Mountain Biking Fruita- Kokopelli Area Trails

Colorado has no shortage of world class mountain biking.  Perhaps the best known of Colorado's destinations in the mountain biking community is Fruita.  Fruita sits in far western Colorado less than 20 miles from the Utah border near Grand Junction.  While Colorado may be best known for the Rocky Mountains and alpine scenery, the Fruita area features high desert riding with canyons, slickrock, and scrubby vegetation.  While Fruita may not be quite as well known as nearby Moab in Utah, Fruita gets plenty of coverage in the world of mountain biking and is a huge destination for riders from, not only Colorado, but from all across the US.

Since I moved to Colorado last summer, I had my eyes on riding the Fruita area.  I may live in the same state but it isn't exactly down the road.  It is nearly a four hour drive, making it a bit far for one day trip.  My plan was originally to spend a night in the area and put in at least two days of riding.

Puma and I raised chickens for years.  However when we moved from Maine to Colorado, we left our flock behind.  With spring in full swing, we were looking to rebuild our flock.  Puma found specific breeds of birds that she had interest in the Grand Junction area.  The drive was a bit far just for chickens.  She knew I have been looking to put together a trip to the Fruita area.  Without much difficulty, she talked me into making a day trip to Fruita to mountain bike.  I just had to make a couple of extra stops after my ride to pick up chickens.

I woke up at 430am and hit the road by 5.  The first hour of the drive was before the sunrise.  The drive went smoothly and I was at the trailhead before 9am.  Driving early in the morning allowed me to see several herds of elk along Highway 50.  The herds were all in the same general area between Gunnison and Montrose.  The largest herd I'm guessing was around 40 or so elk.

The Fruita and Grand Junction area has several groups of trails to choose from.  The Kokopelli Loops, 18 Road, Lunch Loops, and Rabbit Valley are among the more popular riding areas.  I only had one day to ride this trip so I chose to ride trails at the Kokopelli Loops.  The Kokopelli Loops area has at least ten trails including the Kokopelli Trail and around 40 miles of riding.  I have heard nothing but great things about these trails.  Nearly every report on this area boasted of great variety and stunning scenery.  The photos of the area seemed to confirm the reports.

Like the name implies, there are numerous loops in the Kokepelli Loops area.  None of the trails, with the exception of the Kokopelli, are that long.  It is easy to combine different trails and loops to put in a nice ride of any length and suit any skill level.  After looking at maps of the area and reading trail reviews, I chose a route that combined numerous trails to put together a ride that would offer a decent variety of terrain and take in as much scenery as possible.

I started my ride from the Kokopelli Trailhead which is located conveniently very close to exit 15 of I-70.  After a quick climb from the trailhead, I descended to the start of Mary's Loop.  Mary's Loop initially climbed on somewhat rough double track.  The scenery starts quickly with views of the Colorado River from high above the canyon.  The trail stays double track with a few technical sections all the way to the start of the Horsethief Bench Loop.

The scenery starts quickly

Easy double track early on Mary's Loop

Looking down toward Rustler's Loop

The Colorado comes into view

The start of the Horsethief Bench Loop was the most technical part my ride.  The trail drops steeply over gnarly terrain for 100 yards or so down to the bench.  Sections of this can be ridden but there isn't much room for error.  The gnarliest sections have drops of a couple feet or more and it isn't for the faint of heart.  The rocks were full of scrapes from chainrings and pedals from riders that attempt the section.  I carried most of the way down as did other riders I saw in the area.

The rough descent into Horsethief Bench

Looking across Horsethief Bench

Once past the drop-in, the trail mellows out for the most part and is rideable most of the way.  Much of Horsethief Bench has good flow with some technical sections as its singletrack winds through the desert.  There are sections of smooth trail, slickrock, sand, ledge, and rock in good proportion.  A few places were a little too technical for me to ride cleanly.  I also had a spill on this trail making a bad transition down a rock drop into the sand.  The scenery along Horsethief Bench is stunning.  Much of the loop travels high above the Colorado River with grand views of the canyon.  When the loop travels away from the river, the trail passes through small slots and under cliffs.  After 3.8 miles the loop comes back to the steep section before climbing back to Mary's Loop.

Section of slickrock

Looking down the river

Sweet singletrack and sweet views following the rim

Cliffs across the river

Rock formation across the river

Smooth trail on Horsethief Bench

Heading up slickrock into a wash

Climbing up a small canyon

Grassy section of Horsethief Bench

Riding around a slot canyon

Following a sandy wash

Riding below cliffs

Mary's Loop continued along doubletrack for a couple miles before narrowing down to singletrack when it reached a slot.  The trail was somewhat technical with rocky stretches.  I followed Mary's Loop for about 3 miles riding close to the rim high above the river until I reached Steve's Loop.

A technical section on Mary's Loop that travels a few feet from the
rim.  It's the same rim you see in the distance.

Riding along the canyon rim just feet from a long drop

Heading into a rocky stretch on Mary's Loop.  

