Day 11 : Fruita (Hike & Kokopelli trails

Day 11 : Fruita (Hike & Kokopelli trails - MTB ride)

Mcdonald creek rock art hike - fruita picture

Today I decided to go back to Mcdonald creek and see if I could see more rock art, as the board at the trail head said there was lots of it in the canyon.

Either I'm not very good at spotting rock art , or there wasn't much in the canyon, asides from the panels at the start and one in an alcove down near the end of the canyon. But It was a very peaceful quiet walk , with plenty of birds and lizards to be seen.

I spotted this large panted figure high up in an alcove, and decided to clamber up for a closer look, and see if there was anything else up there.

It was a lot easier getting up then coming down !!!, at one point I thought I was stuck up there

I then continued down to the river, towards the end of the canyon the trail was very overgrown.

Ont the way back up the canyon I walker up a side canyon to see if there was anything to see, but didn't find any rock art there either.

I stopped off at Enstrom Candies in Fruita at around 5.30 pm and bought myself a very tasty banana Malt. Then I went to the hotel got my bike stuff and drove up to the Kokopelli Trails.

From the car park I rode up the dirt road and then down the dirt road towards the Rustlers loop, after heading through the gate you climb up an old double track before getting onto the mellow singletrack.

The rustlers singletrack is quite easy but very enjoyable with some great views of the Colorado river.

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From the river the trail heads back towards the sandstone cliffs heading up singletrack through grassy scrub.

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The trail goes along the edge of the sandstone cliffs with some enjoyable ups and downs, before heading back down to the entry gate.

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From Rustlers I headed along mary's to the Horse thief bench trail.

After hiking my bike down to Horse Thief bench I headed clock wise round the trail. The trail has great views and plenty of different trail surfaces to ride on from slickrock to sand, to ledges to pebbles.

Horse Thief bench MTB singletrack picture

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The trail starts by following the edge of the cliffs before dropping down and heading towards the rivers cliffs

The trail rolls along the cliffs before heading back in land a bit.

And then cuts back down towards the river down a fun track with some small ledge to go over.

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The trail then follows the river again before heading down a section I couldn't ride and then it climbs back up, and through the meadows up to a stream gully which heads back to the cliffs.

The trail heads up and down alongside the cliffs before coming back to the track that takes you down to the start of the trail. I shouldered my bike and climbed back up to Mary's trail.

I decided to ride back to the SUV via the Wranglers trail which I'd never ridden before. At one marker post there were bee battles going on , where one bee who owned the rock pile around the post would have skirmish's with other bees that flew too near him, it was quite entertaining to watch.

The wrangler singletrack climbed upwards and joined onto an old dirt road, I stopped a couple of time to take some pictures, and kept getting dive bombed by small beetles - which were attracted by my lights.

Sound of the desert - Video (10MB)

The dirt road was good and rocky and I headed down it until I came to the dirt road which leads back to car lot.

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I got back to the car park at about 9.40pm , I was the only one still parked here, I'd ridden about 14 miles. I wish I'd spent less time hiking and more time biking.

From Kokopelli's I headed over to the City Market in Fruita and bought some ready meals , which I heated up and ate back at the hotel. And planned my route to Gallup for the next day.

DAY 12