Patrick McKay

FYI, the Forest Service closed the road to the right at waypoint 10 in the recent Badger Flats Travel Management Project. You have turn turn left at waypoint 10 now and take Powerline Road back out to the highway.

While I have not yet had a chance to drive this trail, it is worth noting that the famous Utah Monolith that has recently been all over social media is just off this trail near waypoint 34, at 38.34310, -109.66624. Who knows how long it will be until the BLM removes it, so if you're driving this trail anytime soon be sure to stop by and see it.

Ran this trail on 9/19. I was able to complete the main loop portion, plus the spectacular overlook on FR 285. I was only able to make it to about waypoint 13 on the road to the summit of Mount Bross before I found the shelf road increasingly blocked by snow banks leftover from the storm two weeks ago, and had to turn around. That snow could melt out still this year, but my guess is it that upper portion of the trail will likely be impassible until next year. Beautiful scenery and I hope to try again to reach the top next summer, hopefully with less smoke in the air spoiling the views.

I'm sure Marcus will update the main entry soon, but CORE cleared the last avalanche slide at the top of the trail on September 12. You can now drive all the way to the gate at the end of the road, where we cleared a parking/turn-around area that can accommodate around 5-10 vehicles. There was about a foot of snow at the top yesterday morning and the last half mile of the trail was quite icy. We had to recover a truck that had slid off the road the night before. By mid-afternoon a lot of the snow had melted and most of the remaining snow was just slush. It will probably all be gone in a few days.

Just so everyone is clear on this, Hagerman Pass has reopened now that I-70 and Independence Pass have reopened from the fire closures. I ran it on Labor Day and it was extremely smokey and parts of it were pretty rough and dug out, but it was fully open. The Leadville area has since gotten significant snowfall at higher elevations, but that is melting fast now that it's warmed up, so it should be passable again soon if it's not already.

I called the Forest Service this week and this road and the others in this area have reopened now that I-70 is back open.

According to the latest update on the Cameron Peak Fire, the fire has burned everything on the southern end of this trail between approximately waypoints 1 and 8. Depending on how extensive the damage from the fire is, it could take years for this trail to be reopened, if ever. The offroad community will need to be active in pressing the Forest Service to reopen this road when it is safe to do so rather than using the fire an excuse to close it permanently.

Hagerman Pass is temporarily closed along with nearby Crooked Creek Pass (FS 400) due to people with inappropriate vehicles attempting to drive it as a detour around the I-70 closure in Glenwood Canyon. Latest updates here: https://www.basaltchamber.org/2020/08/13/travel-notice-grizzly-creek-fire-related-detours/