Lenhardy Cutoff Dispersed Camping

I just drove 305 and 315 in my F150 to scout–both are challenging and high clearance is highly recommended, so pick your poison:
-315 is quite sandy for the first mile or two, and is mostly smooth except for 3 or 4 obstacles: one very rocky section (30-40 yards), one or two rutted sections, and a very steep section with a decent rut. You need a powerful tow vehicle for this one.

-305 is quite windy in a few sections with a tight switchback. There were far more ruts / bumps on 305 as of Sept 18, so make sure your RV is secure.

I saw a few big rigs up there, so it’s entirely possible to navigate the roads but it’s not for the faint of heart.

Sites 315B through D all have amazing views if you can survive the bumps. No cell service, and a mix of open sites and some shaded ones closer to 376.

Stayed a Friday night June 3rd. Although most sites were full when we arrived after 7pm they are so spread out that it felt like we were alone. Found a huge site with plenty of room for a big rig or a couple of car campers. We have a rooftop tent on a Jeep Gladiator. Gorgeous Mountain View’s right from our site!
We came from CR315 direction and had no issues, but we have high clearance and weren’t towing anything. I definitely wouldn’t recommend accessing that way otherwise.

DO NOT take CR315!!! It’s far too soft & narrow if you have a travel trailer or motor home. My truck and trailer got stuck about 100 yards up the road. Had to get a wrecker to get me out. Take CR 305. It’s hard packed but be aware of your rig size as there’s a pretty tight switch back about 90% of the way up. Just for reference, I have a 2017 Ram 1500 & 21’ travel trailer. Once you’re up it’s a wonderful area.

We came in on RD 305 heading north and to the "T" where it meets RD 376. Road conditions were a moderate grade and fairly easy to navigate. There is one curve close to the end that big rigs would be challenged with. Heading east from this junction the road gets more difficult and we opted out and turned around and headed west on RD 376. Several campsites and good spacing but it was fairly crowded with many spot taken. We kept following RD 376 at the RD 315 junction and the road got a lot more challenging. We took our time navigating and more campsites opened up the farther we went, likely because of the increased difficulty of the road.

We found a great site and the view stunning.

We traveled here with our 24’ Jayco Travel trailer (30’ in length) pulled by a 2016 Toyota Sequioa with myself, my pregnant wife, 4 years old, and 16 month old, and two large dogs. Pulling it in had a few rough spots With some sharp appearing rocks (able to dodge them), but we had no problem getting through them. Looking at sites, 315B and 315C had AMAZING views but were taken, so we kept going, we took a left at the fork past 315C and then another left, we stayed at the top of the mountain here and had no neighbors. On the second day up here, a Winter storm blew in (luckily we were prepared with full propane, generator, 200ah batlleborn batteries, and Victron inverter) and we got 12” of snow. We had a blast playing in the snow. We were a bit worried we would not make it down very well since it is a steep drive, so I test drove it without the rig first and had no problem in 2 wheel drive going down or up, so we hooked up and headed out before the snow melted and the roads got really muddy. We had no issues at all getting up or down.

We will be staying here again, hopefully without a winter storm so we can hike all over the mountains! This place has so much to offer! There is no need to go looking for hikes if you stay here

We stayed July 2020. No problems driving this road in a 25’ motor home. Spectacular views of the collegiate peaks, reasonably good cell coverage. The area was under a stage 2 fire ban. So no fires and all other campers we could see followed the rules. Although we could see other campers, the designated sites provided plenty of privacy. This would be a great location for groups of three or more campers and easily accessible for larger trailers or fifth wheels. May not be accessible to motor homes over 30’ due to road undulations.

We stayed here in October of 2019. Chose this randomly and so glad we did. We missed the road initially. It’s more of a dirt driveway looking pull off. It’s angled so that it’s easy to miss and off of a highway so you can’t putt around all slow looking for it. There are turn arounds tho if you miss it. It’s a rough road going in with some steep rocks. High clearance vehicles recommended. There were 2 of us and one of us guided while the other took it extremely slow. The rough part is toward the beginning and once you make that you continue on up. You can take a left turn at the top of the hill for some sites or keep going to the right for more. It then splits to the right and left and then the left forks off again. We ended up going up and then deciding to turn back around and go to the first left turn. We parked it there for two nights and didn’t have any neighbors. Did have a couple ATVs drive thru one day and a Jeep another but that was the extent of it. The views were amazing. No amenities but the serenity was worth it. We were able to run our generator if needed and the sunsets were killer. We drive a short bus so not exactly off road material but were able to make it very carefully. So glad we did!