Nellie Creek?

[Jerlane]

Anyone been up that way lately? I'm hoping to hike Uncomphagre later this week. I'll be in a rental car, but my in-laws will have a Ford excursion. Alternatively, I could rent a jeep for the day or park a the bottom and try to hitch a ride. I'd rather not have to tack on the additional miles to my legs!
Thanks!

[jeffth5]

I was up on Saturday. I got up the road without scraping in a newer Nissan Frontier. It took a good 45mins of careful driving and I was glad to have 4wd in a couple spots. IMO, going up the road was harder than coming down. The stream crossings are fairly tame - the biggest challenge is clearance over some of the rock obstacles. There was no mud to contend with, but looking at the forecast for rain this week, that may change. IMO, the hardest move is ~100yards from the beginning of the road - if you make it through the move, you will be fine the rest of the way. At the top lot were some full size trucks (e.g. F150), jeeps, SUVs (4runner). You could probably get a less capable vehicle up there if you are either a really good driver or don't care about damage. Extended trucks or other really large vehicles may have trouble with some of the rollovers - they were some of the largest I have seen.

Hitchhiking is possible - we gave a ride to 3 people and there was a fair bit of up and down traffic (probably 4-5 vehicles headed either up or down during our 90mins of driving up and back - weekends are busy). Lots of people were parked along the road in the various camping spots.

[Jerlane]

I was up on Saturday. I got up the road without scraping in a newer Nissan Frontier. It took a good 45mins of careful driving and I was glad to have 4wd in a couple spots. IMO, going up the road was harder than coming down. The stream crossings are fairly tame - the biggest challenge is clearance over some of the rock obstacles. There was no mud to contend with, but looking at the forecast for rain this week, that may change. IMO, the hardest move is ~100yards from the beginning of the road - if you make it through the move, you will be fine the rest of the way. At the top lot were some full size trucks (e.g. F150), jeeps, SUVs (4runner). You could probably get a less capable vehicle up there if you are either a really good driver or don't care about damage. Extended trucks or other really large vehicles may have trouble with some of the rollovers - they were some of the largest I have seen.

Hitchhiking is possible - we gave a ride to 3 people and there was a fair bit of up and down traffic (probably 4-5 vehicles headed either up or down during our 90mins of driving up and back - weekends are busy). Lots of people were parked along the road in the various camping spots.

Great info. Thanks! It sounds like a jeep or hitching it up may be the best way to go.

[jeffth5]

I was up on Saturday. I got up the road without scraping in a newer Nissan Frontier. It took a good 45mins of careful driving and I was glad to have 4wd in a couple spots. IMO, going up the road was harder than coming down. The stream crossings are fairly tame - the biggest challenge is clearance over some of the rock obstacles. There was no mud to contend with, but looking at the forecast for rain this week, that may change. IMO, the hardest move is ~100yards from the beginning of the road - if you make it through the move, you will be fine the rest of the way. At the top lot were some full size trucks (e.g. F150), jeeps, SUVs (4runner). You could probably get a less capable vehicle up there if you are either a really good driver or don't care about damage. Extended trucks or other really large vehicles may have trouble with some of the rollovers - they were some of the largest I have seen.

Hitchhiking is possible - we gave a ride to 3 people and there was a fair bit of up and down traffic (probably 4-5 vehicles headed either up or down during our 90mins of driving up and back - weekends are busy). Lots of people were parked along the road in the various camping spots.

Great info. Thanks! It sounds like a jeep or hitching it up may be the best way to go.

Looking up some stats on the Ford Excursion - it appears to be 4wd and have ~7in of ground clearance depending on the nodel year. IMO, a really good driver could get up there without damage - it would take some skill though (e.g. I probably couldn't do it, but I bet some people on this forum could!)

You could take the Excursion, walk the 100 yards up the road to look at the first difficult area (it's pretty obvious) and make a decision. If you don't feel comfortable, you could hitch and if you do feel comfortable and make it, IMO, the rest of the road should be doable.

Of course, the advantage of renting a jeep would be that you could do this and other roads in the area (e.g. cinnamon pass) without fear of damaging your in-laws daily driver. It's not cheap though (we looked into renting a jeep and it was ~$100/day for a stock wrangler to $225/day for a lifted 4-door rubicon)! If you do decide to rent, I would recommend a reservation because this is a popular time of year and they may be sold out if you are a walk-in.

[Cruiser]

I've got a 4x4 excursion on 33's and I wouldn't take it up to the Nellie Creek TH. I think the long wheelbase and relatively limited clearance would make it difficult for sure.

[gorshkov]

Another idea is to hike from the matterhorn creek trailhead. That's longer, about the same distance as walking along the nellie creek road, but it's a really nice hike.

[Jerlane]

Thanks for all the input! I'll let you all know how it goes!

[BuckTurgidson]

You can always rent a jeep in Lake City.

[Mtnman200]

Castle Lakes Campground (near Lake City) rents jeeps. I've never rented there but have stayed there several times and have always been treated well.

[derekesq]

How is the parking before the turn to Neelie Creek? Plan to be there labor day weekend and although i have a truck reserved will not be attempting to drive neelie creek. thanks

[jeffth5]

Parking is ample and easy at the bottom.

[derekesq]

Great, thanks.