The following directions are taken from the White River National Forest website, with some modifications: The trail starts in the Aspen trees on a hillside full of sagebrush that overlooks the Blue River Valley. This trail is used to access the Gore Range Trail and Lost Lake Trail in the Eagles Nest Wilderness Area. To access this trailhead you must have high clearance 4x4 vehicle.
Directions: From I-70 take Exit 205, Silverthorne/Dillon, and travel north on HWY 9. Travel north on HWY 9 for approximately 16.8 miles. Just after mile marker 118 turn left onto County Road 30 toward the town of Heeney. Follow County Road 30 for approximately 0.5 miles and turn right into the parking area at the old Grandview Cemetery on the right side of the road. Park here if you do not have high clearance 4WD. Across from the Grandview Cemetery Parking is the Brush Creek Road (FDR 1695) where motorized (4WD) access is allowed during the summer if you want to drive to the Brush Creek Trailhead. From the Cemetery parking lot up Brush Creek Road to the trailhead is 2.4 miles. About 1.75 mile up this road, it will fork. This does not show on the USGS map or the Trails Illustrated. Stay left at this fork.
Our notes: If using the USGS Squaw Creek quad, the road up to the trailhead does not show as a road - only as a "pack trail." The White River National Forest map does show the road. At the cemetery mentioned above, there is a large open field just above the river that many seem to use for at-large camping. Camping is no longer allowed there. There are no facilities here. The initial climb up FR1695 (aka FR68) is the worst part of this drive. On our previous visit here in 2011, there were enormous, potholes which could be muddy after recent rains. This is where the high clearance is most useful. If you get past these, the road then switchbacks and climbs steadily across an open meadow hillside before switch-backing again to the south. This section is a little rocky and very steep but otherwise okay. The road then heads into a dry drainage and winds through beetle-kill forest to the trailhead, which is a small, undeveloped parking area in the midst of some aspen trees. The remainder of this drive is not too rough. There are a couple at-large campsites shortly before the trailhead. Earlier in the season, if no one has gone in with chainsaw, you may find the road blocked by deadfall. Be prepared to walk the 2.4 miles from the cemetery parking area. We visited here again in 2020 and the road at the beginning was in better shape than previously encountered. Many more beetle-killed trees have been cut down and removed so it is more open to the trailhead now.
The last quarter mile to the trailhead has a few at-large camping spots, otherwise there's not much else to choose from unless you utilize one of the Green Mountain Reservoir campgrounds or the following National Forest fee areas: Blue River CG (back toward Silverthorne), Prairie Point or McDonald Flats CG , a couple miles past the cemetery on the CR30, just before the Green Mountain Reservoir.