Road condition Hite towards the Maze

Kullaberg63

Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2014
Messages
647
Near Hite on 95, between the two bridges, is that long dirt road going eventually to the Maze Overlook. I want to drive a Honda CRV to the trail head for Easter Pasture Canyon, just about 30 miles in. Advisable?
 
I drove it a couple years ago when it was dry and it was fine as far as Waterhole Flat, nothing memorably dicey. However it began to rain so we decided against staying and bugged out. It turned snotty very quickly.
 
As long as it's dry you should be good. That stretch can get VERY muddy!
I was worried about the mud on that road when I took it last year (late March), since it snowed a few days before our trip. I don't know how much it actually snowed, as we had a couple of days of sunshine between the snow and our trip, but there were potholes of water all over the place (including right off the road). Anyway, I called the rangers beforehand and they told me that road was mostly sand and rock and doesn't get as muddy as some of the other higher roads in the area that have more clay content (like the Flint Switchbacks). So I went for it and it was indeed dry with no mud whatsoever. Of course, that's not to say it's never muddy--but I don't think it gets as bad as other roads.

I don't know exactly where the trailhead for Easter Pasture is, but I'm pretty sure you'll be fine. I took my Subaru Outback (A/T tires and skid plates, but no lift) to somewhere near the upper-right "Waterhole Flat" or a little further on the map below. I actually took it a little further than was wise; I was seriously pushing its limits clearance-wise on the last stretch (basically where it's marked as a '4WD' road on the map). The last stretch was flat and easy, but just needed another couple inches of clearance (I was dragging the middle on grass/sand, but I couldn't really turn around at that point). But iirc the road was fine for a crossover vehicle up until that four-way junction in the middle of the map (basically, I wouldn't recommend going on the roads marked '4WD'). I was definitely glad that I had the bikes on the roof racks rather than on a hitch rack though!
mazeRoad.png
 
Last edited:
One other note: if you're planning on descending Easter Pasture and packrafting down the river, there has been recent talk of that general section of the river actually having rapids these days (with the lower lake levels). See this thread: https://backcountrypost.com/threads/old-dog-learning-new-tricks.11568/post-155666. That's probably more so at Gypsum Canyon, so maybe it would only affect you if you were looping around and dropping back to the river at Gypsum or above Gypsum
 
We drove my friend's Subaru Outback to the Clearwater Canyon TH, then walked the 1.8 miles back from Easter Pasture to close the loop. To Clearwater it was no big deal in dry conditions. It was a bit more rutted to Easter Pasture at the time. I remember there being a fair amount of slickrock on the drive in. Looking forward to your TR.
 

Don't like ads? Become a BCP Supporting Member and kiss them all goodbye. Click here for more info.

Back
Top