Red Cone

For me it was impassable, in a 2008 H3 on 33s with no lift, but for someone on taller tires or more experience in the snow it might be ok.

I did some night wheeling Friday, November 6, and decided to do this one after I did Webster Pass. Most of the early parts of the trail were more difficult than I remember from the last time I went on August 15. That first waypoint in the write up, it appeared someone had moved the rock on the east so I drug the frame a little going up and a lot coming back down. There was quite a bit of snow and ice on the way up. I was able to find lines to get past the icy spots. But on the saddle leading up to the peak, the snow got pretty deep and it became impassable for me about 311 feet from the peak. I saw some tracks keeping to the right on the rocks with one tire in the snow, but I forgot to grab my flashlight, and my phone light wasn't shining far enough ahead for me to see what was going on, and I didn't want to take the chance of that final ascent to the peak being even worse, so I backed down the saddle to a spot wide enough for me to turn around.

This review is from 10/16/20 - the trail is no longer passable at time of writing this review (12/28/20). This is my new all time favorite trail when showing friends and out of state guests off-roading. It has it all all, from the best views I have yet encountered, extreme adrenaline rush on the descent, and some fun technical parts to flex on and mess around with on the ascent. We paired with the second half of Webster Pass for an extremely fun river-crossing as well. On the first steep descent a portion had rutted out providing a major challenge for two jeeps we were with - the longer wheelbase 4Runner did not have an issue, but it definitely made for a "leap of faith" type moment sticking the nose into it on an already very steep descent!

Red Cone is a beautiful trail but it definitely has its challenging sections. I ran it in a 2012 Kawasaki Teryx4 and didn't have any real issues. I hit bottom a few times but could navigate around lots of obstacles. We were on the trail by 8:00 am and we were one of the first. After that, it gets pretty busy. We finished Red Cone and went to Radical Hill. Radical Hill is far worse than Red Cone. Red Cone is just a warm up for Radical Hill. This climbs on Red Cone are fun and the descents are pretty serious. Take your time and be sure to look ahead. The descents will get you if you aren't prepared. This is one of my favorite trails in Colorado. Views from the top are spectacular but, given the weather of the day, if might be a short stop at the top. The wind was in excess of 45 mph and cold!

Ran this as part of a two day trip with Radical hill, deer creek, saints john, middle fork swan, SOB hill, and georgia pass. What a great 2 days! Epic scenery even with the smoke. WP2 definitely the hardest part. Ran this in 2017 and they have widened the path thru the trees at the right hand 90 near the tree line. Also the descent is much easier and looks like they leveled it a bit. Great trail though

beautiful area . Definitely a few tough spots .. I did it in a lifted subaru 5inch lift Long travel suspension. Skids at tires and rear locker. .this trail is Definitely way too difficult for anything less that what I brought. K recommend any subaru owners run webster pass or something else . Mostly because the large hills and no low range. The biggest reason is the rock gardens ..

We ran this trail in my 2011 4Runner w/ 2” lift and 31.6” tires. I feel like the descent is a little over-hyped, I didn’t feel my anxiety level go up at all as we went down. I did scrape pretty good at the gatekeeper and on a few boulders in the rock garden; rock sliders and skid plates are a beautiful thing. One of the last switchbacks was a pretty decent challenge as well, I watched another vehicle struggle through it for a while but I pulled right through, I think I found the right line.

Red Cone with Colorado Land Cruisers on Saturday, 8/15/20. We had a great view of the wildfire smoke plume to the northwest.

This is a fun trail. I did it without issue in my Cherokee on 31’s with a rear locker and 4 inch lift. Great views and lots of fun. Don’t freak out on the descent and try to use your engine braking as much as possible. It’s not that bad.

I guess I defied the laws of physics and took my Ram 2500 up this trail on Tuesday. The rock obstacle at WP #2 was my biggest challenge (and my only rock strike of day). The previous review shows this in their first pic. The rest of the trail through the woods was rough but all passable. The climbs above tree line a little easier with some momentum. The descent off Red Cone was firmer than I expected. Came down it without any wheel slippage-not an easy feat in a 7,000lb rig. Handcart Gulch and Webster Pass both open

Took my Tacoma up. 33" tires, 3" lift, NO LOCKER, and made it just fine. There is one section around a switchback where you need careful tire placement and have to give it a little bump to make it up with no locker, but otherwise and easy trail, super fun. My pictures show the one spot I'm talking about. There were stock tacomas up there (with locker) and they made it without scraping, but said it was close.

