Wheeler Lake

Trail was in good shape and the scenery was nice as always

Compared to other Colorado trails rated a 5 on this app, this trail is closer to a 6. You’ll know immediately from the early (and fun!) obstacles if you want to continue or not. The middle section can drag on as it’s endless rock fields that require attention, but the view more than makes up for it. The hill climb to the lake at the end is a blast, but there is a spot that is heavily rutted out and next to a jagged rock that can easily cause body damage if your rig slides too much when it’s wet. Highly recommend the trail!

Never disappoints!

The only tough obstacle is the V notch and even that is not that hard with a good line. As far as difficulty it is way over rated. However the views and the trail overall were great. I would run it again but it definitely would not be my first pick for this area.

Wheeler Lake is passable for the season. It’s sloppy at the top, but after my buddies gladiator on 40s got through and we pulled my Lexus through, a group followed us with no issues.

Great day running this trail, cloudy and trying to snow on the way to the lake and sun comes out when we got to the lake & for the rest of the day! Perfect temps, only saw two side-by-sides and a few hikers on the trail all day! I would say the low rating should be 6, I’m on 37’s and lockers and had no problems but scraped quite a few times and got hung up and had to try again a couple times on the hardest sections. This trail is definitely harder than Red Cone and Radical hill but has the same low end rating. Short trail but slow going the whole time makes it a great day trip!

Busy trail and very wet which made everything a bit more challenging since the tires didn't want to hook up. View from the top was great but overall kind of a lack luster the rest of the way. Again, very busy and not a lot of room to pass. Bowling ball hill was especially not my favorite.

Go up during the week. Not another vehicle on the trail just a couple of hikers. This trail never disappoints. Try and run it once a year.

The trail was quite dry and very passable. The second v-notch can be slippery, so 3 Jeeps almost slide in on passenger side. Otherwise, this is a great trail and one I can't wait to do again.

I am still a bit new to Trails Offroad but love the App for discovering these treasures like Wheeler Lake! Did want to give a dedicated overview of this trail for others like myself that use the trail reviews while planning your next trip. First of all, this is one of if not the most beautiful trails I have been on! Pictures do not do any justice! It was raining 85% of the time and only passed one side by side the entire trail. Difficulty is challenging for the easier lines if you are not in something with 37"+ size tires and lockers. I am sure not having any spotter, rainy, and wet conditions added to the challenge for me but still agree with the trail rating. Anything under 37s, skid plates are your best friend.....not talking about the stock or aftermarket aluminum either. After the switchback up Bowling Ball Hill, there is a rough spot that a boulder is sticking out of the high bank that caused a little carnage for us. Awesome trail that is no joke that can be a challenge. Hind site, probably should not have ran solo but made it all just fine!

This trail had a few fun obstacles and deep puddles but otherwise wasn’t great.

Trail is now open to the lake.

See you in 2022!! Snow has made this trail impassable for the year.

Group wanted to try out this trail. There had been snow during the previous night so added some additional fun and scenery to the trail. Beginning of trail was slippery so one of the Jeeps in the party decided to remain at the entrance of the trail. The three remaining jeeps made our way up to the v notch obstacle before we turned back. Snow made the trail slick and we did not want the Jeep that held back to continue to wait on us. Definitely want to come back when dry and attempt entire trail.

It had been years since I had been on Wheeler lake. Still a favorite. Did not encounter too many challenges, bowling ball hill was easier than I remembered. Terrific views at the lake, beautiful with a touch of snow on the mountains. Definitely worth an annual trip.

Still one of my favorites. Ran this as the Tail-Gunner at Mile Hi Jeep Club All4Fun event. Broke my rear track bar doing the V-Notch but had a great day of wheeling doing it.

This has been a trail on my to-do list for a few years now and I finally checked it off! One of my most favorite trails to date. I definitely plan to do this more than once and pick different lines on the obstacles each time. Front and rear lockers definitely helped make things easier, but not required if you're willing to give it some skinny pedal in some areas. The hardest part for our group was actually at the end. After you make it up Bowling Ball Hill, you turn right to an uphill waterfall section that I can only imagine changes every year after weather/water and vehicle erosion. This section is quite challenging due to very slick conditions and multiple ledges, all while trying to dodge a decently large boulder on the right that is protruding out of the side of the path. I think it might be worthwhile for TrailsOffroad to eventually add this section as a way point so people aren't surprised by it. There's also 0 available recovery points at this location. Just a thought. Overall, amazing trail and very rewarding at the top.

