Clohesy Lake Road

[painless4u2]

We went up it in July in my 2023 JGC Overland, set the air ride as high as it would go, and it did fine. I did have beefier tires than stock (Falken Wildpeaks) which helped. Squeezed just to the side of that boulder on the left coming out of the water. The creek was running pretty high at the time and you ford it longer than I recalled having done it years prior. It's a slow 3 miles up to the lake.

[daway8]

I'll attach pics from above and below, but patrick's right, they don't do it justice. It's steeper than it looks, and there's not quite enough room to sneak past both the boulder on the left and the steps on the right -- you have to deal with one or the other. I took these pics on the way down, around noon, so there aren't enough shadows to effectively show depth (especially on the dip above the rock steps).

Yeah, the pics make it look almost laughably easy, but I definitely wasn't laughing when I pulled up to it. Does kind of make me wonder though - since that was years ago and the first time I'd ever done a road like that - I'm halfway tempted to go back some day (this time with my 4Runner) and see if it still looks intimidating to me now or if it really is as chill as the pictures make it look.

Either way - very curious to hear the outcome of this current line of inquiry...

[Kiefer]

Hello,

I have a Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk. I see dway8 posted that he made the creek crossing in a Jeep Renegade Trailhawk. I know...neither of those are a, "real jeep", but they're trail rated, damnit!
Anyway, enough of my insecurity about how others view my Jeep.
Has anyone been up Clohesy Lake Rd this year? What do you think of a stock Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk making it out of the stream crossing? Can it be taken at a slight angle or just head on?

Val,
I've been trying to get up there for the past week, but work hasn't been letting up to where I can take a random Weds or Thursday off. Was hoping to get up Magdalene & Pear Peak this week, but as we all know, the weather has been absolute ass. If I can manage a Tuesday or Wednesday next week, I'll post pics of the river crossing & obstacles. For posterity, I drive a '12 Taco with 18" off-road tires.

[two lunches]

We were up it Labor Day weekend 2026. With two 4Runners with 33” tires in both of them. I drove up with no locker and the other one used the locker. Don’t know anything about a trail hawk so I don’t know how it would compare to a 4Runner.

similar stock clearance, ~8"

i was in my lifted jeep wrangler and i actually do think i laughed when i dropped it into 4.

super easy obstacle

[IHikeLikeAGirl]

GREAT info, thank you!
I am still debating. Yeah, probably need to look at it in person....

Ftr:
I believe my clearance is 8.5".
I have Kevlar tires, with a beefy tread
4 lo
Full skid plates

I am no expert, but have driven up:
South Colony Lakes Rd
Nellie Creek Rd (before and after the improvements)
Hermit pass road (all the way to the pass)
Carson Pass rd (before and after the improvements)
Black Bear Pass (east side)
Cinnamon Pass (Lake City side)
Engineer Pass (Lake City side)
Baldwin Creek Rd (I did hit on the way down, at obstacle near the bottom, but cleared it going up)

And many other rough roads with challenges, cannot remember them all.

Again, thank you! Will keep you apprised, may be a 2027 thing, if the weather doesn't improve

[backcountrybrodes]

I feel like you should be fine with those car specs. When I drove it in my '22 4Runner at this time of year in 2024 (stock-sized tires with beefy tread and 9.5in clearance), it was midnight and I ended up stacking rocks and using my rear locker. From @mijoflynn's pictures, it looks to be roughly the same difficulty as when I drove it. The approach angle really mattered for me either way - I took it head on (not diagonal). I would recommend putting one side of tires on top of the raised line of rocks in the middle, and then without a locker, I would leave a little space for your tires to get spinning (i.e. not gunning it from being stationary).

This is the only really rough spot on the road for a car like yours, and going down it is much easier than going up. Good luck if you go!

[daway8]

GREAT info, thank you!
I am still debating. Yeah, probably need to look at it in person....

Ftr:
I believe my clearance is 8.5".
I have Kevlar tires, with a beefy tread
4 lo
Full skid plates

I am no expert, but have driven up:
South Colony Lakes Rd
Nellie Creek Rd (before and after the improvements)
Hermit pass road (all the way to the pass)
Carson Pass rd (before and after the improvements)
Black Bear Pass (east side)
Cinnamon Pass (Lake City side)
Engineer Pass (Lake City side)
Baldwin Creek Rd (I did hit on the way down, at obstacle near the bottom, but cleared it going up)

And many other rough roads with challenges, cannot remember them all.

Again, thank you! Will keep you apprised, may be a 2027 thing, if the weather doesn't improve

Based on those additional details, you'll be fine - go for it!

[theolubke]

My Subaru Outback Wilderness with 9.5 inches of clearance made it fine on Sun Sep 13. While the rocks just above the stream were the trickiest part, there was another section maybe 0.5 to 0.75 miles in that also took some care to navigate. (See photo with back left tire hovering a few inches above the ground). Since there were 5 of us in the car, the passengers did get out at each of those sections to increase clearance. The car also scraped the bottom of both the front and back cladding a few times on steep ups and downs. That was a likely a product of the weight pushing us down a bit and my not slowing down enough over those areas.

A totally subjective view, but the road seemed a little worse than when I drove it in the same car in Oct 2025.

PXL_20260913_200603757_Original.jpg

[justiner]

You can also walk the road. It's just a little more than 3 miles to the lake