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Porphyry Gulch 2.0

Porphyry Gulch is a very enjoyable Jeep trail.  It is above the trees most of the way and offers nice views of the San Juans.
At one time this trail went all the way to Bullion King Lake, so it is occasionally called Bullion King Lake Trail.

The road now ends at the Bullion King Mine, which underwent remediation in 2015.  A 20,000-cubic-yard heap of tailings left by miners was posing a major threat to the watershed because of water leaching through its high metal content and low pH.  This tailings pile was leveled, then covered with protective layers of fabric, plastic and soil.  The 0.4 mile Jeep road beyond the pile was blocked to vehicle traffic.

There is a GPS - gpx track at the bottom of the page.
Picture
Porphyry Gulch
The road in is through open meadows, but does have a few clumps of trees frequently used for tenting.  The road ends above 12,000' and offers great views of the surrounding area.
Picture
Road headed in
Picture
View at end
There is a nice waterfall (above the flower in the photo), and it is less than .75 mile hike to Bullion King Lake from the end of the road.
Picture
Waterfall
Picture
Bullion King Lake
Updated 2017.

Picture

porphyry_gulch_2.0.gpx
File Size: 27 kb
File Type: gpx
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  • Jeep The USA
  • Trails
    • Arizona Jeep Trails >
      • Apache Junction Jeep Trails
      • Kingman Jeep Trails
      • Lake Havasu - Parker Jeep Trails
      • Phoenix to Flagstaff Jeep Trails
      • Quartzsite Jeep Trails
      • Tucson - Benson Jeep Trails
    • California Jeep Trails >
      • Death Valley
    • Colorado Jeep Trails >
      • Breckenridge Jeep Trails
      • Buena Vista Jeep Trails
      • Grand Junction Jeep Trails
      • Montrose Jeep Trails
      • Silverton - Ouray Jeep Trails
    • Nevada Jeep Trails >
      • Las Vegas Jeep Trails
      • Mesquite Jeep Trails
    • New Mexico Jeep Trails >
      • Elephant Butte Jeep Trails
      • Las Cruces Jeep Trails
    • South Dakota Jeep Trails >
      • Black Hills Jeep Trails
    • Texas Jeep Trails >
      • Big Bend Jeep Trails
    • Utah Jeep Trails >
      • Blanding Jeep Trails
      • Green River -Hanksville Jeep Trails
      • Moab Jeep Trails
      • Page - Escalante - Kanab Jeep Trails
      • Saint George Jeep Trails
    • Wyoming Jeep Trails >
      • Bighorn Mountains Jeep Trails
      • Lander Jeep Trails
  • Difficulty Ratings
  • Use GPX
  • Interactive map Tutorial