Bill Moore Lake

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4.6/5 (113 reviews)
Empire, Colorado (Clear Creek County)
Last Updated: 08/01/2023

Trail Information

Highlights

Altitude Category Icon Altitude
Camping Category Icon Camping
Forest Category Icon Forest
Mine Category Icon Mine
Rock Category Icon Rock
About an hour from Denver and situated within the Arapahoe National Forest, Bill Moore Lake 4X4 Road is one of the Empire Loop trails just above Empire, Colorado.  This trail offers amazing alpine scenery and fun hill climbs for novice and seasoned wheelers.  At the end of the rough terrain, you are rewarded with a magnificent alpine lake on the edge of the James Peak Wilderness.

Trail Difficulty and Assessment

Trail Navigation

The Bill Moore Lake Trail is an out-and-back trail considered to be part of the Empire 4X4 Loop.  Ninety-five percent of the trail has passing areas except for a quarter-mile stretch between Waypoints 16 and 17.  The trail begins by following County Road 251 for the first couple miles through a more wooded area filled with whoop-de-dos and washouts.  Once you pass the Conqueror Mine, it follows a shelf road before one last narrow switchback.  The road first joins with Forest Service Road 171.1 for 300 yards and then joins 183.1, where the forest thickens before it climbs to the fringes of the timberline, giving way to a general alpine and open space.  Once in the alpine zone, there are plenty of moderately steep climbs with loose rocks.  4 low and high clearance are recommended for this trail, along with undercarriage protection.

Trail Reviews

4.6/5 (114)
Open
Rated 5/5
Visited: 09/16/2023
Difficulty Accuracy: Spot On

Did a 2nd successful solo nighttime run of half of Bill Moore Lake. Camped at the halfway point, then continued the rest of the trail the next morning. Took a different vehicle instead of my Wrangler this time. Ran it this time with my Black 3rd Gen Jeep Grand Cherokee with QuadraDrive II, factory ELSD’s front and rear, a high mileage 5.7 V8 Hemi, and a 2-inch Old Man Emu lift on 31’s. Only scraped a few times on the front lower control arms, since ground clearance at that point is only about 9 inches. Otherwise, had no issues, even taking the hard lines. The factory QuadraDrive II ELSD’s played a big role with being able to drive over rocks and ruts without struggle. The KC lights mounted on the Gobi roof rack helped with making the nighttime run super fun and also very successful.
Trail Review: Bill Moore Lake - Christopher Li
Trail Review: Bill Moore Lake - Christopher Li
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500
Open
Rated 4/5
Visited: 09/04/2023
Difficulty Accuracy: Spot On

Mellow trail that could be done in a stock(I’m not talking jeep renegade) or lightly modified rig. Pretty bumpy and not much in the way of obstacles. The lake is an awesome place to hang out and have lunch. Don’t forget the poser flex shot at the lake!
Trail Review: Bill Moore Lake - Daniel
Trail Review: Bill Moore Lake - Daniel
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3200
Open
Rated 5/5
Visited: 09/02/2023
Difficulty Accuracy: Harder

Stopped between waypoints 15 and 16 because our final goal was to climb Mount Flora. As others have mentioned, there are a lot of washouts on this trail. Had to be careful to pick a good line. The switchback at waypoint 4 had some pucker factor, particularly going down. I got up to 18 degrees with just 3 tires on the ground which made me a little nervous, especially since the angle was getting steeper. I backed up and was able to adjust my line to keep all four tires on the ground. Still got up to 18 degrees, but I wasn't rocking back and forth. I have front and rear lockers and used both on a couple of sections. No damage, but I did scrape rocks several times. Mostly on the way down. I reduced to a slow crawl on anything tough and avoided any more contact. I would think most vehicles would need a lift and a locker to negotiate this trail without risk of damage. Bronco Badlands Sasquatch on 35s. I would rank the difficulty a hard 4.
Open
Rated 5/5
Visited: 08/24/2023
Difficulty Accuracy: Harder

Ran Bill Moore Lake on a mini-camping trip with my 2012 Arctic Edition Jeep Wrangler JK (2-Door). 2.5” budget boost lift and 33’s. No lockers, but had a factory Trac-Loc limited slip in the rear on top of BLD traction control. Never had an issue. Tires did slip occasionally in some places, especially on the harder lines, but never scraped the undercarriage once during my run which was fantastic. I ran the trail at midnight directly after work. Decided to just send it instead of waiting till the next morning. This allowed me to take my time and tread very lightly when I don’t have to worry about incoming traffic or fast ATV’s behind me. Lots and lots of rocks. It’s absolutely a good idea to air down here, but due to the fact that I just wanted to get to my camping spot 12 AM at midnight, I did not. My neck paid for it the next morning and this was the first time handling a front solid axle vehicle. (My other 2 WK-series Jeeps have IFS setups in the front and a solid axle in the rear, and that was perfect for soaking up bumps really well off road, even while aired up) Woke up the next day to an absolutely beautiful sunrise past the mountains. The views are really almost like something out of a movie scene. Lots of dispersed camping spots are available in this area past Waypoint 10, as mentioned in this guide. Just make sure as always to clean up and don’t leave any trash behind. Tread lightly backing in and out of camping spots and also while out on the trail. I’d say this trail definitely has gotten pretty beaten up over time unfortunately. Much more difficult and unforgiving than what I remembered. Two years ago, I once made it up to Bill Moore Lake with a Jeep that didn’t even have low range from the factory. Not sure if that’s even possible anymore with how much erosion there is to the trail itself. Take your time doing this trail as well. No need to bum-rush it and destroy it further more. I would be depressed if this trail closed for this reason. I’ve been coming up to this same trail since I was 16 years old. I’m 25 now. Each year it gets worse and worse.
Trail Review: Bill Moore Lake - Christopher Li
Trail Review: Bill Moore Lake - Christopher Li
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3700
Open
Rated 3/5
Visited: 08/13/2023
Difficulty Accuracy: Harder

A bit disappointed in how much the trail has degraded/eroded over the years. I used to run this in a stock F-150 long bed for camping trips, but now it's a pretty rough beater even on ATVs. I think 2020 really opened up the flood gates to the massive heavy 4-door Jeeps on 40s which just devour the road base when it's trafficked every weekend. Super rutted out, rough, and eroded now. On the positive side, the trail getting all torn up seems to have really reduced the weekend traffic. Had the lake to ourselves at noon on a Sunday, but passed a few groups heading up around 1 on our way down.
Trail Review: Bill Moore Lake - Dan Lee
Trail Review: Bill Moore Lake - Dan Lee
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