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 Mt Blanca is one of the most legendary trails in Colorado.
Always under threats of being closed, this run boasts several obstacles that can crunch almost any vehicle.
Think your rig has the stuff to tackle this trail...
A group from the Rover Riders recently
tackled Blanca and Medano Pass. Here is their report...
I don't remember what the name of the trading post near the park entrence is called, but this is the
last place for any supplies. The trail up Blanca is rated by most people at 9 out of 10. As 10 being
totaly impassable. Required equipment: rear lockers (front also would be nice), diff. protectors, rock
sliders, front and rear skid plates, winch, and another vehicle in your party (just in case). The
start of the trail is not hard until you get to the 4x4 parking. Once you turn off of 150, the trail
heads up. After about 1 mile, you'll see the 2 wheel drive parking. Another 2 miles of switchbacks
and sometimes lose rocks, will bring you to the 4x4 parking at 10,000'. Most stock vehicle can make
it to this point, but should not go any farther. After the 4x4 parking, there is only 2 miles to
Como Lake, but these are some of the hardest miles in Colorado. The first obstical is JAWS 1 (seen above).
Followed buy JAWS 2, JAWS 3 , and the WALL. All can seriously damage or flip any vehicle. All of the JAWS
must attempted as there is no other way around them. Only the WALL has a easy bypass off to the right.
Como Lake (12,000') has some cabins and small shelters. The trail does continue 1 mile to Blue Lake,
but that part of the trail is usually snowed in most of the year. (On our trip, 12-Jun-99, the trail
was snowed in right after Como Lake). There is a JAWS 4 in this part of the trail but I have never seen it.
Coming back down the JAWS is a little easier than going up. Take the same line as going up and let the
back of the vehicle down easy and you shouldn't have any trouble.
Mt. Blanca Report
By Logan Phillips
My Mount Blanca experience began with a phone call late Thursday night from my good friends Joe and Drew. He called saying we are going to Mt. Blanca this weekend, load your scout up and meet us at the trail head.
I put a damper on things when I explained to Joe that my scout was out of commission because of a hole in the gas tank, but he said just get there any way I could. Luckily I have a S-10 blazer also and a Honda 200XR
4-wheeler, so I loaded them up, called the girlfriend and told her to get ready for a weekend at Mt. Blanca. We were loaded up by noon on Friday and left Denver about 1:00. It took us about 7 hours to get to the town of Blanca.
An S-10 with a trailer is not the fastest way so I would say it is probably about a 5 hour drive from Denver if you could average 70m.p.h, the speed limit is 75 all the way. After reaching the town of Blanca we headed toward the
Great Sand Dunes national monument. Mt. Blanca was well in view and all ready had a dusting of snow on it. About 3 miles from the sand dunes is the turn off to Mt. Blanca, it is a dirt road heading straight for the mountain, we
could even see the switch backs working there way up. So I pulled the S-10 into 4-High, to help with the sandy road, and started our way to Blanca.
It wasn't long before we spotted Joe and Drews camp and pulled in. We made it just before sun set and prepared for the next day and the trail up Mt. Blanca.
Joe drives a Black 1978 International Scout II with a stock 345-V-8 and 2bbl carb with 4" inches of lift 33 inch Wild Country mud tires and Lock Rites spinning the Dana 44's.
It is a well equipped vehicle that has proven it's self in Moab and the 21 Road in Grand Junction.
Drew is driving 1979 CJ-5 with a home built Spring over, that lends a incredible amount of travel.
Drews jeep is also equipped with the stock 360-V8 and Dana 60 axels with a Detroit Locker in the rear.
I was driving a Honda 200XR 4-wheeler, 2 wheel drive and a low range, not much of a rig.
None of us had ever been to Mt. Blanca so we didn't really know what to expect except from what we had
read from books and magazines. We were on the trail by 9am, my girlfriend and I loaded up on the 4
wheeler and we took off out in front of the jeep and the scout. The road starts off as a easy trail
through the woods, with some great camping spots. Any stock truck can make it to the first switch back,
probably wouldn't even need 4 wheel drive. After the first switch back 4 wheel drive becomes necessary
due to the steepness and loose rock, but still a stock vehicle can make it. After about a mile of
switchbacks the road drops down again, this time in to a grove of aspen trees and some mud holes.
