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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.
Updated Jul 13, 4:01 AM MT
**Jones Pass Road – Tier A Summary** You've got a moisture window open right now, but it's narrow and closing. Soil temps are running 1°F shy of ideal across the board—only two days this week cracked 50°F—which explains why everything's rated moderate rather than hot. The boletes (King, Chicken-Fat, Bitter) and Amanitas (Panther Cap, Coker's) are your best bets because they're the most forgiving of marginal conditions; The Prince and Scaly Wood Mushroom round out the viable roster. Desiccation is your real enemy here—0.36" in two weeks won't sustain this window long, and once soil dries below 0.20 VWC, fruiting odds crater fast. Watch the next 48 hours closely; if temps hit 52°F+ and you get even 0.1" of precip, the bolete window snaps open hard. If it stays dry and cool, this window collapses by mid-week. **Hot tip:** Scout north-facing talus and seeps today where subsurface moisture lingers—soil temp will lag there, but that's exactly where your window lasts longest before drying shuts you down.
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.
Precip 7d
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10 sites
Right on Jones Pass Road. Walk to prime bolete habitat.
16 sites
South of Fraser along St. Louis Creek. Nice forest setting.
Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests Pawnee NG
High-elevation dispersed sites off US 40 near the pass summit.
Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests Pawnee NG
Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests Pawnee NG
⚠ 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.
0.36"
PRISM 4km · thru 07-11
Precip 14d
Observed precipitation from PRISM 4km gridded analysis, sampled at the region centroid through 2026-07-11. Used when no SNOTEL/SCAN station is mapped to this region.0.36"
PRISM 4km · thru 07-11
Soil Temp
49°F
SWE
Snow Water Equivalent — how much water is in the snowpack vs. normal. Declining SWE means snowmelt is adding moisture to the soil.0%
Drought
None
Snowmelt
complete
soil temp marginal (49°F vs 50°F min, 2/7 days above), today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.22 — moisture sustained
Elevation mismatch: region at 9500ft, species window 10000-12500ft
soil temp marginal (49°F vs 55°F min, 0/7 days above), today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.22 — moisture sustained
soil temp marginal (49°F vs 50°F min, 2/7 days above), today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.22 — moisture sustained
soil temp marginal (49°F vs 50°F min, 2/7 days above), today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.22 — moisture sustained
soil temp marginal (49°F vs 50°F min, 2/7 days above), today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.22 — moisture sustained
soil temp marginal (49°F vs 50°F min, 2/7 days above), today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.22 — moisture sustained
soil temp marginal (49°F vs 50°F min, 2/7 days above), today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.22 — moisture sustained
soil temp marginal (49°F vs 50°F min, 2/7 days above), today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.22 — moisture sustained
soil temp marginal (49°F vs 50°F min, 2/7 days above), today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.22 — moisture sustained
soil temp marginal (49°F vs 50°F min, 2/7 days above), today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.22 — moisture sustained
soil temp marginal (49°F vs 50°F min, 2/7 days above), today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.22 — moisture sustained
soil temp marginal (49°F vs 55°F min, 0/7 days above), today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.22 — moisture sustained
soil temp marginal (49°F vs 55°F min, 0/7 days above), today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.22 — moisture sustained
soil temp marginal (49°F vs 60°F min, 0/7 days above), today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.22 — moisture sustained
soil temp marginal (49°F vs 60°F min, 0/7 days above), today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.22 — moisture sustained
soil temp marginal (49°F vs 55°F min, 0/7 days above), today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.22 — moisture sustained
Primordia readiness: Cold = mycelium dormant. Activating = soil warming, primordia building. Primed = 5+ sustained warm days at species threshold; fruiting imminent if moisture cooperates. Based on Schmidt 1983 / Mihail 2007.