Crystal Basin Trail Ride in the Eldorado National Forest

| August 19, 2009 | 0 Comments
Crystal Basin

Crystal Basin

By Jon Crowley, UTVGuide.net

There are plenty of trails to explore in this area of the Eldorado National Forest, and some great views to be had. The area we explored is very near to the world renowned Rubicon Trail, so there were a few areas with some rock crawling. Spare tires and good skid plates are real important around here.

We used Airport Flat Campground as our base, but if you are going up for a day trip, you can park near the trail head for Wentworth Springs (Google Maps). The campground is at about 5300’ elevation and has 15 sites with a few pit toilets.  Sites are first-come, first-served and there is a 14 day limit. No piped water is available, but Gerle Creek is nearby.

There is no fee for the campground, and OHVs are allowed.

We no sooner arrived and got setup that it started to rain.  Now it is mid June, and we have been having some weird weather, but this was crazy.  It came down in buckets! The good news was we wouldn’t have any dust on the trail.  Bad news was there was going to be a lot of water on the trail. It was early evening by this time, so there wasn’t much to do, but watch the rain come down and have  a few cocktails before hitting the sack.

Near McKinstry Peak

Near McKinstry Peak

The next day, we took the historic route up to Wentworth Springs Rd. on FS 14N34. We crossed a bridge that was built in 1937, then a bit further along we forded Gerle Creek. Once we hit the Wentworth Springs Rd. (FS 14N07 – which is paved, but legal for OHVs in certain sections), we drove west about a mile. At the trailhead for the Rubicon (historic access, not the more common route from Look Lake), we stayed on the paved road (I think it is still FS 14N07) which is no longer Wentworth Springs Rd.

At some point, you want to get onto 14N51A which will lead you to the top. There was still a little bit of snow up near the top of McKinstry Peak and the Red Cliffs.

Bugle Lake

Bugle Lake

After leaving McKinstry Peak, we headed down Forest Service Road 14N05, which lead us to McKistry Lake and then on out to Ellis Creek and the Rubicon Trail.

On the way back from Ellis Creek, we took a detour to Bugle Lake.  From there, we should have been able to take another road out. My GPS and Google Maps both show this route, but we could not find it on the ground. Probably erased by the Forest Service as part of their route designation work.

The Eldorado National Forest is a great place to explore in your UTVs, but the high elevation plays into your experience quite a bit.  If you go too early in the spring when trails are wet or covered with snow, many trails will be closed. But later in the summer can be quite dusty. It is a beautiful area, and definitely worth the ride.

Rubicon Trail Map – This map shows a trailhead at Airport Flats Campground & Gerle Creek

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Category: Trail Rides

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