Crystal City

A truck went off the road with a nasty fall into the Crystal River last week. Truck is still there, with its driver door swinging with the water currents. It wasn't clear to me why they went off the road where they did, unless it has moved down stream from a different area of departure. Good reminder to be careful on shelf roads like this. This road is full of tourists on rental ATVs and out of state cars that just dont realize what this road is actually like. Ran into a few vehicles that froze with the deer in the headlights look when we came head to head on this road. Luckily there are plenty of spots to pull over for passing, granted the first several of them were full of cars that parked in them because they realized the road was getting too rough, so they apparently parked and hiked the rest of the way. But even for a Monday it was packed. The Crystal Mill is now such a tourist site that it's been roped off with plenty of no trespassing signs along the road where you used to be able to walk down to the river and take pictures.

Trail is clear all the way to the city. Schofield is snow packed and impassable.

Drove the Crystal Trail after descending Schofield Pass. Stopped for a brief time in the village itself, and then again at the Mill. Lots of traffic, especially hikers, even on a weekday late in the season.

Beautiful trail to Crystal Mill nothing too rough

Fun quick trail. I did it in a 2015 Ram Rebel. There are not tight switchbacks or anything but the trail can get crowded and passing people can be a challenge. There are a ton of Polaris type vehicles on the road and some inexperienced people trying to get to the mill so it adds to the challenge of trying to pass on a crowded trail. Overall though great trail with a rewarding end. I do agree with other reviewers this isn't a difficult trail by any means but it certainly isn't a 1-2.

We visited this trail while at FJ summit 13. This is a great trail and my FJ cruiser had no trouble navigating it. I did run from waypoint 2 on in four low to give more ascent /descent control but have no doubt I could have done this in four high or all wheel drive. There was an enormous avalanche that came down from the opposite bank and splashed up the side that the road is on, devastating many trees. There was an attendant at the Mill selling water and $10 passes to hike across the river and over to the Mill. No thanks, the water was just too high. The shelf road portions can be quite unsettling as several off camber parts bounce you toward the side. Portions are several hundred feet above the stream bed. If you have an aversion to heights, you will definitely find this trail exhillerating. The only negative was the amount of oncoming traffic and the limited places to pass each other. Since we did this on a Tuesday and had this issue, I can't imagine what a weekend day would be like.

I'm giving this a 2 star rating only because this trail is not as easy as the low level 1 rating makes it seem and I seriously doubt a 2wd truck could do this trail. Any stock Jeep, 4runner, 4wd pickup, or something you associate with offroading in, will be perfectly fine. The terrain is not all that difficult, just really rough so SUV ground clearance is not an issue, but there are several steep hills that we attempted with an AWD crossover and the grade was too much. And although we had enough clearance, the trail is rough enough that we had to go extremely slow and very carefully pick our lines. Around a mile from lizard lake we ditched the vehicle and hiked the rest of the way. Trail is 100% open and clear of any avalanche debris. The debris fields are pretty interesting to see. Like others said, the river is raging but the mill is a rewarding experience.

More rocky and narrow in places than a typical “Easy 1-2” rated trail probably due to recent avalanches. Awesome closeup views of the river and of course Crystal Mill which is a must see experience.

Drove the trail Sunday June 8 2019; it is in great shape minus a few debris fields from major avalanches. The river is really raging right now from all the snow melt so it has eaten away the road in one or two spots. In these debris fields the obstacles are a bit unpredictable as some large boulders and trees rolled onto the trail, but were mostly cleared, and if not, are easy to clear yourself. No snow present on the trail and camping areas are all in great shape. It does note you can do this in a 2WD vehicle but I wouldn't recommend it; that being said, a stock Crosstrek can do it, but you'd really have to pick your lines in a few spots. Is a very fun trail to drive for entry level 4x4 folks, as long as you turn it around at Crystal City. Lead King Basin is much more difficult as well as the section around Devils Punch Bowl; neither trail was open this past weekend.

The company that owns the mine announced today that the road is cleared and now open. Expect some icy/snowy spots for the next few days/weeks.

Just an update for anyone trying to get there. As of 5/24/19, the trail is impassable due to a landslide. GPS Coordinates of the landslide: Lat: N 39°03'51.1056" Lon: W 107°08'41.5068" Hopefully they get it cleared soon.

Good trail and beautiful country. Only reason I give it a 4 instead of a five is because of how busy it has become, as the mill has turned into a huge tourist attraction. I run this trail at least annually as my family owns land past Crystal and I highly recommend this trail in the middle of the week and earlier in the season, rather than on the weekend in the middle of summer. At its busiest, expect to back up the trail at least a dozen times to make room for on coming traffic. Also be prepared to deal with novice drivers that do not know proper off road etiquette. There also can be a lot of foot and bike traffic as well with some of whom frown upon motor vechicles using the trail.

White River National Forest indicates seasonal closures ended as schedule (May 21, 2018) but state further that snow still remains in spots above 9,500' elevation so be aware of runoff and muddy conditions. https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd554376.pdf Note that the WRNF says travel on (connected road) Schofield Pass is NOT RECOMMENDED at this time.

Ran up to marble today. Intended to run Crystal City from the marble side. Not so much. FS was up there to do some maintenance and repair as there was quite the mud hole over the weekend. Guess a guy got his suburban stuck near the lake. The county tried to fill. But it was not good. FS got there D5 cat dozer stuck up over the tracks, as well there D3 dozer trying to get the other one out. Long story short there unstuck but the marble side is closed for the foreseeable future. Best case a few weeks, worst case tell spring. Good news is Lead King basin is open and passable as well the Schofield Pass is open. This was my route in then out. Conditions were nice weather was warm. Trip back to Glennwood springs over Keabler pass was beautiful. Pics are the marble side with the hole big enough to swallow my JKUR on 37's

I drove the Crystal City road to exit at Marble, after having driven Paradise Divide and Schofield Pass the previous day, and Lead King Basin earlier this same day. The road conditions are good; or as good as they can be, I should say, due to being shale rock over much of the course parallel to the Crystal River. It is a bumpy ride no matter which way you take it. Traffic was light, as I only encountered one ATV and one SUV, plus two mountain bikers and two pairs of hikers.

The trail up to Crystal is open. There was an avalanche but they have it cleared and is passable.

Ran this trail after running Schofield Pass from Crested Butte. Didn't run into a whole lot of traffic, just a few vehicles. One gentleman was flying his drone around the mill to get better camera angles since you can no longer go down to the river. We were lucky enough to come to the mill late in the afternoon just as the sunlight was providing ideal lighting on the structure. The trail on the way out wasn't bad at all compared to prior years. It has been a whole lot rougher in the past.

Camped all weekend at the Oh Be Joyful campground just northwest of Crested Butte. Did a half trek on Paradise Divide and joined up with another group that was waiting to go on Schofield Pass. Lead King Basin was closed off due to recovery of a couple rigs that fell into the creek. We continued through the ghost town of Crystal before we reached the infamous Crystal Mill aka Dead Horse Mill. Found out from a person in other group that there was an excellent BBQ joint in Marble. Followed them out to the parking lot by Lizard Lake to air up. Checked out Slow Groovin BBQ and that was phenomenal!!!!