Camping and 4wd roads for Father Dyer and friends

[DeTour]

Hey, hoping to get some input about camping and 4wd roads for a run at Father Dyer and probably one of the neighbor peaks. Does anyone know how the terrain is in the area of "Francie's Hut High Parking"? I've read that there's decent camping near the Spruce Creek 2wd trailhead, but I'd rather get higher if practical. Likewise, some say there's good camping up in the basin along Crystal Creek - but I'm a bit intimidated by the description of that 4wd road, and won't have time for a long hike in this trip. The Goldilocks approach for me this venture seems to be taking easy 4wd Spruce Creek Road and camping near the road, if such terrain exists.
For road context, I'm the proud new owner of an older trail-rated Jeep Liberty, but a rookie at driving it on tougher roads.

[ncxhjhgvbi]

Last time I was there was about 5 years ago and camping by the 2wd TH was BUSY then - I can't imagine how it is now. Would definitely recommend higher if you can.

As far as the roads go, if my memory serves me right, I would agree the spruce creek road is easier than the crystal creek road. One time we took spruce creek up and parked near the gate on the right around 11k. I am not sure about the camping in that specific area though, there may be some private land to contend with. There are a lot of great spots on crystal creek road, especially in the flatter area a bit higher than Francie's (11450'?) like you said others have mentioned, and I think there were a couple of good flat spots around 11k there as well. Again, if I remember correctly that road is most rough right at the beginning so you could probably determine pretty quickly if you can make it or not. I rolled a Liberty hydroplaning when I was 16 so I'm probably not the right person to make a guess on how it would do on either road though...

Helen/FD/Crystal is on my list for this year - did you have a timeframe? Might be interested in joining and I have a vehicle that should make both roads fine.

[davebobk47]

The upper 4WD for Spruce Creek isn't bad as long as you have a bit of clearance. I've been up there many times in stock 4Runner and Hyundai Santa Fe.

[DeTour]

Thanks for the feedback folks, really helpful right off the bat.

ncxhjhgvbi - don’t know when I’ll be going that way - typically go with my daughter and son-in-law so it’s a schedule coordinating dance. Appreciate the thought about climbing together. But a quick look at your times shows you’re wayyy faster than me. I’m 64YO slow, excruciatingly so on the descent. I just took almost 10 hours on the Arapahoe Traverse - time to South Arapahoe was a bit over 3 hours, a tad slower than someone’s estimate of “average.” Started to tire on the traverse, and the descent pace was glacial.