Couple fun rock obstacles and quite a bit of water. Great views as you near the top. Congestion at times due to weekend traffic and out/back trail. Fair amount of hikers so make sure to keep an eye out for them. JK w/35's/2" lift/lockers. Would recommend.

Wide open all the way to the lake today. Really enjoyed this trail- the obstacles were challenging and the views at the top were amazing. For anyone trying to figure if their ride can make it- I have a TJ on 33s with front and rear lockers. This was my first time out with the lockers, and they definitely helped a couple times. I probably would have still made it without them, but a couple spots would have been questionable. I wouldn't recommend the trail with smaller tires.

Trail is still blocked by heavy snow and the gates at the lake might not even be open yet.

I went on 4/11/21 but the trail is closed off and chained up

We went out to re-map this trail. It was my first time out there, and wow, what a cool trail! Flopper is not the hardest obstacle on the trail, but for me, it gave me the most anxiety. The hardest part was just after the start of bowling ball hill IMO. We met some fans of the site right before we started the trail, one in a locked 5th gen 4R on 33s and one bone stock JL 2dr Rubicon. Both made it up fine with just a bit of getting hung up and re-picking lines. For that reason, I think we are going to re-rate this trail as a low 6. Great day on the trail and we met a lot of cool people along the way. Highly recommend if you are into rock crawling. I didn't give it 5 stars personally as it was an out-and-back with limited camping. For an overlander such as myself, I don't typically seek out these kinds of trails, but glad I did it at least once!

Project with Mike-Hi and CORE. New winch anchor, signs and blocking off trail issues.

I loved this trail, although I’ll admit getting the new Cherokee through it was nerve racking for me (despite it doing awesome!). I’m more a video guy, so I’ve attached a trail guide video which relied heavily on this written guide. The second obstacle was my biggest challenge (SWB stock jeep) but I wasn’t aired down enough. Thought bowling ball hill was easy and with a skilled spotter, the flopper was a piece of cake. The New Cherokee struggled on the middle climb of obstacle 2 and took the v-notch instead (that was a bit crazy), but had no issues elsewhere. He didn’t do bowling ball hill altho I think he would have been fine. Definitely requires skids and rock rails. Also need durable tires as others have had issues with sliced tires on this trail. We’ll definitely be back!

Awesome trail. Ran it on a Monday and saw more hikers than 4-Wheelers. Our group of 4 included a TJ Rubicon, XJ with lockers, nearly stock '42 MB and '50 Willys Jeepster with a limited slip rear. Mostly took the easier lines going up and harder lines coming down.

Trail is open to the lake. Very busy on a Saturday. Get there early.

Open to a few hundred yards before the lake. Had to cross some snow patches on the way up. Probably another week or so before you can get to the parking area.

Trail is open till the V-notch with some snow. Not sure how much farther it is passable.

Trail is open all the way to the top and in good condition.

The trail is open to the lake. The trail is in normal condition.

Impassable due to snow drifts covering trail starting at about a mile from trailhead. Hiked up to the lake and there is about a half dozen more snow drifts across the trail. Some 50+ yards long and several feet deep. I don't see the trail being clear up to the lake for at least another 5 weeks.

Not sure what for, but the gate is closed.

The trail will be closed this Friday and Saturday, August 17th & 18th for a work project with the Forest Service.

There are online reports that Wheeler Lake is clear up until the last ledge where there is a small drift. A few large crawlers manged to plow through the drift but the snow should hopefully clear in the next week or two.

First time running this trail it is awesome the only drawback is a lot of pinstripes but so be it this trail is a good balance of challenge and fun the lake is great for fishing and there's plenty of things to see along the way this is my new favorite

Reports that you can now travel all the way to the lake in a vehicle.