Trail is super fun and in great shape. We did the loop back down Handcart. Made it without issue (traction and clearance wise) in a GX470 with 2-in lift and 31s. There is one tricky switchback where locking diff or good traction control is needed. Lots of sharp rocks along the way so good tires are required. Did get a good scuff on the paint, probably from an off-camber section but I did not notice until after. Also lost a mud flap but that will go back on with a plastic rivet. So, be careful if you are worried about such things.

Amazing trail! Highly recommended. I completed the loop and came back down Handcart Gulch. The snow drift at Webster Pass was dug out enough to get by.

Ran this trail with no doors and of course it would rain and turn chilly but I wouldn't expect anything less wheeling in the high country in Colorado. This trail was one we had been wanting to do for a while but just never had a chance to do so but finally did and it was great, despite the weather. We actually will be leading a group up there at the end of August so fingers crossed it won't be raining. There wasn't too many obstacles that caused us issues.

Red Cone is one of those trails you have to do at least once if you have a capable rig. I was in a bone stock JLU Rubicon, my buddy was in a 2020 Tacoma TRD Tacoma with 33s. Both of us used our lockers to get up WP 2. After that, a few hairy spots but nothing too bad. At very minimum, I would recommend at least 33's and a vehicle with a decent amount of flex to get through - ideally a locker. This trail definitely deserves all the 5-star ratings. Truly epic area of Colorado!

Definitely a great trail to do! Some of the best scenic views Colorado trails have to offer. I would recommend to have at least a locker in your vehicle to get up the first half of the trail. We had my 92 XJ on 35s with front and rear locked, a Suzuki Samurai with a 3" lift and 29s with rear locker, and a 2019 Ford Ranger FX4 on 4" lift with the rear locker package with 33". Once you get past the first few way points its pretty smooth sailing. At WP9 the trail ends and the Tail end of Webster pass is still closed due to snow. You will have to exit taking the first half of Webster where you leave into Montezuma. If you take a side-by-side or atvs, due to this being a one way trail at the top you'll be having a long day. Over-all this trail is quite spectacular and definitely should do if you've never done it.

After a very long and extensive day of trail repair, Red Cone is now open for the season. Be aware that you have to exit via Webster Pass to Montezuma and there is still an avalanche field you have to traverse that is still pretty deep. With the tracks we put on it and the shoveling, it will likely be melted in a week.

I recommend starting in Montezuma, and making the big figure 8 by doing Webster Pass, Red Cone, Radical Hill, and Deer Creek. Of those Radical Hill is the toughest. I think the first rock garden, and the switch backs through the woods were the toughest part for my long bed taco. Otherwise this trail is mostly about scenery, and possibly fear of heights. Just be warned, the views are very distracting.

I drove Red Cone with a group of eight Land Cruisers and Tacoma's visiting from back east (Keystone Cruisers, Capital City Land Cruiser Club). We're all experienced wheelers and had no issues. The rocks at Waypoint 2 require good line selection, and the switchbacks above Waypoint 5 (the last segment of road before leaving the treeline) was off-camber and deeply rutted. This was my second trip on Red Cone, having first driven it in 2015. Take the author's precautions about braking on the descent--the road surface is loose rock and some segments are steep!

Always a great trail. I heard from a friend that going down Webster Pass towards 285 after Red Cone is very scary this year. I ran Red Cone then descended towards Radical Hill. His story was confirmed at the Webster Pass summit by a guy who had just come up with his 2 toddlers. He said he about had a heart attack coming up. Felt like this info should be out there for anyone else attempting. edit** another buddy ran it down Webster yesterday (8/21) and said "it's the same as any year."

Incredible trail, the views are amazing. I ran it in the rain and some obstacles definitely were difficult because of the weather but still managed to pull through.

The Red Cone gate has officially been opened. Trail is dry and clear all the way to Montezuma.

My plan was to go up Red Cone, through Radical Hill, and then follow whichever way I felt after going through them, but unfortunately Red Cone is still closed. I decided to take Webster Pass, which is still a good trail, until the shelf road.

I ran Red Cone yesterday with another rig and the ground was dry. There is lots of snow in the forecast this week and I believe we may have been one of the last groups through for the year.

Spectacular trail! One of our all time favorites now. Just the right amount of technical. Amazing views. Took Red Cone to West side of Webster Pass and out to Keystone. Highly recommend it.

Ran this trail with a group of stock and very modified vehicles. The most stock vehicle we had was an 89 YJ with 30" tires and 1" lift, fully open diffs. Waypoint 2 is much narrower than it seems in the pictures. Our YJ had to be aired down to 8 psi in the rear in order to get traction to get up and over the center rocks. He ended up hitting his rear bumper on the way off but it didn't really show other than a few scratches. If you don't know how to let your engine do the braking on the way down the slopes, don't try this. One of the guys in our group locked his rear brakes up and fish-tailed about 4 feet before letting off, almost got real nasty for him and us. A word of advice don't run the top half of this trail with your sway bar disconnected! We had a few Jeeps (3 - 6" of lift) run without their sway bars and they were puckering as they were coming down.

