Magruder Corridor

While this was my 2nd time doing this trail (1st time in 2018). The views were still just as new to me. Seven of us ladies took five rigs on this trail and had an amazing time. The scenery blew us away, the wildflowers were out in abundance. This is true wilderness driving and would seem like it could be boring with the constant dead trees from past fires, but instead, you can't wait to see around every corner and rise. If you do this trail as soon as it opens, prepare to bring a chainsaw as there are always trees down and will need to be cut in order for vehicles to get thru. Sometimes they are cut just enough for only motorcyclists or ATVs. There were some 4x4s, SxS, and motorcyclists, but it never felt like it was busy and truly felt remote.

I ran The Magruder Corridor over Labor Day weekend and it was a great time. I was surprised that even though it was a holiday weekend, there was relatively few people out there. This is a very popular motorcycle route so keep an eye open for bikers! The trip overall was awesome! Nothing technical at all unless you decide to drive up to the lookout. With how remote the road was, and being on my own, I was okay with it being an easier route. The sign at the start on the west side says that an axe, shovel, and bucket are required. I wish that I would have timed my drive out better so that I could have camped along the route!

To add more pics

I’m going to say the trail rating was spot on for more experienced trail riders who are completely comfortable with narrow shelf roads. There were some spots that literally squeezed our comfort zone so I might say the trail can be one number higher on difficulty if that’s a factor for you. Maybe more in a downpour. Other than that, it’s what we expected. Looking at a map, from West to East, I’d say the second quarter of the road is the most challenging. We started up the Burnt Knob trail but my wife refused to go any further up to Burnt Knob in her Rubicon due to the MUCH rougher trail up to the top than the few year old videos we saw. It’s considerably worse. I was climbing 17” rocks in my mildly modded and locked 19 Sahara with 35’s. Stacked a couple of rocks for insurance. The daughter took over driving the bone stock Rubicon after the wife got out to wait. 🥴 The 17 y/o kid did great and got the Jeep up to the pull off near the top and went right back down, surprisingly, with no scraping she said.👍🏼 I decided to not experience the top without them despite being 80% there. Didn’t feel right leaning them down the hill. The views were great but I tend to like change in the scenery a lot so minus the few green sections the distant views up high in the burnt areas were generally similar for most of the day, thus 4 stars. We passed several nice camping spots over the course of the day and it would likely be a more enjoyable experience to make time for one night of camping.

This is one of our favorite trails. Offers a little bit of everything. Roads can be rocky and uneven but we didn’t have any trouble. I would suggest taking a detour and driving down the paradise trail about half way in. Nice path that runs along the river. Make sure to fuel before starting the trail.

I rated the Magruder Corridor Trail as a 5 because it represents most everything I look for in a true Jeep "getaway" trail. Remote, long, scenic, and full of history, this trail is a special place that gives a guy (or girl) time to think, explore and get away from the madness of the concrete and steel jungles for a few days. After spending a month up North traversing the multiple forests in Montana and the Northern Idaho Panhandle, after a while I do like to see more open space vs. thick forest as far as the eye can see (or can't because its blocked by trees :)...). That said, part of the reason I rated this a "5", and as the author points out, with the history of forest fires along the route, it absolutely does open up as you move up and down the ranges with views that will go on forever (as you can see in the photos). Most of these local trails are thick woods where after a bit you may feel like you need more vision range - at least a boy originally from the Nebraska plains like me, but this trail definitely changes all of that for a bit and with the added history, trail challenges and scenery, it is truly a "getaway" trail in my opinion... One other note, this trail is also part of the Backcountry Discovery Route trail (BDR) if you are familiar with the crew that organizes route planning for off-road motorcycle enthusiasts, so dont be surprised if you see a few groups of those guys pass by, things haven't gone Mad Max yet, its just part of another route.... Great guys I met following that trail in any case so if you get the chance, say hello to our 2 wheeling brothers along the way.... Enjoy the route!

Easily one of the most visually spectacular trails I have ever driven. Going in the heart of fire season meant the visibility was often lowered due to smoke, but OMG, the vistas were so beautiful. We had some burly thunderstorms rolling in while we were at the highest elevations, which caused us to not feel safe to camp at some of the high elevation sites, where we were too exposed to potential lightning strikes.