Angel of Shavano Trailhead

Posted On: 2/22/2025 By: algryno
Info: Road plowed to Angel of Shavano TH and beyond. Passable to 2WD until next big storm. A few spots of inconsequential mud/ice after paved road ends.

Posted On: 2/28/2025 By: algryno
Info: Road plowed to Angel of Shavano TH and beyond. Passable to 2WD until next big storm. A few spots of inconsequential mud/ice after paved road ends.

Posted On: 3/31/2025 By: jacolc
Info: Plenty of space to park for dozen of cars everywhere, incl TH

Posted On: 12/19/2024 By: bigfoot1
Info: Nicely plowed picnic area on the left side of the road that can fit 3-4 cars. Maybe 2 spots up by the real trailhead/circle but that part isn't plowed and my car couldn't make it.

Posted On: 9/29/2024 By: vkervezee
Info: Plenty of parking, diagonally opposite to Angel of Shavano campground's left. Any 2WD car can make it here, the road is very simple Shavano and Tabuguache is already a hard, long slog. This will add 3.3 to 3.5 miles to it, making it a monster hike as a whole. Would recommend borrowing/renting an AWD to the main trailhead and continuing from there

Posted On: 8/23/2023 By: rcpelikan
Info: Most of the road is paved, and only a small portion of the road up to the trailhead is dirt. There's no issue with either part at this time. I took this TH up to Shavano and Tabeguache because the Shavano/Tabeguache trailhead is reporting a strong need for a high-clearance vehicle. In previous years, I was able to use my stock 2WD Ford Focus to get to the Shavano/Tabeguache trailhead, but it required delicate driving. Not wanting to deal with the stress for the third time, I did a lot of research on this trailhead, but was confused with the identically named campground and its associated fees. Note that the "Angel of Shavano Trailhead" is a turnoff to a loop on the right side of CR 240 as you ascend. There's parking for a good handful of vehicles here. It's actually signed as CR 240C, while the "Angel of Shavano Campground" signed CR 240A and "Angel of Shavano Group" are both on the left side ascending, and will probably be gated off as you arrive in the early morning. Using this trailhead over Shavano/Tabeguache added an additional 3.5 miles to the round-trip time (1.75mi each way), with an additional 643 ft of elevation gain as measured by my Garmin watch. This made quite a slog out of the Shavano/Tabeguache combo, but at least the added distance is mostly flat, on a comfortable trail and in the shade.

Posted On: 2/17/2022 By: Eagle Eye
Info: CR 240 is plowed and nice all the way to the TH. Only the road is plowed, and a snowplow turn-around area just past the TH. (no parking signs) Beside the plow turn-around there is a small space, for maybe two vehicles. Other times I've been here you could turn (right) off CR 240 and drive (very short distance) to a small parking area where the big wooden A of S trailhead sign/actual trail is, but it hasn't been plowed this season.

Posted On: 3/4/2021 By: lkk8815
Info: Plowed and almost entirely dry all the way to the TH/campground. The Colorado trail from here to Blanks Gulch TH is packed, my watch said 2 miles and +750/-150. Parking here for Shavano seemed like a better option to me than stressing about getting my car stuck trying to drive up CR250/252.

Posted On: 5/4/2020 By: Kiefer
Info: County Road 252 is completely dry to the trailhead. Trailhead is likewise dry with ample parking. This is coming from Blank's Cabin approach.

Posted On: 4/20/2020 By: 123tqb
Info: Completely dry, and completely empty! Apparently nobody wants to add another 2 miles to their ascent of the Angel...

Posted On: 7/25/2019 By: Mark57
Info: Open, but 240 closed beyond there (solid metal locked gate) due to extensive avalanche debris, mainly large trees, completely blocking the road further uphill, just above 10,400' elevation. This added nearly 8 miles round trip and nearly 1600 feet of extra elevation gain and loss to my ascent of Carbonate Mountain on 7/24/19.

Posted On: 1/2/2018 By: Eagle Eye
Info: Seeing no updates during 2017 I'll add this not-so-recent update. While trying to reach Jennings Creek TH, I easily drove past the Angel of Shavano TH/start of the 4WD road. The road to that point only had a thin layer of snow on it & appeared to be plowed. I believe there are residences close enough to the A of S TH that it is often maintained.

Posted On: 6/8/2016 By: zombiewolf
Info: Drove all the way to North Fork Reservoir in my Ford Explorer. The only open water was at the inlet in the campground. There was one 3-4 ft. high snow drift right at the entrance to the campground blocking access to it. Caught about 10 nice rainbows on a San Juan worm, 5/6 reel and 9 ft. fly rod. What a nice morning.

Posted On: 5/4/2015 By: zombiewolf
Info: Was able to safely drive 1.2 miles past the campground. Probably could have gone a bit further, but did not bring enough gear to feel good about continuing alone and without provisions or water. Plus, it was late in the day. That said, a high clearance 4WD vehicle can make it early in the day, I was there late in the day and the snow you had to go through was getting real soft. Driver beware.

Posted On: 4/27/2015 By: mbourget
Info: About 6" of wet, heavy snow fell at the TH Sunday afternoon. Was able to drive all the way to TH in standard 4WD pickup. Snow line was near the FS 250 and FS 252 fork, below that was rain. Snow continued Sunday night/Monday morning.