The trailhead for Missouri Lakes/Fancy Lake is a shared trailhead with trails starting out in different directions from the same location. To access this trailhead, take the turnoff for FR703 located along CO24 between Leadville and Minturn. If coming from Leadville, turn onto CO24 just north of town from CO91. Drive to Tennesee Pass and the turnoff for Ski Cooper. Continue north on CO24 for another 10.9 miles to an "S" curve in the highway. The turnoff for FR703 and Homestake Reservoir will be on the west side (left) of the highway.
If coming from Minturn, you would have exited I-70 and driven south into Minturn. Continue driving south gaining elevation up to the old mining site of Gilman (some call this hill climb "Battle Mtn."), then drop down in elevation to the turnoff for Red Cliff. Continue driving south on CO24 from the turnoff and spectacular arch-span bridge and measure off another 2.9/3.0 miles. Turn west (right) onto FR703 at the fist curve of the "S" curve.
FR703 drops down losing some elevation on a couple of switchbacks. In .3 mile, there is an information kiosk. Across from the kiosk, there is a small, primitive camping site that can accommodate RV's, trailers, etc. Continue on FR703 for 6.7 miles to the Gold Park Campground, passing a dozen and a half primitive campsites along the road. At Gold Park CG, there are 12 sites suitable for trailers, RV's or tents. They have a vault toilet but no water. Fee as of 2019 was $21 per night for a single vehicle.
Continue past the campground for a total of another 3.0 miles to the trailhead. Along the way, do not turn off on the Holy Cross City 4WD road FR759. This is strictly 4WD. Continue on the main road to an intersection where you will turn right about a mile past the campground. The intersection is signed. Drive another 2.1 miles on FR704 to the trailhead. The first mile has several switchbacks. The entire drive in is passable to passenger cars of most all types. Some sections may tend to be wash-boarded. In the last mile, we counted at least 6 to 8 primitive campsites.
If only the Missouri Lakes trail is desired, then from the dual trailhead, you can drive south and SW, crossing Missouri Creek and follow the aqueduct road another .7 mile to a small parking area. From here, you may wade or attempt to drive across Missouri Creek and join the trail which continues as a road to a diversion pond at the wilderness boundary just a short distance from the park. This will save about 15 minutes of walking but only about 100 feet in elevation gain and will require a creek crossing with no bridge. This .7 mile drive will be on rougher road as well but most SUV's should be able to handle with no problem.
Be advised that as of summer, 2019, a large-scale avalanche from the previous winter left a quarter-mile wide swath of downed trees blocking the Missouri Lakes Trail at about 2 or 2.5 miles in on the hike to the lakes. The Forest Service plans to attempt to "clear" some of this damage in the fall, after all the snow and ice buried under the morass of shredded trees has melted off. In the mean time, a temporary use trail has evolved that gets hikers through the maze with little difficulty. When you come to the edge of the avalanche damage, look to the right for a fainter trail that heads uphill, then later begins a higher contour that skirts much of the damage. You'll still have to climb over or under a few fallen trees but you can easily get through it all with a backpack. Towards the end of the damage area, the trail drops back down losing most of the elevation it gained, in order to rejoin the original trail. As for the overall condition of this trail, it is a highly used path so it is well-worn, rocky with many exposed tree roots and not too kind to tired feet. It's a toe-stubbing challenge for tired hikers, backpackers and climbers. Two of the three stream crossing have good bridges. One last crossing closer to the lakes just has a cluster of loose logs to cross on.
As mentioned above, at .3 miles along FR703, there is a primitive site that can accommodate RV's, trailers, etc. For the remaining 6.4 miles to the Gold Park campground, we counted at least 18 primitive sites. Then there is the Forest Service maintained Gold Park CG as described above. From the intersection for either Homestake Reservoir or the Missouri Lakes/Fancy Lake TH, we counted another 6 - 8 primitive sites along the road up to the trailhead, most of which were in the final mile. Once you arrive at the trailhead, you can also follow the aqueduct road NE and find other places where you can park along the road and at least car-camp. There is a vault toilet at the trailhead.