I drove the trail yesterday with my daughter and labrador retriever and had a fabulous time. The reason for writing the review is just to add a word of caution to others that may be driving a somewhat stock older vehicle. I found it to be very difficult. I drive a 1989 FJ62 Toyota Land Cruiser, with a very mild lift (2”) and 31” tires on stock wheels. Fortunately I have a rear diff locker which helped tremendously. I was also loaded pretty heavy with camping gear and a roof-top tent. The first half of the road is very rocky and I just didn’t have enough clearance to progress at a reasonable pace. We had to stop frequently to realign and to move and stack rocks and bolders. The trail description indicated a few hours, but it took us about 5-1/2 hours to reach the top. Of course, to make things interesting, we encountered a hail storm and lighting before reaching the top, so we had to sit in the vehicle for a while and wait for the storm to pass. Fortunately, it did pass pretty quickly. I was a little worried about the downhill parts, given the dire warnings to avoid using the brakes and the fact that my tires are barely larger than stock and don’t have a lot of width. It actually wasn’t bad at all, but I think having the rear locker helped tremendously to keep the tires from skidding. I went very slow, not nearly as fast as shown in on-line videos and I did stand on the brakes pretty heavily. But because I kept the speed so low, I never was actually decelerating, the brakes were used to keep from speeding up. I would have been uncomfortable at a speed where the engine was doing the braking, and yes, I was in 4WD low, with the locker engaged and I have a Vortec V8 instead of the tired old Toyota six. It’s not that scary if you’re careful. What would have been scary for me would be to turn around and go through the rock crawling back the way we came! We continued northward over Webster pass. I also thought that it was interesting that there was NOBODY on the road save for a young couple in a OHV quad. Anyway, tons of fun but just wanted to give a bit of additional perspective if you’re not driving a built-out trail rig.

Great day for a trip up Red Cone. It was my 1st run over this pass but we managed it okay. I think the hardest part of this trail is WP2 but I got over it. The decent down was not as bad as I was thinking it was going to be. Not much done to my Jeep other than 33's and a 2.5" lift. I would say traffic was moderate.

Got to do this trail on July 1st. Everything was wide open on the trail. Traffic was heavy with Jeeps, Toyota's and atv's (I was driving the only full size K5 seen up there). Trail is tight in the trees for a full size but it is do-able with careful driving. Some corners required a 2 or 3 point turn, but again no damage taken by the trees. Up top was windy, but clear. The climb to the peak had to wait for traffic to clear, but I can't imagine a better place to be stuck waiting for traffic to clear. Once on top the 360 degree view was breathtaking. You could even see the smoke rising from the Weston pass fire to the south. The decent down was fun and spooky at the same time. Gear down, point it straight ahead and pay attention, the Webster summit took no time to get to even creeping down to it. Webster still had the snow cornice at the summit to the south side and it was marked closed at the trailhead below. We returned heading up the valley to the north and hooking up with dear trail and going back up to the top and intersecting with the middle fork of the swan river. We came back to the road at hwy 9 in Breckenridge. 9 took us down back to Fairplay and on to home from there. Great trail to run, if you are afraid of heights it may not be the trail for you.

Our friends at Colorado Off Road Enterprise report that Red Cone is open all the way through to Montezuma thanks to Mile-High Jeep Club's efforts.

Snow condition update: Multiple reports from this weekend confirm the trail is no longer passable beyond waypoint 5. The seasonal gate does not close till spring, but travel along the trail is not recommended.

