test your will. And no views of any kind, just an insanely bumpy and rocky run through dense pine. Wife was not happy I picked this as a shortcut 🤣

Easy and fun, beautiful trail. 2-6 inches of snow along the whole trail, some decent drifts here and there but no issues at all in 4lo on 32’s. Cool way to enter South Spring Gulch and surrounding trails.

Very easy, nothing of note. Any high clearance 4wd will have no issues. Some cool stuff along the way but not much, just a fun easy trail.

Rocky and steep! Definitely make sure to air down and take it slow

This trail was a little harder than expected due to some washout damage but it was not bad with 4H. The area at the end was large enough for us to safely pull off and refill our tires.

If this is a 2, then I have vastly over-estimated the capabilities of a Subaru Outback, and vastly underestimated what these ratings mean. I really thought an "easy" trail would be okay, but this would absolutely have eaten my car for lunch had I not turned back. Maybe some day I'll buy a vehicle as capable as whatever you all drive, but in the mean time, I guess off-roading isn't for me after all. Damn. Rated 5 stars because if you're into remembering why you raised your suspension and bought bash plates (I have done neither) then this trail will deliver!

Was a fairly washed out. I wasn't paying attention to the way points but there were a couple spots I would guess are not like a 2.5. Very rocky and bumpy most of the time.

Very bumpy 2. Some snow spots but nothing too rousing. Some trails on rampart are better then this trail and they are rated 3’s so there’s that.

Snow has been sticking, and users report impassable icy conditions in multiple places. This trail should be considered impassable until Spring. If you choose to wheel in the snow, please do so with the right equipment and do not go alone.

This is primarily a road, and it is pretty boring overall. It is really just a way to get back down to the highway. Some local residents were putting dirt down on the lower portion of the trail, and this may have filled in some of the washed out areas mentioned below.

I ran this trail for the first time to collect new data and pictures to update our files. This trail appears to be in similar shape to the original writeup, this trail is a little rougher than listed here and appears to have some washouts in places. Just go slow through this bumpy one.

Pretty easy trail, feels like some areas might be a little more beat up right now.

Ute Creek has deterioated recently to the point where I'd recommend this move up to a rating on difficulty. There's nothing 'technical' per se, but lots of boulders and rocks in the road in the upper portions. I would take a stock vehicle up it.

As a follow up to the 5/23 report... that user must not have been on the same road. I ran the road again yesterday, same route as the 16th. This trail is dry all the way through from waypoint 1-5. Surrounding trails still have snow, but nothing on this one. Pics are from waypoint 1, halfway between 1 & 2, and at 2. Waypoint 2 is showing a little road damage from heavy runoff. But nothing too bad right now.

I don't know what route others took, but the route displayed on the map is NOT passable without an atv or serious jeep rig. Lots of snow at the top.

Trail is open and clear all the way. No snow.

Surprisingly, this trail is 100% passable right now. We ran it from the top down after coming from Cascade Creek, to Molly Brown, and then to South Spring Gulch. The trail is extremely tracked out. It has been heavily used since the last storm. Lot's of dirt still and the snow wasn't more than 8"-10" at its deepest. No big drifts to deal with. Until a few big back to back snows come in, this was be traversable for awhile. I didn't get really any good photos of conditions just because there was literally nothing to take pics of. You can see in the one photo though how bare Mt Evans is and the surrounding hills.

This trail is at a high altitude within the state of Colorado and has no maintainence. As such, this trail should be considering impassable until spring.

This trail is located at a higher alitude of Colorado and at this time of year should be considered impassable for any regular off-road user. Some people may be able to manage these trails with the correct gear, emergency equipment, and rig. Travel with caution.

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.

Trail is closed due to fires in the area. We will update this page when these areas reopen.

Super easy, little bit of early snow. great views and great fun.

Pretty rocky in some areas. No difficult ledges or anything but I would not take a subaru on it. Ran cascade to south spring gulch to ute. No traffic which was surprising for a Sunday.

Pretty rocky, I ran it south to north with my lifted Subaru crosstrek. I'd agree with the other reviewer about uping it to a 2-3 if going south to north, opposite of what it shows, lots of Aspens on the way up, it would be pretty in the fall

Nice little trail. A bit on the rough side at some points... Might consider upping the rating to a 2-3 Trail has beautiful views that I'm sure are amazing in the fall with all the Aspens growing around.

The good things about this trail is that it is easy, there is no exposure to steep drop-offs, there are several places to park for awhile and have lunch, the access to the trail is easy, and in less than an hour you should be at the top of the trail where it meets the trails going to Georgetown and Idaho Springs. These are the reasons why I gave it 5 stars. Plus, it's just a short drive from Denver. The only thing to be mindful of is your vehicle will need more-than-average clearance as there are many rocks that could potentially damage your undercarriage, bumpers, and muffler. My Land Cruiser is almost 9" and I had zero issues with rocks. Though it is an easy trail, you still need to pick correct tire placement. If you want a trail to be your first experience on a real CO 4x4 trail, consider this one. FYI - at the top, do NOT take the trail down to Idaho Springs (there are two of them) that is the Saxon Mountain trail unless you have the right vehicle, you know what you are doing, and you know the road conditions.

Really nice trail for beginners. Minimal risk for damage and a good place to practice taking the right line. Saw one other group coming up as I was going down.

Going up was a really nice novice trail. For me it was rocky enough to be interesting but no bottom scrapes with a stock Rubicon.

Trail was partially snow covered, but completely manageable going downhill with a stock Wrangler Sport and mostly stock FJ100 Land Cruiser. Snow was 4 to 6 inches max. Coming up might have been a challenge. Very fun little trail.

Got to the end of the county road where the forest road starts. Impassable due to snow for a stock 4WD with good A/T tires. Another month or so should do the trick if the area doesn't get more snow.