Cloverdale Mine

On Tuesday we only encountered a few hikers and 2 dirt bikes. The last time I was on this trail as a passenger was 20 years ago. I remembered it being wider and riddled with baby heads. Keeping in mind we are more experienced today. Having said that, the motto of the day was "4 low and slow". Since we carry a Four Wheel Camper on the back of Fern (our Tacoma), we were nervous of the pitches. Fern handled the terrain like butter, until about 2/10 of a mile from Rainbow Lake where there was a decent sized Boulder that pitched you to the outside. What was left of the road width you could see ATV Tracks. We bowed our heads, backed up until we could do a 16 point turn around. We met our gate keeper. I would have loved to conquer the boulders and been able to say we won, but alas...the trail did. Well done on the point markers.

Drove up on Saturday. There is a downed tree just before WP8 that forced me to turn around. The entire tree is on the road and my chainsaw was out of gas. Did a lot of work through the burn scar opening it up for trucks. It was cleared well for side by sides or ATV. There are several trees suspended above the trail which may be too low for tall vehicles. ATV riders told us there was a lot of snow still on the approach to the mine. It will take some work to clean up the trail. I stopped at Balman Reservoir to camp. This is still one of my favorites.

Closed for the season! See you in 2022!

Great trail and some amazing camping spots. Went up 5 miles and found a great tent spot close to a stream and a lake within walking distance. Really rocky for my liking but I was happy to see what the truck and I were capable of. Choose your line and everything should be fine.

Spent a night up in the mountains. The trail is a ride. Definitely air down. The switchbacks after WP 7 can be a little challenging but not difficult to pass with the right line. We stayed at the campsites at Rainbow lake (WP8), however you are not allowed to camp in the spots closer to the lake although there were some campers. Gorgeous trail, but very long. If you have an opportunity it's worth a trip. It says 2.5 hrs for the trail, but for a stock Tacoma OR it was more like 3 or 4 hrs.

This trail is open all the way to the top at the mining camp. We were able to keep a good pace up the mountain in our mostly stock 2001 Jeep Cherokee and made it up in about 2.5 hours. The flowers on the lower half of the trail below the tree line were in full bloom. As described, this trail is rocky becomes more so the farther up trail you go. Almost at the end of the trail is a moderate rock obstacle that you will want a high clearance 4x4 vehicle for. The description of this trail is very accurate and thorough and this is one of my favorite trails. Not too difficult but exciting enough to keep you coming back to visit this beautiful trail in the Sangre De Cristo Mountains time and time again!

Trail review by Jeffrey A is spot on. 2.5 hours of bouncing and jarring to reach the mine/cabins. Like driving a rocky riverbed the entire way. 4wd low and clearance required. About 1.5 hours back down. The two lakes, the mine, and related structures are completely worth it. Very remote.

Beautiful trail. We did a night run and camped by the lake. It's very rocky the majority of the trail. Need 4L and clearance.

This is a tight trail with large (8' -18"+) rocks and boulders the ENTIRE way up. The trees are thick, so views are limited the majority of the way but, occasionally, an epic scene emerges. You will be rocking and rolling for two and a half hours at 1.5 MPH to reach the top. Plan on some pinstriping, at minimum. The mining ruins at the top were cool. Definitely not advisable without 4WD and high clearance. NOTE: There are very few places for two vehicles to pass one another on this narrow, rocky and often steep trail.

This trail is a rough one. By that I do not mean it’s particularly difficult, it just beats you up. There is a pull-off right before the Lutheran camp and I would suggest you use it to air down. From the Lutheran camp, expect football and basketball sized rocks and some granite outcroppings. A few technical spots where you might have to think about wheel placement, but not many. This trail could be done in 2wd, at least in the dry, but you will want high clearance. 4wd low makes it much easier. Not for something like the Chevy Traverse we saw giving it a go. I doubt they got much beyond the start of the trail, where we saw them. By the way, the 2.5 hr duration shown for this route is one way, assuming you don’t stop. Of course it depends on vehicle and conditions but I would say closer to 3 hrs one way plus some time for exploring. Some young aspen coming up in the Duckett burn scar... will be beautiful in a decade or two. Above Balman Reservoir, the trail narrows until Rainbow Lake, where it is down to a single vehicle wide. Above this point there are spots that are no wider than a Jeep Wrangler... 75” or so... due to fallen timber. If you are taking anything with a long wheelbase you’ll be doing some three-pointing in the switchbacks and, for full-size trucks, you should be prepared to move some logs. Still snow above 11k. The last couple of winters have not been kind to the mine and the upper story has collapsed and no longer displays it’s namesake title. For what it’s worth, the best camp sites were already picked over on this holiday weekend until Balman; after that we only saw ATV’s exploring and no camping.

Trail is fully open to Waypoint 12 and on above to the hiking trailheads. Bashed several snow drifts and removed some trees.

We were able to break through the snow up until the reservoir, we chose not to go further as the snow was getting deeper and it was becoming difficult to keep going.

Scenery is amazing, trail is open all the way to mine. Trail is not technical at all just be prepared for a 2 hour bumpy ride

Trail is clear all the way up to the mine. Great camping spots along the trail, but the trail is rocky and rough. Not very technical just rough. Great scenery and the historical buildings along the trail add to the experience.

A friend in Canon City informed me that the road is now open (Sunday, June 30th, 2019). There is still snow on the road but it is passable. He posted photos (Lexus LX470 aka 100-series Land Cruiser) on the Colorado Land Cruisers "clubhouse forum" at IH8MUD.

Found the road impassible beyond Waypoint 9 as Cody described last week. The snowdrift in the road is probably 300-feet in length and 15-18 inches deep. We camped at Waypoint 8. Fishing was not good, but the views were spectacular!

We were able to get about a 1/4 mile to the first cabin (waypoint 9) and the snow was too deep to bother pushing forward. The snow is melting fast, hopefully by the end of the month it will be passable.

The 3-4 feet of snow that was blocking the trail just weeks before is now completely gone, however small snow drifts on some parts of the trail make it pretty sketchy. We removed a tree from blocking the trail, but after my rear end slid off the side a little and I had to winch up, we decided not to continue on. Didn't make it to the lake.

We hadn't done this trail, and not many people seem to be aware of it. We were able to get past way point 7 and the snow going up the one hill was too deep to bother trying to break through. We will definitely be doing this one again! Beautiful trail!

Open all the way. Went there on June 16th for a day trip with Colorado Land Cruisers. We had one FJ40, three FJ60S, one FZJ80, and one Tacoma. The hardest spot is an off-camber dip just before the boulders at WP 10.

Raider Off Road - Fort Carson Jeepers: 18 FEB 2018 (13 Rigs): Nice trail until you start to climb and get above 9,000 feet. The snows were sparse at first and then constant and then deepened for the next three miles. I winched three downed trees off the trail but needed to turn back another mile or so at the crest of the trail. More trees had fallen in the path and snows were reaching 20" in depth. I was running 37s with 6 psi and fully locked with and Atlas 4 and still slid quite a bit. Great little trail but found it too snowy for some on our team to navigate.