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GPS steers detoured I-70 motorists on wrong winter route to Ruedi Reservoir

Pam Boyd
Vail Daily
Sylvan Lake State Park is beautiful during the winter, but motorists who take the advice of their GPS and try to make it to Ruedi Reservoir over Crooked Creek Pass will find that route isn't passable during the winter months.
Special to the Vail Daily

EAGLE — Just because a GPS system recommends it, doesn’t mean it’s the right way to travel.

The staff at Sylvan Lake State Park near Eagle highlighted this fact with a recent case in point.

When motorists along Interstate 70 initiate a search for the shortest route to Ruedi Reservoir, their GPS may advise Crooked Creek Pass. During warm weather months, it’s a viable alternative. In the winter, not so much.



“GPS will tell people to come up this way, and that’s fine in the summertime, but in the winter, the Forest Service doesn’t plow the road above the lake,” said Sylvan Lake State Park Supervisor Michael Wall. “It’s very clear the road isn’t open when they get here, it just isn’t clear on GPS.”

After making the trip through Eagle and out Brush Creek Road only to be confronted with a road that is not maintained above the lake, motorists turn around and often make their way to the Sylvan Lake State Park Visitor Center. That’s when they learn that no, they didn’t miss a turn, but rather that their GPS has given them some bad advice. During the winter, the only route to Ruedi is via Colorado Highway 82, south of Glenwood Springs.




Wall said a handful of misguided motorists convinced the Sylvan Lake State Park staff to turn to social media to share the message that Crooked Creek Pass isn’t open in the winter. The team took a bit of ribbing when they accidentally misidentified Highway 82, but after their mistake was pointed out, they good-naturedly corrected their post and shared the correct info.