2 Posted By: pioletski Info: Road is open and passable all the way to N. Cottonwood TH, a couple of snowdrifts in the last 1/2 mile require some clearance. | ||||
Posted By: BillMiddlebrook Info: Road is open a short distance past the normal winter closure. Some 4wd vehicles were able to get to the Harvard Lakes trailhead and a few were able to get slightly higher, within 2+ miles of upper TH. | ||||
Posted By: robanar Info: We drove this road Friday August 13 in the afternoon. Compare to several years back there has been an great improvement done! Easy dirt road. There were regular cars parked at the trailhead (i.e. Toyota Corolla, Dodge vans, etc) so it should not be a problem for anyone unless you are driving a low rider (which shouldn‘t be in the mountains anyway!). There is one section near the start of the road that is very annoying because it has the grooves of the half-track equipment used to condition the road. The faster you go the more your vehicle will shake and rattle. Otherwise its a breeze until you get to the parking lot at the end. Then the road is pretty bad, but regular cars, with care, should be able to drive it. | ||||
Posted By: Amgdharper Info: Drove up to North Cottonwood Creek to hike Harvard this morning in my 2wd sedan and had no problems on the road. It was completely passable. There were a couple of bumps, but nothing major. The parking lot was nice except when you exit. There are a lot of rocks and it gets a bit bumpy. Safe travels. | ||||
Posted By: TravelingMatt Info: This road has definitely been re-graded and is now easily passable for most cars. There are a couple swales where a car should take it slowly, but the exposed drainpipe from previous years is gone. There were several late-model nicer cars at the trailhead. | ||||
Posted By: CarpeDM Info: They must‘ve worked on the road because it is easily passable by just about any 2wd vehicle. I drove my very low clearance Honda Fit to the TH. | ||||
Posted By: robco Info: Drove all the way to the summer TH in a subaru. Still some snow patches, but for the most part, it‘s dirt & drivable all the way now. | ||||
Posted By: BillMiddlebrook Info: 4WD can get to within 1/2 mile of trailhead. Just some minor snow patches. | ||||
Posted By: BillMiddlebrook Info: 4WD vehicles can now drive (some snow patches) to the Harvard Lakes trailhead, approx. 1.7 miles below the North Cottonwood Creek TH. 2WD vehicles can get to some pull-offs approx. 2.7 miles below the trailhead. | ||||
Posted By: cjw Info: Driving to the normal winter access works, but 1 mile later the road opens again. There is a way around, we were intimidated by "private property" signs right off the bat, don‘t be. There is proper space cleared for parking up higher (about 1.25 miles shy of the Colorado trail intersection). This would have saved us 35 minutes of skinning. | ||||
Posted By: Dancesatmoonrise Info: See report from 1-4-10. Same, except it was getting a little icy on the 3 miles from winter to summer TH. Parking only for about three or four cars. Park after the last house. There‘s a more public-looking parking area for a few cars 100 feet further, but the track stops and almost got stuck with 4wd...so forego the extra 100 feet. | ||||
Posted By: Kevin Baker Info: The winter TH for North Cottonwood Creek is at 9080‘, which is normally where the road is plowed to. The road was well tracked by skiers and snowshoers all the way to the summer TH. This adds ~3.1 miles each way to the hike. | ||||
Posted By: killingcokes Info: Drove the 4runner to about 1/4 mile from the trailhead to the big boulder below the hill. Brought chains but didn‘t need them. It should be impassable after the next big storm | ||||
Posted By: Duffus Kentucky Climber Info: Good news. While Jan and I were climbing Harvard yesterday, and dreading the drive back from the trailhead, all of the culverts were replaced. There is now new corrugated drain pipe under the road. The broken ones are gone and there are no craters from the wash outs around them. The dozer and Bobcat were still there as we left and some other road work had been done. Thank God we climb so dreadfully slow that they were able to get that much work done before we drove out! | ||||
Posted By: realhillboarding Info: most of the road is rough 2wd, but there is one spot about halfway up where a culvert washed out. I was able to make it up fine in a Forester, it may be passable with careful driving and 2wd - clearance is the real issue, not traction. | ||||
Posted By: n_stitz Info: The first 1.5 miles of CR 365 are snow free. From there the snow gets worse. I would not recommend driving the road unless you have a very capable 4 wheel drive vehicle. | ||||
Posted By: CO Native Info: Road is completely clear. One washout still that is bad enough to stop most vehicles that don‘t have good clearance and 4wd. A skilled driver could negotiate it with less though. | ||||
Posted By: yorksman Info: I made it upto the trailhead in my Pontiac Vibe yesterday with no undercarriage damage. If you drive slow and just pick your lines a car can make it. There was one other car in the parking lot. |