It is right after this that we came to Jaws One, the first major obstacle on Mt. Blanca.
Jaws One is a large about 3-4 foot fin of rock that comes diagonally across the road, there is no way
around except going up and over. It can be approached at different angles though, the first of our
group to go over was drew and his jeep. He went straight over with out dragging a thing.
The short wheel base of the CJ-5 sure helped, not to mention the lift from the spring over.
Next was the scout, Joe too a little different angel than drew, wich gave him a huge wheel stand.
Still proceeding forward the wheel began to come down but the frame on the scout caught the rock
before the wheel did, and Joe was high centered. We think at a different angle the scout would
have made it without getting high centered. Drew has a 12,000 pound winch on his jeep though and
we had Joe off the rock and over Jaws One pretty quick. My 4-wheeler was not up to the challenge of
Jaws one and had to be pushed over by Joe and Drew with me flooring the gas. After Jaws one the
road tames out some, but is still fairly rough. It is not long till you come around a switchback
and there is Jaws Two. Jaws Two is another fin of rock coming across the road, but not quite as
big as Jaws One. The catch here is the road is steep approaching it and there is a drop off to
the left. Again first was Drew in his jeep. This time the wheel base of the CJ-5 didn't help,
it hurt. The jeep just wouldn't pull up the steep rock. Drew gave it his best but decided to
back down after a few attempts of almost getting too close to the edge in a semi side ways position.
Joe gave it a try in his scout and climbed right up on the first attempt. Joe does have two
lockers and is a very good driver. Once the scout was up and over we hooked the wench to the back
of the scout and wenched Drew's jeep up and over. It was much easier with the wench helping out.
By this time we were getting pretty high on the mountain and the views were great, especially looking
west over the San Lunis Valley. Again my 4-wheeler needed assistance to get over. After Jaws 2 we
went over a few more switch backs and came to a rough spot being referred to Jaws 2.5, it offered
little difficulty for Joe and his scout.
Drew and his jeep also made it even though the 360 V-8
was choking for air some at the high altitude. Even I made it in my 4-wheeler without assistance
and with my girlfriend on the back. Soon after that we were at Jaws 3. Jaws Three does have a by
pass, and I took my 4 wheeler on that and parked it at the top of the obstacle. Joe made Jaws
Three pretty good, again doing a huge wheel stand in his scout. He even stalled the engine,
started it back up and took off with the right front wheel about 3 feet in the air. The jeep
couldn't pull it though, and Drew took the bypass. With every one in our group up Jaws 3 we
decided to brake for lunch.
 By this time there were several groups coming up and traffic started
to back up. We let them by and after lunch decided to turn around and head back down so we could
get off by dark. We didn't go to the lake because of the back up's. Going down we took about
the same line as going up. Going Down Jaws 2 is tricky, it was harder for us to go down then up.
The angle wants to push the front end toward the drop off, which could lead to a roll off, and
that could be the end of your 4 wheeling. We all made it down ok though and got back to camp
just in time to light a big fire and have some dinner. It was a great weekend and I will
defiantly be back. Mt. Blanca is a rough road, and I would not recommend it to any one that
didn't have confidence in their driving and vehicle.
 While we were there a 98 TJ rolled off just
before Como Lake. It totaled the jeep, but the passengers were ok. I never saw the Jeep but
the driver stayed with us in camp that night, and him and his buddies went back for the Jeep the
next day. Anything can happen on Mt. Blanca, but if you take your time and have lockers and
fairly large tires you should make it with few difficulties. We sure had a great time.
Located just outside Alamosa, there are a number of approaches you can take.
From anywhere on the Front Range, the easiest route is to take I-25 to Walsenberg and then
take 160 west to Blanca. The turn North onto 150 which takes you right into the
Great Sand Dunes National Monument. There is a trading post (store and camping) just outside
the park boundary. The trail takes off from there.
These days travel agents
deem it necessary to take care of everything from
hotel rooms to getting
travel tickets to the
airlines one would fly on. Infact they assemble
the class of california hotels
in the hotels they offer, with seats on the ultra-comfy
canada flights.
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