Decided to do Red Cone with my friend Brian in my 1986 Toyota 4Runner. The trail was wet, and there was a good bit of snow as we got higher. Then it started to snow pretty hard. We hit a really muddy patch on a right hand switchback with big rocks in it. I tried to power through that section and took out my left front turn signal and damaged my fender and bumper pretty good on a tree, coming to an abrupt halt. When I tried to back up, the right rear tire got in a deep pit and the 4Runner started to tip right and backward. The left front tire was several feet in the air. Brian jumped out to take weight off the right side, then jumped on the hood and scrambled to the left front corner. That teetered the truck part of the way to level and got me enough purchase to move a bit and alleviate the impending rollover. A Jeep pulled up (thanks Alex and Ryan). We cobbled together my come along, my chain, their chain, and their tree strap. After some trying we got moving again. However, the right rear tire now had a damaged valve stem and was losing air quickly. Using the original equipment bottle jack was difficult, but we eventually got the spare tire on. We were pretty far up at that point, and it was getting late in the afternoon. I thought it best to turn around because of the sloppy conditions on the trail and the possible (probable) slippery nature of the descent down Red Cone. The Jeep guys advised me that in point of time continuing on over Red Cone and back down Webster Pass was probably the same without having to go through the really rutted out boulders that we bottomed out and high centered on a few times coming up. We got to tree line. Their plan was to have us follow them to the top, where they would walk a bit down the descent to see how it was. We watched them slip and slide and get high centered going up the sloppy climb above tree line to the ridge on top and realized we would not make it to the top. They dislodged their Jeep and disappeared over the top. We gave the Jeep about ten minutes and turned around to head back down the way we came up, assuming they decided to continue. It was very windy and cold with snow. Now after sunset and getting dark quickly, we struggled taking the 4Runner back down through rocks that were much more exposed than normal from trail wear during the rain and snow this past week. Eventually the Jeep guys caught up with us coming back downhill. Their story--not ours--was that at the very top there was 6 inches of snow, it was 32°F, and blowing 80 mph. Not sure how they know that last figure, but the passenger said he was unable to open his door against the wind when they got near the edge of the descent. They did show us a video on their phone of the last time they could exit the vehicle nearing the top. It was clear from the snow depth and blizzard conditions in that video that going down the Red Cone descent had a low probability of successful outcome. On the way back down to 285 my left rear bumper got caught in the mud on a tight canted left hairpin turn. That corner of the bumper slowly twisted itself apart as it acted like a keel or drag anchor guiding me through the turn. It damaged the vehicle, but it did help keep us in the turn. Lessons learned include knowing that the weather is to be respected, stay off sloppy trails, snow and Red Cone do not mix, just because someone else suggests you continue does not make it true, and ego can get your vehicle damaged and endanger your life. That seems like enough lessons for one day. Damage report includes left front bumper, left rear bumper, left front fender, left front turn signal, one tire off the bead, a new squeal/whistle possibly from the differential, and unknown damage to the bottom of the vehicle from rock impacts. In all, a pretty fun day that turned out a lot better than it could have.

Wonderful trip over Red Cone! It had been over 15 years since I last drove this trail. It seems like there has been quite a bit of errosion that was not evident the last time I was here... Our trail run was done with fellow members of the Colorado FJ Cruiser club. There were about 16 rigs on our run. We always like doing runs with this group as everyone is patient and helpful on some of the difficult portions of this trail. The views up top of Red Cone are amazing to say the least. This is one of my favorite trails in Colorado. I strongly recommend!

The plan was to hit Red Cone for sunrise and then continue on to Webster Pass to Radical Hill. From Radical Hill we would take Deer Creek to Saint John then finishing on North Fork Swan River leading us back down to Breckenridge. Starting at 4:30 am we were able to be on Red Cone for sunrise and beat all the crowds for the remainder of the trails.

Thanks to the hardworking folks from Mile-Hi Jeep Club, Red Cone will officially open for the season today. This past weekend was a work weekend spent installing new signage, removing tree debris, picking up trash, and clearing snow. Please note that you have to exit via Webster Pass into Montezuma. Webster is not yet clear to return back to 285.

The seasonal gate on Red Cone is closed for the season. The trail is adopted by the Mile-Hi Jeep Club and anticipates the opening to be the weekend before 4th of July.

Great trail, heading up through the trees and then above the tree line, to s steep climb and steeper decent on the other side of the Red Cone. A fall day with lots of colors in the trees and likely the one of the last weekends the trail will be open this year. Continue on to Radical Hill for a little more challenge with off camber short section of shelf road and a narrow area with just enough room for a Jeep to pass.

Decided to celebrate July 4th with a quick run over Red Cone Pass. We left town around 7:30 AM to hit the trailhead just about 8:45. Brought the dogs and the ladies to enjoy the views. Hall Valley Campground was packed, and Webster Pass was still closed. As we got to the summit it was evident why. The cornice at the top of Webster (very last switchback) was still about 30' deep. Red Cone Pass was dry and had some recent trimming done, making for a very easy accent to the top. We didn't encounter any other people on Red Cone until reaching the junction of Webster and Red Cone, where we found a lone mountain biker. We ate lunch on the summit of red cone where we had the pleasure of seeing 3 mountain goats that were curious what we were doing but not so interested in my dogs. I was amazed at how mellow the decent from the top was. We went down the Montezuma side where the river crossing was around 30" at the deepest point. A young group of campers approached at the crossing and asked if we had and jumper cables. We landed a quick hand to get this groups up and running again. It was around 2:00 when we made it to Montezuma to air up.