Mosquito Pass

This was a scenic, and quick, pass trail that we took from Alma into Leadville. Nothing too complicated.

Trail was open and passible without issue, completed from Leadville to Alma. Had really high winds at the summit, almost couldn't open the doors to take a picture. Rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. There was a bit of ice at the bottom of the climb on the eastern side. Had no sliding issues, just rolled on down. Wasn't the most challenging trail but had some areas that needed a little more attention and the London Mine was really interesting. Sign at the east side stated the pass was closed but no issues crossing. Completed in Stock JLU Rubicon, 35 inch tires, 18 PSI.

Did this Saturday from Alma to Leadville. The Jeep mentioned in the review below has apparently been moved. Clear all the way across -- definitely no snow anymore. Rocky as advertised, but great views, and no issues in a stock Xterra Pro-4X with Duratracs. Great way to spend an afternoon!

Currently on Mosquito Pass coming from Leadville. At 2.8 miles there is a Jeep on its side blocking the road. Might be able to pass but "might" isn't very comforting. Backed up to a fork and trying to determine if this road is an alternate route to the pass. Rolled Jeep has temp. tags so driver probably didn't know what they were doing. I'll update again soon (10:40am Tues.). Alternate route leads to cell phone towers and deadends. We are turning back to Leadville (11:35am).

Ran the trail on Friday from Leadville to Alta. Barely any snow is left on the trail and it's definitely doable in a stock vehicle. Not my favorite, but a good one to try out if you haven't before. It's a bumpy trail with sharp rocks - the vehicle ahead of me punctured the sidewall of their tire and had to put on their spare at the top of the pass. Definitely air down on this one!

Hell yea! Great trail...from the summit to Leadville was closed due to snow. Could be melted by now or very soon. I did the trail 2 days ago....Heading up from Alma is pretty straight forward in a stock rig. Nothing that difficult. Beautiful drive!

Drove from east to west on Saturday, September 5, 2020. The road is in good condition overall, but the west side upper switchbacks are eroded showing more rock. This is not a problem for even a stock rig, just pick your line to avoid dragging the undercarriage. The State Historical Fund was hosting an open house at the London Mill (Waypoint 4) so I stopped to visit; glad that I did because I got to see a large bull moose in the creek about 100yds from the site! For info on the restoration/renovation project see: https://www.historycolorado.org/location/north-london-mine-field-office

Very scenic and beautiful trail (we started from Alma and finished at Leadville). Trail conditions are doable in a high ground clearance stock vehicle. We completed this pass on 2 lifted Grand Cherokees Limited and a stock Toyoya Tacoma TRD Off-Road.

Pretty cool trail, starting from Alma, we were above tree line before we knew it, didn’t even put it in 4 wheel drive until then. Just past the mine it gets a little interesting, lots of rocks and some offset holes that will challenge open diffs without a traction aid. The mines are cool and the scenery is amazing.

Did the trip from Alma to Leadville with Team Hyke. Although the haze from the fires was present, it wasn't too bad. The rest of the day was great. Why do people insist on climbing on the old structures? Other than that, a good day all around. Not too many vehicles on this day. Awesome beauty anywhere you look...

We took the trail from Alma to Leadville. There was a Burro race from Leadville to Alma so there were several stops to wait for the groups of racers and burros to pass and we chatted with the "Last Ass". Andrea was a bit woozy on the downhill past the summit, but she doesn't like the big drop offs. I really liked the trail and no problem with a stock jeep.

Mosquito Pass is never disappointing. Did the trail from Alma to Leadville. Road was very good up to London mine, after which it narrows a bit, and gets bumpy. Traffic was moderately heavy. Views are incredible at the top! We had a bit of a time with Razor/ ATV group coming up on the West side just past the summit. The only really narrow portion of the road of course, but we pulled out as far as possible and allowed them to pass on the mountain side. Saw lots of wildlife (deer, fox and Moose) and flowers. The road is rough and bumpy but otherwise pretty easy. I have always found Mosquito Pass interesting because you will see lots of noob drivers looking nervous, with many spouses looking quite angry. Its a great road for newer drivers, but they need to be warned, and aware of traffic sometimes putting them in a bit more uncomfortable situations. Some of the heights and drop-offs can also be a little intimidating for the inexperienced. For Beginners, I prefer West to East.

It was clear an low traffic. Nothing too hard. Hug wind at the top, but all in all it was a wonderful day.

Extremely Gorgeous Trail With Strong Colorado Gold Mining History

It is open.

Impassible at waypoint 8, false top. Nobody appears to have attempted it. Should be clear by next weekend I would think. Pretty trail, just enough technical parts to make it interesting but nearly all of it is bypassable. Nice rolling hills and steep basin walls. Started going down the South London Mine side and realized there is some new industry activity going on down there. Private property will probably start to be enforced soon : (

Started from Alma, we had to stop at WP8 (False Top) due to a big snowdrift. Overall we liked it a lot, not too difficult, great views, and a great dispersed campsite on the way. Driving a lifted 2014 4Runner on 31s.

