Lake Como Road Advice

[Greenhouseguy]

Some of the obstacles in the posted youtube video, are probably much worse than they appear. Most of the Cherokees look to have 33" tires or bigger, and they weren't cakewalking thru there. Mine has 31's, and am going to see how far I can make it, so as not to hike the whole road (again).
Trail damage, here I come

In a Cherokee on 31's there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to make it to Jaws 1. In fact, I would say you have a fair shot of getting past Jaws 1 since there is a bit of a bypass to the left of the real obstacle that you should be able to do depending on how hard you want to push your rig, which is really the key to all of this anyway.

I made it over Jaws 1 in a Cherokee with 30" tires and a 2" budget boost. I didn't even come close to damaging anything, but I don't plan to do it again. Men of a certain age just don't need the stress.

[14ergirl]

Thanks, lots of good info. I know I could make it over the first obstacle "jaws 0.5", and then we can see from there. Mostly I really don't mind walking, I just want to be able to get up the road a little ways before we camp or we could just camp down lower. I don't think we could get to the start of the road until later in the day that we are going and just need to make sure we have a good comfy, safe spot to camp, but not too far from where we will start walking. Thanks for everyone's advice!! I'm looking forward to the BE traverse!

[nomadelmundo]

Some of the obstacles in the posted youtube video, are probably much worse than they appear. Most of the Cherokees look to have 33" tires or bigger, and they weren't cakewalking thru there. Mine has 31's, and am going to see how far I can make it, so as not to hike the whole road (again).
Trail damage, here I come

IGURU, let me know when you are going, I want a ride-along!

and awesome info "zoriloco" ... I think I'll pass taking my 4Runner up there... don't want to roll over my only TH and work horse

[Bullwinkle]

Will be up there next Tuesday and will post a more detailed TR, relating pics of more challenging areas to altimeter readings.

[NPCannon]

This trail has been on my "to do" list for 4 wheeling before I knew about the access to the 14ers. I've been wheeling since I could drive and driver skill and damage risk is a much larger factor than the vehicle itself. On sneffels a few weeks ago there were rigs more capable than the F150 we were driving parked midway up the 4wd section. "Stock" grand cherokees can do the Rubicon, which is ranked harder than blanca, but even with good drivers they still get beat up. Right now I'd like to plan this as a cool 4 wheeling adventure with the bonus of accessing 14ers. If you're just trying to reduce the total hike length, it might be a bit much for those who don't really care about the "hobby" of 4 wheeling, that's my attempt at a tactful way of saying "if you have to ask, you probably won't be making it very far up the trail." But... I've never been on it so I could be wrong.
-Nate

[denvermikey]

My $0.02, fwiw - I took my stock 2000 4Runner up to just before Jaws 1 last year. Made it ok, very slow and tedious. Didn't bottom out much, there are areas where you might get some light scrapes on the side of your rig (branches and such). I did, however, trash both of my running boards . One on the way up and just to make it even, the other on the way down. Was planning on taking them off anyway so it wasn't that big a deal. Not to influence anyone's decision one way or another, but after starting a 4am, doing both Blanca and Ellingwood, then hiking back down that awful road in the afternoon heat, I was happy that I parked that far up the trail!

[14ergirl]

My $0.02, fwiw - I took my stock 2000 4Runner up to just before Jaws 1 last year. Made it ok, very slow and tedious. Didn't bottom out much, there are areas where you might get some light scrapes on the side of your rig (branches and such). I did, however, trash both of my running boards . One on the way up and just to make it even, the other on the way down. Was planning on taking them off anyway so it wasn't that big a deal. Not to influence anyone's decision one way or another, but after starting a 4am, doing both Blanca and Ellingwood, then hiking back down that awful road in the afternoon heat, I was happy that I parked that far up the trail!

About how many miles up is "just before jaws 1"? I would hope that 5am is a good start, I just did Pikes Ascent (13 miles) in 4:52, so I am not too terribly slow of a hiker. Of course, the last thing I want to do is be up above tree line when the storms roll in. Oh and I don't care about a few scrapes on the truck.

[denvermikey]

I don't remember what the distance was from the turn-off to Jaws 1, sorry . I am an average to above average speed hiker (I think) so maybe you can get an idea from my times data. I left my truck (@Jaws 1) at 4:20 and hiked mostly in the dark and got to Lake Como at 5:30. Continued on up and summited Ellingwood right at about 9. Took a decent rest and chatted with a few people on top so I didn't leave the summit and start the traverse until 9:45. Reached the summit of Blanca at 11:30. Again, spent some time up there chillin out, resting, and enjoying the views. Began the downclimb at 12:00. I did start to get a couple of 'hotspots' on my right foot so my decent was not ideally as fast as I would have liked but I made it back to my truck at about 3:45. The road on the way up does beat you up a little and takes time and patience, I also had a crappy night's sleep in the back of my 4Runner. All things considered, under slightly better conditions (better rest, better feet :D , less summit time, etc) I feel that a 10 hour or less round trip is very doable.

[covfrrider]

My $0.02, fwiw - I took my stock 2000 4Runner up to just before Jaws 1 last year. Made it ok, very slow and tedious. Didn't bottom out much, there are areas where you might get some light scrapes on the side of your rig (branches and such). I did, however, trash both of my running boards . One on the way up and just to make it even, the other on the way down. Was planning on taking them off anyway so it wasn't that big a deal. Not to influence anyone's decision one way or another, but after starting a 4am, doing both Blanca and Ellingwood, then hiking back down that awful road in the afternoon heat, I was happy that I parked that far up the trail!

About how many miles up is "just before jaws 1"? I would hope that 5am is a good start, I just did Pikes Ascent (13 miles) in 4:52, so I am not too terribly slow of a hiker. Of course, the last thing I want to do is be up above tree line when the storms roll in. Oh and I don't care about a few scrapes on the truck.

Jaws 1 is ~1/4 mile from the stream crossing, at ~the 10,600 contour line on a topo.

[cbauer10]

I left my truck (@Jaws 1) at 4:20 and hiked mostly in the dark and got to Lake Como at 5:30.

This is pretty quick to the lake in my opinion. I believe it is about 2.5 miles to the lake from Jaws 1. I know that both times leaving from Jaws 2.5 it took about 20-30 minutes to get to the lake and Jaws 2.5 is about .75 miles from the lake.

The rest of the times put forth seem fairly average to me. Maybe slightly above average.

[zoriloco]

Some of the obstacles in the posted youtube video, are probably much worse than they appear. Most of the Cherokees look to have 33" tires or bigger, and they weren't cakewalking thru there. Mine has 31's, and am going to see how far I can make it, so as not to hike the whole road (again).
Trail damage, here I come

IGURU, let me know when you are going, I want a ride-along!

and awesome info "zoriloco" ... I think I'll pass taking my 4Runner up there... don't want to roll over my only TH and work horse

Total Thread hijack/////

Let me know when you guys want to go. I'll be glad to give that trail another try. Maybe invite my Off Road club and make a day out of it.

End of hijack

[Ned-man]

What you need is a small dirt-bike. I rode my Daughters little XR100 to above treeline, about 3/4 of a mile past lake Como in less than an hour from the very bottom of the road. That thing will go ANYWHERE!!