Beta on 4x4 road west of St. Elmo toward Tincup Pass

[skypilot]

Can anyone provide any beta on the road conditions west of St. Elmo along North Chalk Creek in the direction of Tincup Pass? I'm hoping to go ~3.5 miles west of St. Elmo to the jcn with the West Collegiate portion of the Colorado Trail. Never been on this road before, so I don't know what to expect. Is high clearance required? 4-wheel? Thanks in advance.

[JeffR]

You may have luck googling traildamage and other 4x4 sites for condition reports.

[Matt]

The road definitely requires clearance. I really enjoyed having to reattach the skid plate on my FJ in a storm several years ago after it fell off about two miles down from the pass.
However, I drive fast and the skid plate was already hanging by a thread... You don't need an FJ to drive this road, but you ought to have some clearance. 4WD can't hurt.
My memory says that a well-driven Subaru could slowly make it to your destination, but that's just a fleeting impression in the soup that is my mind.
The road wasn't too rough last time I was there (June 2014), but road conditions change... I don't remember it being too steep.

As an aside:
Since you're not going to Tincup Pass, the cornice that usually blocks vehicle access until this time of year is gone, per Bushducks:

7/3/16 - We recovered a vehicle off the edge at the top. We were able to drive past the snowfield and get to the top. Did not drive the tincup side as it was late. Atv's have been running it for a few days now.
7/2/16 - Open all the way for 50". Sketchy with anything wider but probably good up to 60". Won't be long before full size vehicles can pass.

[TravelingMatt]

Can't speak for the south side, but you should be good on the north side, from Mirror Lake, with anything in the Xterra/4Runner category.

[morth2]

The south side (St. Elmo to the top of Tincup) is more mellow than the north side; it's really just a dirt FS road unless it got really rutted out this spring (it was in good shape last October). I'd agree you'd want some kind of clearance but a Subaru with a confident driver can probably make it to the top of the pass.

[skypilot]

Thanks everyone. That info puts my mind at ease. Should have no problem getting where I need to go, given this feedback.

[bonehead]

Has anyone been up there recently.
Would like to try this out next week.

[gb]

I rode the CT about a month ago, and went from there to the pass on the east side. It's fine in any 4x4 assuming we don't get snow. It's at the upper limit of what I would take the wife's subaru on.

The west side is brutal, I wouldn't want to take my tundra on that. The whole thing is loose bowling ball sized rocks.

[bonehead]

Thank You
We are hoping to get there from the St Elmo side
and go after some of the divide peaks from there.
Emma Burr being one of them.

[gb]

I would access Emma Burr from the north, off south cottonwood creek.

[bonehead]

I have looked at that also.
What makes it preferable?
Thanks for your advice.

[gb]

I just thought it was a nice and pretty area. The trhd off tincup is a bit lower in the forest- just not as pretty imo. But I've only climbed it from the N.