Tincup Pass, St. Elmo

Coming from St. Elmo side - trail is as predicted. Some ice in spots going up. Once you get to the summit and start down towards Tincup you will run in to another ice sheet going down. It is passable but be advised.

my first true 4x4 off-road trail, we went from st Elmo to mirror lake westbound. beautiful pass. trail was a bit technical for me but like I said, it was my first time and I was driving a 4runner trd off-road with all weather tires lol. only really scary parts were this section where it looked like it got too muddy on the way up the east side so someone placed a bunch of timbers over the trail and crossing them made my truck buck back and forth like a rodeo bull. I have the factory trd off-road lift and we scraped the bottom a few times but no damage other than some scratches. probably would have been much simpler with a/t tires and a higher lift but this can be done without them, just with higher risk. I used 4lo a few parts going up and then the majority of the descent to keep my brakes from overheating.

was fine, mirror lake was down, no water to cross on lake. rough as usual. left St. Elmo at 10 in the morning over Handcock , hit Cumberland about 2 hours , went to TinCup, then went over Tincup pass back to St.Elmo . . . 5 hours 21 minutes in total doing the loop , not alot of long stops , but piddled a little , did run up west portal of Aline. did it in RZR 1000 2 seater. but definitely didn't race through the loop . just good site seeing. Hancock was only part, definitely at the top bring your A game, but still not too bad.

Not difficult or technical, just rocky enough to be slow and rattle things end to end. On the eastern side is a 4’ deep mud hole that the ATV’s have chewed out and drivers have created a bypass. Nice view in all directions from the pass.

Very rocky, pretty dusty in some places.

no problem getting through mirror lake. lots of rocks!

High water can’t pass mirror lake

Mirror lake is about 25-30” deep but passable if you follow markers

Deep snow at the pass, will hopefully be passable in about 2 weeks

Mud hole gone! snow at tree line.

Lots of snow still above tree line

Mudhole a few miles in from the Saint Elmo side definately requires a winch to get through unless your ride is also a boat. The trail is still accessible from the Timcup side if you are just trying to get to Mirror Lake or the pass.

Trail is great if you can past the mud hole. 99% of vehicles will need a winch