Santa Fe Peak Road Trailhead

Posted On: 6/24/2024 By: sarahmariekirk
Info: Echoing the previous trailhead status update from "mijoflynn" on 6/11/2024 that the Forest Service sign outside Keystone said that all area roads except Peru Creek, including the Santa Fe Peak Road, were still closed. However mijoflynn indicated that there was no gate on Santa Fe Peak Road so I decided to go check it out, with a backup plan on Peru Creek. Luckily my Jeep found the public lands pull-off around 10,800-10,900 as described in Bill Middlebrooks trailhead description. It was farther than I thought up the road, but you will know once you are there. There is only room for 1-2 vehicles at the spot, but there are further pull-offs up the road; note that these are limited. There are private property / no trespassing signs everywhere that they can be placed, and the locals are still a presence, but do not seem to be making a nuisance (I did not want to toe the line). Any stock 4x4 vehicle with a short-wheelbase can make it all the way up to the mine, I would say a Jeep or other caliber needed to make it up to the Morgan/Santa Fe saddle, but it looked to be in great condition for off-roading, with limited water flow and little to no ice up high.

Posted On: 6/12/2024 By: mijoflynn
Info: The Forest Service sign outside Keystone said that all area roads, including the Santa Fe Peak Road, were still closed, so I parked at the Peru Creek gate and humped it to Montezuma. (They opened Peru Creek Road in the course of the day, btw.) However, there is no gate on Santa Fe Peak Road, and if one were inclined, they could absolutely get any Subaru or SUV to the 10,800' spot. The road is clear all the way to 11,500', at which point there's a half-mile of one- to two-foot-deep snow blocking vehicles (pics 1 and 2). The snow poses no problem for hikers.

Posted On: 10/8/2022 By: LetsGoMets
Info: Completely clear of all snow to the Morgan/Santa Fe saddle. Subaru-able to the Quail Mine (saw a CRV get up there) but you want something with more power/clearance above that.

Posted On: 7/14/2022 By: LetsGoMets
Info: Stock 4x4 to the Qual Mine. May want a shorter wheel base beyond that but honestly it didn't look too bad. Lots of private property/don't park here signs along the road. I found a switchback around 11,000 that had no private property signs and seemed to be beyond a national forest property marker and had no issues.

Posted On: 6/10/2021 By: cougar
Info: I drove an Outback to above 10800 feet, good parking at the switchback. This is above the house with the dogs (which ran out in the road to greet my car coming down), and seems to be a common parking spot. Avoided any encounter with locals as all the homes were below. Road is rocky in spots but not bad. Snow starts at 11600 but bypassable on foot. There was a tree blocking the road around 11100 but a couple guys were moving it aa I was hiking down, usfs contractors. Road is probably passable farther with clearance, sections of loose small rocks and occasionally bigger embedded ones, but also smooth stretches. Almost no spots to pass oncoming vehicles though. Also usfs sign board on road in still lists this and all other forest roads as closed except Peru Creek. But there was no gate and only signs on road said open May 20 or when dry.

Posted On: 1/23/2021 By: B_2
Info: We discovered today that there is an ongoing war being waged by the locals of Montezuma against the people who would like to recreate there. We were aggressively threatened by a man and his dog who lives near the Santa Fe road start/the end of 3rd street in town. He repeatedly told us we were being disrespectful even though we parked in a spot that had no sign indicating parking was not allowed near the start of Santa Fe road. He stated that the least of our problems would be to return to a towed vehicle if we did not leave. When asked where we could park he said I dont F-ing care, but its not here on private property. Then he ordered the dog to attack the car as we were pulling out. He had some illegal (per USFS) No Parking signs posted and these can be found all over town in any possible place to park. I checked the Caltopo map of public lands and I believe we were, in fact, parked on public land at the time of the incident. The USFS was notified and was aware of this ongoing problem. They said we were in a legal spot to park and the signs are illegal. They were actually having a meeting that day with the town about this issue. Summit county sheriff was also notified and a report filed. The only safe places to park currently to access the Santa Fe group are 1)At the end of Montezuma Road, several miles past town. This was not plowed past the junction with Webster Pass Rd at this time and had at least 3-6 of snow on it, and was not attempted. 2) The parking area near the start of County Rd 260, several miles before you get to the town. For more info/updates call USFS at 970-468-5400. They were very helpful.

Posted On: 12/6/2020 By: daway8
Info: The small parking area just up the road outside Montezuma was basically full so I decided to see if my Jeep could make it up to the pull off described. It couldn't. Decided very soon to back down but I suck at backing up and sank in the snow off the side of the snowmobile tracks. Took half an hour or more to extract myself. Might have got a little further if I had put on the autosocks before getting stuck vs. afterwards but taken off guard by how quickly the road got ugly. Eventually just barely had enough room to turn around and park along the road by the parking area. There was a large parking area ~0.8mi before Montezuma. That would have probably been the better choice despite some added mileage.

Posted On: 11/13/2020 By: Unknown
Info: Parked near Duck Creek, it's nasty all the way up to the new Shelf Lake & South Park TH. maybe doable in a jeep ** from the South

Posted On: 10/29/2019 By: mjlucarelli
Info: Just an FYI. We were going to do Santa Fe Peak from Santa Fe Peak Rd but the home owner closest to the 2wd Parking area told us that we were not allowed to park there. We had no idea if the 2wd parking area is on private or public land so we ended up doing the peak from a trail head off of Peru Creek Rd. We descended Santa Fe Peak Road once we summited Santa Fe Peak and the entire road was covered in snow, even hard to find in some places above treeline, so most vehicles will probably have to park at the 2wd parking area (assuming you are allowed too!).

Posted On: 7/13/2019 By: shaunblair
Info: I parked at the switchback at 12000', the road has a snowbank covering the road at 12400'. Above the snowbank, the road becomes a river in the afternoon. Should melt out in a week or two...

Posted On: 5/14/2019 By: supranihilest
Info: Park at the bottom of the road in Montezuma, as the snow starts within just a few feet of the small (5ish cars) parking area there.

Posted On: 8/27/2016 By: richwill
Info: 2 miles up from Montezuma road is blocked by a fallen tree

Posted On: 6/19/2016 By: mikemalick
Info: Made it all the way to the Quail Mine in my ‘06 AWD Ford Escape. No snow until you break out of tree line, but even then you will always have at least two wheels on dirt/rock for the short stretches where there is snow. Definitely recommend careful driving in an AWD/4WD with good clearance. On my way back down there were Jeeps near the mine as well. First pic shows the Quail Mine area and the 2nd pic shows where the snow is right after tree line.

Posted On: 6/13/2016 By: mike14
Info: Clear to treeline. Parked 1 mile up (10,800). 4 wheel drive recommended.

Posted On: 7/14/2015 By: jbealer
Info: I was able to drive my Honda Element to with in 1,100ft of the mine. I did have a white knuckle drive back down and questioned why i drove up the road to start with. Higher clearance vehicles will do much better with good tires. I was lucky to find a good pull over spot right at the end of the trees. I was also alone so no help to guide my back up on this tight road to turn back around on the way back.