Hurley

The Cameron Peak fire west of Fort Collins continues to grow prompting additional closures to the Roosevelt National Forest. The trail is affected by the Forest Closure Order effective 08-20-2020. Ongoing information about the fire, it’s progress, evacuations and closures can be found at Inciweb.gov website.

This is a great, rocky, tougher trail. Ran it with my 4Runner (stock tire size & 1.5” lift), and I definitely used the skid plates. Multiple hits along the way. Lots of exposed, loose rocks. With a lower lift, I had to pay very close attention and pick lines carefully. It had my heart rate up that’s for sure.

Where the road splits looks like an abandoned hobo camp and needs to be cleaned up. This is the first time I came up this trail. If it wasn't so far from my house, I might try to get my trailer up there to haul out the trash. If anybody else is up to the task, bring a hammer, maybe a pry bar, maybe a screw shooter to demo the plywood structure and haul out. Other than that, a few garbage bags and an hour or so of time will get the job done. Bring gloves, maybe a leaf rake. It would all fit in the bed of a pickup if you're feeling charitable. We only drove about half way down the right fork as time was running out and we had to hit the road. It would be a nice trail if not for disgusting, inconsiderate humans.

Me and a group of buddies ran this trail pretty easily on the right fork. It was a lot of fun, with the hardest part being not scraping up the Jeeps too badly with Rocky Mountain Pinstriping. The left fork only my skidplated and fully armored Jeep Wrangler could complete, with rocks a foot tall surrounded by deep ruts that made some rocks almost a foot and a half tall at some points due to erosion. Most of the trail is fairly easy after the initial half mile or so. Ruts make many of the smaller rocks a larger problem than they would be otherwise. Based on the rating system the left fork could easily be a 4-5. It's a fun trail, and I would highly reccomend it to an armored and/or lifted vehicle.

With last year's reviews suggesting that erosion has deepened the ruts on the left fork, I went to the trail to inspect conditions for Memorial Day Weekend. I was able to get to the fork at Waypoint 3 with only minor snow amounts lining the shaded edges of the trail. After Waypoint 3, the snow was still pretty deep needing a few more weeks to finish the spring melt. Another trip will be coming soon.

Did this trail for the first time based on your 3 (easy) rating and trail info. We wanted an easy trail as one in our party requested it. The rest in the group have done trails rated 6-7 without problems. We took a left at the fork because some didn't like the idea of the right being too narrow. A couple of us decided to go up the left fork and found it much more difficult than the 6-7's we've done. Rocky, rutted with a large chance of bottoming out. Hard to pick decent lines because it is narrow. Later we tried the right fork after having to deal with a fallen tree. Pretty easy until the top. It then turned into same situation as left fork. I know ratings are subjective, but this one seems off. This is not written as a complaint, but rather as something to think about for those new to wheeling.

Site update: 10-July-2018 Roads: A fallen tree blocks the primary road (right at fork when you enter main campground area) for only taller vehicles about a hundred feet past the main campground at the fork. A saw capable of 12 inch diameter is needed at a minimum. Safer cut at >16 inches. Left at fork (rocky looking road) has had significant rutting since I last traveled it. Many vehicles will bottom out and straddling ruts is not an option as large trees grow to the shoulders. Uneven ruts will make taller vehicles with roof racks hit trees in one location. Consider increasing the rating for the left fork of this road. Road to fork is still easy and clear. Campsite Condition: The main campsite at the fork was rather trashed. Fast food condiment packets, broken glass, shells, skeet, cigarette butts, buckets, wrappers, cans, building supplies, etc…. For four hours my wife, 4 year old son and I picked three 30 gallon garbage bags of trash from these campsites. We also removed abandoned furniture, a large amount of carpet and other large trash items. We did not have room for a beat-up recliner, some metal cowlings and a bunch of OSB lumber. If someone has a half empty truck and has time to pick up those items, thanks in advance for your help. We could have spent a solid day on the trash immediately outside the camping area at the fork. Though we made significant improvement there is still broken glass about every square foot. Be careful. Plinkers unable to plink in compliance with litter laws consider visiting these ranges where they might clean up after you: http://wheretoshootcolorado.com/ or http://cpw.state.co.us/thingstodo/Pages/ShootingRanges.aspx or https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/arp/recreation/recarea/?recid=80588&actid=106 Please examine the USFS rules about permanent or semi-permanent structures before building latrines. We found several garbage bags of human feces. One was less than 4 days old only 20 feet from the camping area and 20 feet from the (right) road as you exit camp (on the right). I was not equipped to remove other peoples' biohazards. Benefits of latrines in high traffic areas is debated by a few as a safer alternative to many cat holes. Latrines only work if people dispose of the excrement properly. (Also these structures were only a few feet outside of camp and that is not safe) Leaving bags of human excrement and bodily fluids is not in keeping with laws or modern ethics of 4x4ing. Pack it out. First small campsite on the left of the left fork, about half a mile in, has significant glass especially in the fire ring. I was unable to deal with this one. We walked out some of the junk from the first small campsite on the right fork. It could likely use more care and I didn’t make it much past this one (on foot). There is a lot of pressure from mountain bikers and hikers to close roads to motorized use when abused. If we let campsites be trashed like this it gives the USFS strong argument to close roads or reduce the dates that roads are open. It is especially true for “Out & Back” trails like Hurley. Pack it out. Tread lightly.

Snow is beginning to pile up in this tree lined trail. The winter snow fall has set in for the season and only going to get worse until the spring melt comes.