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Earth satellite image of route
Rating: 6/10 Ah, the infamous Schofield Pass road! I have seen reported anywhere from 13 to 17 previous deaths on this trail, 7 of which came in one accident in 1970 when a Suburban fell off the edge. This makes it the deadliest 4WD road in the state. After being in the Marble and Lead King areas multiple times, and seeing the caution sign that marks the beginning of the difficult section on the Crystal side, I had always been tempted to do this but figured I'd wait to have a lift installed on the 4Runner and wait to run it with someone else before I drove it. It got to be too much to bare not seeing what all the hoopla is about, so I finally ran it in October, 2002 on my fall color run. I didn't have my lift installed at that time as I figured it should be a little more of a challenge without. I actually started out on the Crested Butte side with no intentions of running it—again. I just wanted to get closer to the area of no return as I'm always in search of seeing what is around the next bend for curiosity reasons and photo ops. The pass itself, and a ways further down is passenger car accessible about 11 miles out of Crested Butte. Once I got to the top of the Devil's Punchbowl section, I just had to do it this time. I let the Runner sit idle for 5 or 10 minutes to let the tires and brakes dry as the sign suggests after the mild stream crossing (around 17" or so this time) just prior to the rocky and narrow decent, and also to look down the trail to make sure no one else was on their way up. A few minutes later I'm at the bridge crossing just below the Punchbowl. Got out, took some pictures, and looked at the next section down the Crystal River Canyon. Still not knowing I had just passed the tough section, I headed on down and before I know it, I'm at the Lead King turnoff. What? That was it? Are you kidding?! Sweet! I did it! I had to turn back and start back up to see if was any tougher going this direction (east). Not really, but it was marginally more difficult as there was one spot where the tires spun just a little on the loose rock and pulled me a little closer to the edge (I was not aired down!). How narrow is it? For the most part, it's no different than many other shelf roads around. There are 2 or 3 points along the Punchbowl section that come in that make it more narrow than other tracks, but I like this sort of stuff, so it really wasn't a big deal. The stories I've read caused me to have a greater fear of it than actually doing it. For most of the summer, and up to a couple weeks before I drove this as reported by the folks at Colorado4x4.org, a rock had fallen onto the side of the road. Of course, it would have had to fall at an already narrow point! However, it was gone by the time I got up there. This section is pretty craggy in places, but the surface is sound. I thought the rocks were going to be bigger and potentially cause minor clearance problems for a stock rig, but they were all easily negotiable. The toughest section is about 20 feet in length and about 15 degrees off-camber, leaning you toward the Punchbowl of course! The entire Punchbowl section is .4 miles. It is 1.6 miles from the top of it to the Lead King turnoff, and an additional half-mile to Crystal. The reason for the deaths? It really must have to do with people not being familiar with their vehicle's capabilities or their own, or just not having the stomach for narrow trails. It is a perfectly safe trail for those that have experience driving on Colorado's high country 4WD roads. Like with all others, take your time, go slow, be safe, enjoy the ride and you'll be fine. No problem.
9/6/03 update: I have since completed a number more trips up and down this road. Just too beautiful! |
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