Grouse Road

I was out here today to check on the trail after getting reports that this trail had some severe washouts. Looks like the Forest Service was in the area this week filling in the problems. I will be adjusting the rating up to a 3 on the high end but the problems from previous reports have been fixed.

Creek was running high, probably about a foot or so deep. This trail was also hit hard by the recent monsoons, uncovering more roots, rocks and creating deep washouts in places. Southern end was pretty wet with deep puddles and was banked pretty bad, which made driving annoying at times. The steep and loose hill climb after WP2 while avoiding the washouts was the most fun for me. All in all it was a decent drive through the woods with a little bit of everything to keep it interesting.

I wish I took pictures of what I went through on this. It was hard. Maybe it is my lack of experience, or the size of my vehicle. If this was the road I was on, it dumps out on Blossom Road, that then leads to 24. We started off on 357, then got onto 354. Maybe I was on one of the offshoots of 354 ( have spent the morning reviewing maps, and I am pretty sure this was what we did, and in the dark, long story), but there were steep parts, narrow parts, tree toots and rutted parts (some parts were all 4 of these) It dropped down into the valley where Rule Creek is, you crossed over the creek (bottom was solid and easy to cross), then you had to go around a boulder in the road...carefully (the first of many careful corners for me), depending on the size of your vehicle. Up and out of the valley was steep, narrow and curvy. Great sense of accomplishment, glad I didn't scratch anything or dent anything. I did it in a 2016 Land Rover Range Rover, mostly in it's rock climbing mode with KO2 275/55/20 tires. For my first offroad adventure in it and in a long time, it performed admirably.

Fun Trail, we used it to get out of the rule creek spurs. It was a little more complicated than expected from the ratings. To me harder than rule creek spurs. 3rd gen taco with a 3in lift stock everything else.

This trail is open, however, CAUTION. Colorado weather is unpredictable this time of year and there may be the occasional fresh snow fall or mud and melting snow. This trail is in an area of the state where snowfall levels have dropped for the season and the majority of the trails are dry, muddy and/or only have a small bit of snow on them. Again, please use caution if traveling on these trails until the dryer season.

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.

We spent the day checking in on trails we have written up in this area. Grouse Road is in good shape there are no major changes to report from the writeup. This trail is a really fun trip through the forest, we nearly forgot how much actually. It's not traveled as much and is usually free of ATV and Motorcycle traffic.

We only traveled between waypoints 1 and 4 and turned around because we wanted to return to Deckers and not go into Divide, but this trail was an awesome winter run! The tight trees gave you such a remote and lonely feeling! It was awesome. Even if it was dry without snow, the scenery is cool and several steep climbs would easily entertain anyone in a stock to modified vehicle.

This trail is open all the way through with just some snow and ice in shady spots.