As part of the Set The Free event, we took a group to Wheeler Lake. We hit 2 patches of snow before even coming to Bowling Ball Hill. One of the sections we were able to drive along the top of, the other we had to dig a channel on the high side to keep the Jeeps from sliding down into the brush. Bowling Ball hill was clear and just above the hill we hit one snowfield that wasn't more than a foot deep, but was no issue for us as we were on level ground. The lake was still frozen in a few spots, but the weather was amazing and the views were epic. On our way down, we had to dig a little more in the snow but not a lot. There was a ton of traffic up there for the holiday weekend and the group that ran the trail the next day had no issues.

Snow still in valley before Bowling Ball hill going over the top of the stream and then the main climb up Bowling Ball hill is covered and very deep. Lake is still not accessible in vehicle.

Reported that snow has melted and the trail is now clear up to Wheeler Lake.

Reports that the trail is open for use but there are still large snowdrifts that are blocking the trail that you are not able to reach the end. I have updated the status to Partially Open.

We couldn't have asked for better weather to run this trail in, especially being October in Colorado! Last year at this time the trail was nearly impassible by the amount of snow on it. The traffic was pretty minimal, a few hikers and a few other Jeeps. Our group consisted of two Toyota pickups. Both trucks are built up quite a bit so this trail isn't much of a challenge for them. We did enjoy taking some of the harder lines that we couldn't do in our other truck usually. The Magnolia Mill is still in good shape, but unfortunately someone did graffiti various parts around the entire structure so it kind of takes away from any photos. I'm hoping that will be fixed sometime soon. We made our way to the first big obstacle The Flopper. Both rigs took the right line which made for some good flexing photo opportunities. Once we reached the V-Notch area, we chose to go up the left most route to provide an added challenge. This obstacle is steep and made more difficult because of the added dirt that covers it and the fact that there's always a puddle of water at the bottom to get your tires slick and mud covered. With a little skinny pedal we made it up. Continuing on through the trail and enduring lots of pin striping from the surrounding vegetation, we reached Bowling Ball Hill. It always has a unique feeling driving up this hill as you feel like you're giving it gas but feels like you're going nowhere from all the rocks rolling around underneath your tires. One new change is at the top of Bowling Ball Hill where a large boulder now sits in the middle of the trail. Someone must have used it as a winch point and it got drug from the side. It's big enough that you wouldn't want to rub into it with any body panels. It also makes it a bit difficult getting a good line at the next little rock ledge just around the corner at the top. You may have to back up a few times to line up better. Once to the top we did a little hiking and explored around Wheeler Lake a little. We checked out the mine, hiked out to the car, and checked out all the artifacts still left behind from the old days. It ended up getting pretty windy at the top so I didn't get to fly my drone unfortunately. I was pretty amazed how brown everything was as I'm used to running this trail when everything is such a vibrant green. After a quick lunch it took us no time to get back down to the trail head. Great day on the trail!

1st Visit in 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee 29" tires 2" lift. My friends truck was broken down at the top of the trail so he begged me to take him and 200lbs of parts up for recon. We took the alternative "east" route on all obstacles. Even my Grand Cherokee with a 2" lift wasn't tall enough to clear everything in 2009 (and the ruts have gotten way worse. I destroyed the bottom of my Jeep by bending in all of the stock skid plates so badly that the front skid was rubbing on my driveshaft. Please don't take anything truck or SUV UNLESS YOU HAVE 33"-35" TIRES MINIMUM . After I came back I had to replace a drive shaft and a control arm $1200. I've gone up the trail with traffic jams 40 jeeps deep because someone thought there stock 4 runner had "off road capabilities", then had to be towed down the trail. I've also seen tourist try to take a rental suv up here and destroy the sides of the trail because the rock sections were to difficult (so they drove in the bushes). I've now driven this trail about 30 times over 10 years in a 4dr 2013 Jeep Wrangler with a 3.5" lift and 35" tires witch is enough to still scrape in a couple spots. The views at the top are absolutely beautiful but bring a jacket. It can be 80 degrees at the bottom of the trail and snowing at the top next to the lake. This trail was originally built as an access road for mining and now it is mainly a Jeep and ORV road. I've seen on the weekends some hikers & mnt bikers up here but there is very narrow areas and if there is an offload traffic jam it might be hard to get around the jeeps by walking or riding. I've seen hikers yelling at Jeepers saying that jeep shouldn't be up there. In my opinion the Jeeps should be up there since it is a road not a trail. There are plenty of trails for hiking in the area. Or hike & bike it on the week days when it isn't so full.