You're offline — showing cached data

Loading conditions…

Jones Pass Road Foraging Conditions — ForageIQ

Jones Pass Road

8,000–11,000 ft · CO🚗 Directions

Classic Front Range high-country. Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir. Strong king bolete habitat above 9,500 ft. Good snowmelt moisture window in early summer.

Trees:Engelmann Spruce Subalpine Fir Lodgepole Pine

Permit Info →

Updated Aug 27, 4:01 AM MT

AI Conditions Report

AI-generated · verify in field

**Jones Pass Road is firing across the board.** S-tier conditions stem from locked-in soil moisture (0.28 VWC sustained 7/7 days) paired with stable 50.6°F soil temps that have held above threshold continuously—a rare alpine sweet spot. Your viable roster is dominated by high-confidence boletes (Kings, Bays, Painted, Chicken-Fat), milk caps (Indigo, Saffron), and choice edibles (Lobster, Sweet Tooth, Hedgehog), with zero temperature gates holding them back. The moderate-tier species (Cauliflower, Reishi, stinkhorns) are soil-temp constrained but will unlock if you see even a few more warm days. **The only real constraint is moderate desiccation risk**—watch for drying winds that could flip moisture downward fast, especially at higher elevations where exposure is brutal. **Hot tip:** Scout north-facing slopes under dense conifer cover where moisture persists longest; that's where your Kings and Hedgehogs will be fattest and least checked by UV stress.

Generated by Claude (Anthropic) from the structured weather, soil, and phenology data on this page. The LLM can misread edge cases — treat this as a starting hypothesis, not a guarantee. Always verify conditions on the ground before committing to a long drive.

Foraging Potential95/100

✅Moisture

✅Soil Temp

✅No Freeze

✅No Drought

Precip 7d

Found something?

Log your find on iNaturalist to help the community and get expert ID assistance. Photos, location, and habitat notes all help with identification.

Log on iNaturalist View recent finds nearby →

Nearby Camping

Within(9)

Mizpah

developed

USFS9,600 ft~1.5 mi from center$17/night

10 sites

Right on Jones Pass Road. Walk to prime bolete habitat.

vault toiletfire ringpicnic table

Open Jun–Sep

St. Louis Creek

developed

USFS8,900 ft~4.7 mi from center$17/night

16 sites

South of Fraser along St. Louis Creek. Nice forest setting.

vault toiletfire ringpicnic table

Open May–Oct

Mizpah Campground

developed

USFS~5.3 mi from centerFee required/night

Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests Pawnee NG

Reserve →

Berthoud Pass Dispersed

dispersed

USFS10,500 ft~5.9 mi from centerFree/night

High-elevation dispersed sites off US 40 near the pass summit.

fire ring

Open Jun–Oct

Sugarloaf

developed

~7.1 mi from centerFee required/night

Sugarloaf Campground

developed

USFS~7.1 mi from centerFee required/night

Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests Pawnee NG

Reserve →

South Fork Campgound

developed

USFS~7.4 mi from centerFee required/night

Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests Pawnee NG

Reserve →

South Fork

developed

~7.4 mi from centerFee required/night

South Fork Group Site - Arapaho NF (CO)

developed

USFS~7.5 mi from center

Reserve →

⚠ Road Access Notice

Always verify road access is public before following GPS directions to mountain areas. Many forest roads are seasonal, gated, or require 4WD. Dispersed camping follows USFS/BLM rules (typically 14-day limit). Check ranger district offices for current road and campground conditions.