I've seen conflicting reports on the difficulty of this trail, specifically regarding clearance / necessity of having skids. An older book I have says the trail is super pud but extremely narrow and a lot of people have died from accidentally going over the edge. The more recent Wells book says skids are a must and the undercarriage will drag in spots. What gives? Trying to get from Palisade to CB later this month and considering this trail. Only have stock SR5 skids, plus 5100 leveling kit, and just got sliders
Devil's Punchbowl / Schofield Pass
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MAST4R
New member
I have been looking at it for a long time but never been in the area.
The latest Wells book is generally spot on though things do change year to year.
The newer problem on that trail is the big rock that fell a couple years ago. It makes for a very tight squeeze. I am not sure how a 4R would fare. As for armor, I am fully armored underneath except for the nonsense A-arm skids.
According to the updates on the Wells site, said obstacle may have been cleared:
Devil's Punchbowl - FunTreks
Either way, what I do know is that DP is a trail that requires experience.
The Wells description is really trying to discourage people in anything close to a stock vehicle so there is that. If it is that bad, going uphill with only A-trac as an assist maybe an issue.
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Trail conditions change all the time -- year to year and even week to week in some cases. It's best to get current trail rating and conditions online. Google the trail you want to run and there will be different results with trail reviews posted by people who have run it recently.
Jimmy_D
Member
I've done the Punchbowl countless times over the years. I don't consider it particularly challenging but it does spook a lot of people. Our group did it twice last year. We start in Crested Butte and drive over Kebler Pass then McClure Pass to Marble. We have lunch at the BBQ place in Marble (great place to eat) and then do Lead King Basin first. The road out of Marble goes past the turnoff to Crystal and heads up to Lead King. It's truly spectacular up there. The road drops down to the basin and loops back to the Crystal/Punchbowl road. We take a right and backtrack to Crystal so everyone can see the Crystal Mill (it's only a couple of miles). We then head back the way we came past the Lead King intersection to the start of the Punchbowl. It's easier technically if you do the Punchbowl from Schofield Pass to Crystal since you're heading down but there's usually traffic heading up from Crystal and they have the right of way since they're heading up and passing can be a real problem on sections of the shelf roads you'll be on. I don't know that I'd recommend doing it alone unless you have a good deal of experience; in case you needed to get extracted from a tight situation. HERE'S a short drone video of some of our group heading up the Punchbowl right after crossing the bridge at the bottom. It's a rather large file so it will take some time to load. It will give you an idea of what to expect.
TexasTJ
New member
I would consider myself an above average wheeler, coming from an old Jeep that I wasn't worried about damaging. I ate at the above mentioned BBQ place in Marble, and it was pretty good. I checked out Crystal Mill, and continued up to DP. I decided to turn around at the top of my picture because I was running solo, and didn't feel comfortable when I got to the jagged slate. I wouldn't recommend it in a stock 4R.
thanks for the input, everybody.
I heard enough from locals that there is a pretty tippy narrow section that I probably *could* have handled, but I decided to avoid this route and just take Kebler Pass instead. With another vehicle and/or spotter (my wife has no interest in this) I would have given it a go.
As an aside, we camped at Paradise Divide pretty much all week and it is so great. Amazing to camp at 11k+ feet. Hiked through Paradise Basin, and then my friend convinced me to climb Purple Mountain at sunrise with him and a few other CB buddies. I had never summited a CO mountain before so this was really incred. 10/10, five stars, strongly recommend
I heard enough from locals that there is a pretty tippy narrow section that I probably *could* have handled, but I decided to avoid this route and just take Kebler Pass instead. With another vehicle and/or spotter (my wife has no interest in this) I would have given it a go.
As an aside, we camped at Paradise Divide pretty much all week and it is so great. Amazing to camp at 11k+ feet. Hiked through Paradise Basin, and then my friend convinced me to climb Purple Mountain at sunrise with him and a few other CB buddies. I had never summited a CO mountain before so this was really incred. 10/10, five stars, strongly recommend
I did it from Marble (so uphill) to Crested Butte in a stock 2-door Rubicon. I'd do it in my 4-door Rubicon with 35s but not in my stock 4R. There is an off-camber section going up where I like my solid axle's traction and near the top there is a super narrow section where you wheels may get right on the edge or a touch over. Wait if your brakes are wet, for whatever reason. It is a beautiful part of Colorado, but needs some attention/experience in those parts.