More riding along the rim

Riding high above Steve's Loop

A flowy stretch of singletrack

Steve's Loop was probably my favorite section of this ride.  Steve's Loop featured huge views of the river with great desert terrain along the way.  The trail traveled around several large slot canyons when it wasn't riding along the rim of the main canyon above the river.  As the trail continued, it climbed back toward Mary's Loop while overlooking the terrain that I had just ridden.  Steve's Loop wasn't quite as difficult as Horsethief Bench Loop.

Nice view of the river

A canyon the trail passes around, the
trail rides along the top of the wall

Another slot to ride around

Riding around another canyon

The trail rides along the top of the wall

Looking back where I rode on Steve's Loop

Looking down on a slot I rode around earlier

After Steve's Loop I headed back toward the start on Mary's Loop.  This section of Mary's Loop was back on double track with some rocky sections.  As I neared the beginning of Steve's Loop I headed back into the singletrack in a narrow, technical section of Mary's Loop.  I noticed my bike felt mushy.  I then noticed the hissing.  I looked down and saw my rear tire was rapidly loosing air.  I had a pinch flat as a result of a poorly executed bunny hop over a rock at high speed.  I changed my tube and was back on my way with not too much lost time.

After a couple more miles on Mary's Loop I turned onto Wrangler's Loop.  Wrangler's Loop travels away from the canyons on singletrack with good flow for a couple miles.  The loop is generally fairly easy until it descends the last 3/4 of a mile.  The drop is on somewhat rough double track with loose rock that may pose problems for inexperienced riders.  Wrangler's Loop ends near the beginning of Mary's Loop.

Looking down on Horsethief Bench

Wrangler's Loop

Another section of Wrangler's

I had ridden nearly 18 miles by this point but wasn't quite ready to call it quits.  Rather than turn toward the trailhead, I headed toward Rustler's Loop.  Rustler's Loop is just under 4 miles and is the main beginner's loop in the area.  Despite being one of the easier trails in the area, riding it was quite a blast.  The trail offers everything the other Kokopelli Loops trails offer, but in a small package.  There is fun and flowy singletrack most of the way.  There are a few short, easier technical sections with ledges, slickrock, switchbacks, and changing terrain.  There is nice scenery from the rim of the canyon and plenty of steep cliffs near the trail.  An experienced rider can fly through the loop pretty quickly but it still offers a great mix of trail in a short distance.

River views on Rustler's

Looking across the river

Nice singletrack on Rustler's

Rustler's Loop is set up as an interpretive trail for newer riders.  Along the way there are signs with pointers on how to tackle the terrain.  Someone with more than a few miles on a bike might find it boring to ride only Rustler's Loop.  However I recommend adding it to the start or end of a longer ride to get just a little more scenery and a fun trail that does throw a little bit of everything at you including nearly 4 miles of great singletrack.

One last look at the river and canyon on Rustler's

Riding under a cliff near the end of Rustler's

After Rustler's Loop I headed back to the trailhead to wrap up my ride.  I rode just over 22 miles with 2:40 of riding, although my total time was a little longer with the flat and a few stops to take in the views.   The total climbing was around 2200 feet.  Even with the distance and decent elevation gain, I didn't feel too beat after this ride and still had some energy left in me which I find surprising since I awoke at 430am and drove nearly 4 hours before my ride.  Maybe I was just amped from the great riding and fine scenery.

Nice rock formations across the river

There is still quite a few more trails at the Kokopelli Loops that I didn't ride.  This ride however was a great introduction to the Fruita area.  The riding lived up to the hype.  I will definitely be coming back to ride again.  Next time I will make it at least an overnight trip so I can explore more of the area.  If I didn't have my secondary mission of picking up chickens, I would have made it a multiday trip this time.

More rock formations

There are numerous technical sections on this ride and I wouldn't recommend some of the side loops to anyone less than an intermediate rider.  There are a few obstacle that even veterans will have difficulty clearing cleanly.  The area has a fair amount of rocks and ledge to traverse.  Despite the 2200 feet of total elevation gain, there never seemed to be any real long climbs or descents.

Good view down the canyon from Horsethief Bench Loop

I can't recommend this area enough to serious mountain bikers.  This area is no secret however and you won't have the place to yourself.  I rode on a Monday morning and the parking lots were fairly full and I saw quite a few groups on the trails.  Because there are many different trails, and several loops seem to favor a specific direction of travel, you can avoid traffic on the trails most of the time. Riding here on a nice weekend is probably another story.  I probably wouldn't ride here in the peak of summer because the area gets quite hot and is very dry.  It is after all desert.  I enjoyed a 70 degree temperature by the end of my ride.  By Colorado standards, this ride is fairly low in elevation, never reaching above 5000 feet.  It might be a good place to ride to acclimate before riding higher elevations.  Because of its lower elevation and desert climate, Fruita sees little snow and experiences warmer winter weather making it a good destination when most of the high country is covered in snow.

Looking down a large slot canyon on Steve's Loop

After the ride, it was time for the second part of my trip, shopping for chicks.  Luckily this went smoothly and I was soon on the road for the nearly four hour drive home.  With the exception of the nearly constant chirping from the chicks, the return home was uneventful and I was at the house by 630PM to Puma eagerly awaiting her new flock members.

Desert blooms

Click on the link below for a map of the trails in the area.
Trail Map