Corkscrew Pass

An amazing trail. The red mountains are legit! One switchback was quite steep and off camber. Any stock rig can do this trail.

Great run today starting on Corkscrew, then Hurricane and finishing through California. Beautiful. Completed in stock full sized Chevy.

The trail is open and plowed all the way through and all county visitation restrictions have been lifted.

High Country Roads Opening Priority May 12, 2020 Update Crews will begin work May 18, 2020 with the goal to have all High Country Roads open by the July 4th weekend. Please note: some services may be unavailable or slow to respond due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Please be respectful of local Public Health Orders and restrictions. Visit https://ouraycountyco.gov/396/Coronavirus-COVID-19-Updates-and-Resourc to check current orders and for more information. (Note – Crew 1 and Crew 2 work concurrently) Crew 1: Yankee Boy (Depending on snowfall, anticipated time to reach the Outhouses is 4 days.) Crew 2: Red Mountain Town – Open the Main Loop Crew 1: Corkscrew Crew 2: Engineer Crew 1: Imogene Crew 2: Crews will move to help open Imogene after the completion of Engineer Updates will be posted periodically on the Ouray County Website (www.ouraycountyco.gov) and on the Road and Bridge Facebook page. ***Subject to change due to weather and emergencies***

Currently, San Juan County has issued CLOSURES on all their backcountry passes. San Miguel, Hinsdale, and Ouray County issued a travel at your own risk advisory. https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/sanjuan/maps-pubs/?cid=fsbdev3_002300

Good weather and gorgeous fall colors for our trip this weekend. Trail is in good shape and made for a smooth drive.

Fairly easy going up until the switch backs. The switch backs aren’t difficult, they just add some exposure. We drove to Animas Fork in a few hours total with lots of stops. A few hundred sheep were being herded between Corkscrew and Hurricane which was cool to see.

Ran this trail from both directions today; great ride. The switchbacks are fun in a UTV and easy enough to navigate.

Started on the west side at the parking lot. Like another user said, that lot is a zoo! This was the first time I have ever driven Corkscrew from this direction and man is it steep and hard on the vehicle. If you have a big motor or any kind of heat issues, I would avoid doing the trail in this direction. The avalanche that they cleared still had plenty of snow and debris. It was quite a feat from the road crews. I remember the swithcbacks being way tighter back in the day, and they are not bad at all anymore so that is a bit disappointing, but I can see why they have widened everything considering how much traffic it sees now. Fun day.

Started the trail off of 550. Aired down the tires in the parking lot, put it in four-wheel- low, and had a great time. We had one sobering moment when we stopped along the trail and could see the wreckage of an ATV at the bottom of the valley. We don’t know what the status of the operator was but it was a good object lesson to pay attention.

This pass combined with Hurricane and California are among my favorites now. Great views and a fun road to drive. Showed up around 8:30AM on a Saturday on the west side and found the parking lot to be a zoo. Completely packed. But everyone spread out nicely on the trail and I really enjoyed the drive! Also drove the spur at the summit which was a lot of fun and notably tougher than the rest of the pass.

The Corkscrew / Hurricane / California route is one of my favorites. Scenery is amazing and this road is faster because it's less technical than something like Imogene. We experienced rain, hail, clouds and moderate traffic.

Fun trail, we utilized the camping mentioned at the beginning - good fit for our group of 4 vehicles and trailer. The spot mentioned @WP4 would be epic and was still open on a Fri afternoon, but towing a camping trailer to that point would require some skill and good weather. Due to the runoff this year the road feels a little more 'shelfy' than we were expecting but nothing that cant be managed by taking it slowly and maybe a 3-pt turn here or there if driving a longer wheelbase vehicle. Views will not disappoint, so happy Trailsoffroad description talks about the large sign we saw across the horizon...everyone was wondering what that was! Lots of ATV/UTV traffic as mentioned.

Ran this trail with no issues. There is a significant amount of avalanche debris and remaining snow along the route. The county has done an exceptional job of cleaning things up and making the entire route passable. Of note is the large number of OHV and ATV traffic using Corkscrew as a way to access the high country.

Per Ouray County Road and Bridge Corkscrew Pass is officially open.

San Juan County has plowed their side of Corkscrew Pass. Corkscrew is plowed about 150-200 yards past the top but NO place to turnaround.

Heavy snow pack and late season snow falls have greatly affected the opening date to many of the trails in the San Juan Mountains. I will try to quickly update these trail guides to reflect when the hard working plow and dozer operators are able to dig these wonderful trails out for all of us to enjoy. https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/sanjuan/maps-pubs/?cid=fsbdev3_002300

Ouray County has announced that plowing operations have begun for these trails. From the county:

High Country Roads Opening Priority

May 6, 2019 Update

Crews will begin work May 6, 2019 with the goal to have all High Country Roads open by the July 4th weekend.

***Please be aware: Southwestern Colorado received an exceptional amount of snow during the 2018-2019 winter. Roads may be cleared later than usual, and dangers like avalanches may still exist into the summer months. Please use caution when venturing into these areas.***

(Note – Crew 1 and Crew 2 work concurrently)

Crew 1: Yankee Boy (Depending on snowfall, anticipated time to reach the Outhouses is 4 days.)

Crew 2: Red Mountain Town – Open the Main Loop

Crew 1: Corkscrew

Crew 2: Engineer

Crew 1: Imogene

Crew 2: Crews will move to help open Imogene after the completion of Engineer

Took Corkscrew pass on our way to the alpine loop instead of the Mineral Creek trail. Depending on your route, you will either start or end in heavy forest. At the time we took it, the trail was in good condition.

The views are amazing and trail is in good condition. Watch out for large herds of sheep and their guardian dogs.

This is one of my absolute favorite trails in the San Juans. Very different land then most others. The colors in the mountains pop. Maybe home to the most beautiful view on earth from a vault toilet.

Declared open all the way through per the San Juan national forest. https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/sanjuan/maps-pubs/?cid=fsbdev3_002300

Cleared and fully open per local reports.

Snow has fallen making this trail impassable until next season, closed at the top by snow according to the U.S Forest Service. https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/sanjuan/maps-pubs/?cid=fsbdev3_002300

After some 8 hours on the trail, beginning in Ouray, doing Engineer, Animas Forks, California, part of Poughkeepsie, Hurricane, and now finishing with Corkscrew, I was worn out, and pushed though towards Ironton too quickly to soak in the beauty as much as I should have. The track is much different than others nearby. Much more red clay, less rocks. Much more undulation... A lot like my trails back home in TN. You'll get a lot of chances to flex over the rolling trail, but it has no issues. The last views of the Red Mountains are incredible, until you drop down into the timberline and then the views are heavy forest.