Impassable at waypoint 7 due to deep snow drift. Multiple vehicles have attempted to bypass the snow drift and have ripped up the tundra, STAY THE TRAIL. Probably 1-2 weeks before it is passable.

I attended a meeting of the Colorado Association of 4WD Clubs yesterday (Saturday, October 26) and talked with some club members from Leadville. They told me that the peak is snowbound and impassible.

We did Mosquito Pass from Alma to Leadville. The sign outside Alma said 'CLOSED' but we continued waiting for a barrier or impassable condition (snow) and never encountered anything, so we made it over to Leadville without issue. A few stretches on the Alma side were rough, no joke, more than I expected even after watching several videos of the pass. The Leadville side was a little dicey since the road was covered with snow drifts for the top 1000' +/-....not too deep (less than 12 inches) but the snow certainly added another wrinkle going down the upper shelf road. We spent a couple days in Buena Vista, then heading back on 10/18/19 the peaks around Fairplay/Alma were covered with snow, so I'm not sure how passable the road is now.

Did the trail from Alma to Leadville in a stock JLUR. Very rocky but not really technical. Shouldn’t be a problem for any high clearance 4wd low vehicles. Nice views on top and always fun to see old mining ruins. Sign at the top is unique and hard to believe horse drawn wagons did that path way back when.

This was my first time driving this and I started on the Leadville side. The whole way up to the summit was very rocky and bumpy the whole way up, and same for part of the way down the other side. I found it to be a little annoying after a while, but the views made up for it. Not sure I would drive this every year because of how rough the road was. Not a really tough drive but definitely rough. As a side note it was disappointing to see a couple dirt bikes driving around off trail on the alpine tundra, goofing off and popping wheelies. People like that either don’t care or don’t realize their behavior causes trails to get closed for all of us.

Drove Mosquito Pass to Birdseye Gulch today. Mosquito Pass itself is not an overly challenging trail, but has amazing views. One of my first trails featuring steep cliffs on the trail edge and felt a good introduction as there was never a time you were right on the edge or super off-camber towards an edge. Note: I’d been looking beforehand for a recommendation on whether to run Birdseye to Mosquito or Mosquito to Birdseye (like we did). I would heavily recommend Birdseye to Mosquito as Birdseye was much more challenging and contained several technical/rocky sections I would have much preferred going up on instead of down.

I drove Mosquito Pass with a group of eight Land Cruisers from back east (Keystone Cruisers, Capital City Land Cruiser Club) as part of their Colorado Expedition. We had done Red Cone and Webster Pass the prior day, and used Mosquito Pass to cross over to Leadville where we'd then drive the highway south to access Tincup Pass. Mosquito Pass doesn't disappoint; it has neat mining history and provides fantastic panoramic mountain views. We had clear weather, so the trip was especially good. The road is in good condition, and there were relatively few others present, maybe three other vehicles and one group of hikers.

Amazing ,breathtaking absolutely on of the best places I've ever seen ! You must be alert when driving this road!

Drove this trail from Alma to Leadville in a stock 4Runner TRD PRO. This was our first real off road trip, so it was definitely a learning experience (rig capabilities, choosing lines, etc.) There were a few stretches where I questioned proceeding (because I'm new to this), but i tried to pick the easiest line, and the 4Runner did great. Hit the skid plate a couple times (barely grazed it, no dents/scratches), but that was 100% driver error: I guarantee a better driver would have avoided the obstacles. That being said, as a beginner, I wouldn't want a vehicle with any less clearance on this Trail. I'm pretty scared of heights, but with the trail being fairly wide, I was never too worried. We did get way too tippy for comfort on the second switchback heading down the leadville side (left hander), but again, I chose a poor line: 100% driver error. The views on this trail are gorgeous, and my wife and I definitely enjoyed the excursion. Lots of Pika and Marmots around at higher altitude.

Great day to run the pass. Ran it from East to West and only saw one m/c, three hikers, and two mt. bikes so we basically had the trail to ourselves. Very windy at the top so we didn’t hang around too long. Came back to 285 via Weston pass which, as expected, was much more crowded. It has been graded to be not much more than a rough two wheel drive road, but is scenic just the same.

The sign at CR 12/CR 10 (east side trailhead near Park City) said "closed" but the road is OPEN. Just a little bit of snow remaining on the side of the road at the false top (WP 8). The road is rocky and bumpy, but totally within the capability of a stock 4x4. Get out and see it before the snow flies again in late September or October!

