Road is open all the way to the trailhead but you may feel more comfortable with a higher clearance vehicle for the vehicle ford water crossing. There was a small stream running and some large rocky gravel but it was not too bad (we were in a Santa Fe). Some potholes on the road but nothing unusual.
The trail was clear up until right before Copper Lake. There were quite a few patches of solid ice and some snow yesterday, but much of it melted off by the time we came down today. We talked to some hikers who went past Little Heart: one person stayed overnight Friday night, and said that their goal had been Big Heart but it was too snowy and icy so they stayed at Little Heart; another person was a day hiker and they said they made it to Big Heart but had a tough time with the ice. Neither hiker had microspikes, and they said that would have been helpful.
We decided to stay at Little Heart. We had been prepared to camp on snow but there were a couple snow free spots to choose from. We enjoyed a peaceful cozy night in our tent (with occasional loud crashes as ice melted and broke off the cliffs surrounding the lake) and a great overall trip.
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