Fun trip, but a little crowded with other vehicles. Shoulda gone on a weekday...

Awesome trail. so much more to explore in this area as well.

Mosquito Pass is now open and passable all the way through. A crew shoveled it open through the last drift.

Always a favorite of mine because of the scenery and elevation. Very rocky, and would be a challenge for some stock vehicles. 2000 Frontier (3" lift) and 2001 4Runner (3" lift) on 32s din't have any problems with clearance or articulation, for reference. As mentioned, what little snow is left was easily passable. The switchback at WP10 seems to be getting a bit more tippy on some lines in the last couple years. Pick your line carefully. Lots of wildlife, so keep your eyes open. We saw lots of marmots, pikas, ptarmigans, and even a yellow fox.

Mosquito Pass, we started from Birdseye Gulch and went East to the top at 13,185 feet The east side down to alma from waypoint 9 looked like it still had snow drifts, didn't attempt to go down turned around and headed back to leadville

Ditto on impassable at North London Mine because of snow. Trail further past looks questionable also.

Open up to the North London Mine. Still too much snow to get pass that point.

About 6 to 8 feet of snow at North London Mine (Waypoint 7). Hopefully not too much longer!

We explore Mosquito Pass which is located northeast of Leadville, CO in the Pike and San Isabel National Forest

"Mosquito Pass/Lake County Road 3 is open for 1 mile past the Diamond Mine. Snow drifting on the shelf parts of this road."

Officials announced today that the pass is closed until further notice on account of avalanche debris. Check back here for updates. "Park County Road 12 (Mosquito Pass) is closed due to avalanche debris along with snow still at the higher elevations. This is a very popular 4-wheel drive road from Fairplay to Leadville. The public is asked to seek an alternate route."

Stopped in Leadville on November 9th when returning from Moab; there was 8" of snow around town and more at elevation. I drove to the east side of town (just beyond the houses) and snapped this picture.

We ran this trail in a 2000 Frontier (3" lift) and 2006 4Runner (2" lift), both with 32" tires. We had a pretty easy time making it all the way through. The trail is rough but not challenging and there is a lot of room for passing vehicles for most of the trail. There is only 1 switchback corner on the west side of the pass that could get a bit tippy if you take it wrong. Overall very enjoyable. Good scenery. We did the whole pass in about and hour and a half.

Highly recommend this trail during the fall. We didn't air down until after first ascent, but we did air down after the first ascent making the rest of the drive more enjoyable. Fun drive and lunch in Leadville made for a great day on the trail. We drove our Willy's with a 3 inch lift on 34 in. Nitto Ridge Grapplers. Ben & Lindsey

Amazing Trail with Amazing views. Difficulty level is not easy enough to bore you or difficult enough to discourage new off roaders like myself. Follow my adventure on instagram its_b_ram

September 1, 2018: Pass still open. Fun trail. Definitely doable with a stock Jeep JKU. Challenging in some places. Despite some initial concerns there are plenty of places to pull off when encountering vehicles coming the other way.

Breathtaking. the single word my wife used to describe this route. we made this trip using our 1999 stock wrangler TJ sport. We traveled from Fairplay, over Mosquito Pass, and down into Leadville, This was an incredible route. Road was chunky and bumpy but not un-doable or too hard by any means. Generously wide road with plenty of passing areas throughout. Mining buildings and other implements are littered throughout the landscape. The view at the top of Mosquito Pass is just beyond words. Breathtaking, as my wife declared. This route is one of America's National Scenic By-ways. It is worth it, if you have a solid and sturdy rig, to make this trip. As it was suggested to us, at the top of Mosquito Pass, by a Leadville local, we suggest the Leadville Grille at the end of your journey for a well earned drink and hearty Colo-Mex meal. Keep your rubber to the road & stay safe

Awesome trail with amazing views! It is very bumpy because of rocks but a relatively easy trail!

Calvary 4-Wheelers gathered for our Back-to-School Special run on Saturday, August 18, 2018. Along for the trip were me in my lifted XJ; my wife, Missy, in her stock TJ; my daughter, Leona, in her newly-lifted late ‘70s Plymouth Trailduster; Jon and his friend David in Jon’s red, lifted Cherokee; and John and his two boys in their blue JKU Rubicon. We had originally planned on going up to Wheeler Lake but found out there was going to be a major trail maintenance project going on there so we switched to Mosquito Pass.

We met in Jefferson on the west/south side of Kenosha Pass. It was cold, overcast and windy feeling more like late September than mid August. We drove into rain on the way to Fairplay which got steadily heavier until it was raining pretty hard. I was beginning to wonder if we might find snow at 13,000 feet on the top of the pass.

We took a back way in from Alma, heading up CR 10 (Park Hill Road) and then across FSR 449 (Narrow Gauge) along the old railroad bed. Along the way we saw a large bull moose and a pretty good-sized muley buck. We took a wrong turn at an unexpected fork and ended up coming down Orphan Boy Mine Road to CR 12 before the end of 449.

By this time the rain had started to let up and was down to off and on sprinkles. We made a brief stop at the information Kiosk for the North London Mill to take some pictures and, for those that wanted to, to air down. When we reached the left hand turn that starts the pass in earnest, we shifted into 4wd and began the climb.

After bouncing our way up the rocky road, pausing occasionally to admire the view and take a picture or two, we stopped for lunch at the North London Mine. The rain had completely stopped by now and the sun was intermittently peeking through the clouds. When the sun was out, it was quite pleasant. When it went behind a cloud it was still a little cool. We ate our lunch at a leisurely pace, enjoying the day and each other’s company.

After lunch and a little time to explore the mine ruins, we headed on up the pass. We only stopped at the top long enough to take a quick picture of the sign and then headed down the other side. The weather continued to improve and, by the time we got to Leadville, we were able to shed our jackets. We stopped at a gas station for a bathroom and some snacks before hitting the highway and heading home.

The trail was clear and passable the entire way. The views were as impressive as ever. This classic trail is definitely worth it.

From Leadville, the road/trail to the summit is open but a bit challenging on the switchbacks due to large rocks protruding in the trail. A good line will keep you moving, otherwise one could reasonably expect undercarriage damage on a stock, unlifted vehicle. Low range gears, soft tires, and high clearance will be helpful. Approximately 1/2 mile from the summit towards Alma, the trail in impassable due to six foot snow drifts covering the road. This is a shelf road and any attempt to traverse the snow could result in a catastrophic event. Don't go alone!

The trail is still closed due to a few snow drifts across the trail. Between waypoints 8 and 9 are where the drifts are. They are passable with a motorcycle if you dont mind hiking a bike through at least two of the drifts. It will likely be another two weeks before they are open unless it heats up soon. Still a great trail to explore from either side. It is completely clear on both sides other than those drifts.

Snow drifts at just under timberline were passable. By the time we got to one we couldn't pass, we could see London Mill, probably only 1/4 mile away. This was about halfway between waypoints 3 and 4. So we camped in the sites near the intersection with 696. Big note here, I guess Mine Water bought up most of Mosquito Pass and the are to fix it up. You can search and find articles about it if you search 'London Mine' on google. I had permission to camp and explore up 696 from the guy running security here. Be advised that the current MVUM maps aren't be updated for the change in ownership. There are sheets stapled to trees about the mine claims that were bought.

Attempted to drive up to the London Mine site but the trail has snow drifts a few hundred feet after waypoint 2. Could be passable with more than one rig or a great starting point for a hike up to the mine. There are areas for parking at waypoint 2 as well as where the snow drift is.

Classic Colorado right here on this trail!

Recent storms have delivered early snow to the high country, particularly routes above 12,000ft elevation. While Mosquito Pass technically remains "open", there is approximately 4" of snow accumulation towards the summit. Use caution during this transition of seasons--don't travel alone (single vehicle).

I ran Mosquito Pass from west to east (Leadville to Alma) with friends visiting from Virginia, on Monday, September 11, 2017. Weather was stormy but we made it to the summit before rain began to fall. By the time we reached North London Mine, the rain had stopped but the ground was wet. There are two spots where the road is deeply rutted, one above and one below North London Mine. Careful line selection made it a non-issue, even in a stock '88 Trooper on 29" All-Terrains.

Despite a sign on the Alma side indicating that the pass was closed due to snow, it was wide open. There were a few gnarly sections that required careful wheel placement for my stock LX470, but otherwise it was a nice, bumpy trip. Beautiful views the whole way. Chilly up top.

Road was clear (no snow). Wet in only a few places. Beautiful day. We started off from Alma. The posted sign noted the pass was closed. However, a member in the group had checked the website the night before and it noted the pass was open. We had one flat just up the first climb before North London Mine on the trip but he gave it a shot using 2wd most of the way. 4-low was only necessary in a couple of spots. The first just as you start the climb up from North London Mine. It was chilly at the top so make sure you bring a jacket. Last note. if you are into Geocaching, there is a location at the top of Mosquito pass. 😉

Went over starting from the Alma side. There is still a roughly 60' long snow bank across the road just past the saddle that is above the North London mine. It is rutted and all three vehicles went up unassisted. The smallest with 32" tires.

Love this area, but make sure to go in mid to late summer as the top can be snowed in till then. One year we were up there, it took a few tries to get through the last snow drift to get to the top. Still worth a day or two to explore the area. Have done this trail in a stock 98' Tacoma, stock 07' FJ Cruiser and stock 11' 4runner. All had BFG Allterrain tires and experience driver/s.