If you had a week, if you had all the gear and if you had a way to get enough water, you might want to mountain bike the entire length of the Kokopelli Trail — all 142 miles between Grand Junction, Colo., and Moab.
But here's the good news: You don't have to ride the whole thing.
In the Grand Junction area alone, you'll find dozens of loops and spurs taking off from the Kokopelli. There are tons of places to enjoy a day ride. Here are a few of the best:
Mary's Loop is 9.3 miles of ups, downs and fun. It is rated moderate. No doubt it would be rated easy, except for a couple of steep hills and a couple of places where the trail borders a billion-foot cliff. The views are grand. You'll look down on the Colorado River in sections of the path.
The trailhead is about 15 miles west of Grand Junction. To find it, take I-70 to the Loma exit (Exit 15). Go south and turn right on to the access road. Just before the weigh station, turn left onto the gravel road. A half-mile in, you'll come to the parking area.
This trail is relatively unused but is rapidly being discovered. On a recent weekday morning the visitors included two joggers, 10 mountain bikers, three dogs and a unicyclist.
The unicyclist was from Grand Junction but said that Telluride is actually Colorado's unicycle capitol with at least 80 enthusiasts in residence. One of the mountain bikers was from Seattle and said it was his second trip to this area and he's already planning his third trek.
The Horsethief Bench Loop takes off from Mary's Loop and adds 3.4 miles to the adventure. It is rated as moderate/strenuous, and it, too, is a lot of fun. You'll come to Horsethief after you've ridden about a mile and half along Mary's Loop. You'll have to walk or carry your bike down a steep and rocky hill before you can ride out onto a large plateau.
Salt Laker Tamara Feenstra has a favorite ride that she knows as the Rabbit Valley ride, which some guidebooks call the Western Rim ride. It is a 15 mile loop if you park at the McDonald Creek trailhead, but if you don't have a high clearance vehicle, or if you are looking for a longer ride, you can park your car at the Rabbit Valley parking lot and take a 20 mile ride.
"It's advanced just because there are some exposed areas close to the edge of a large drop-off," Feenstra says. She loves it for the views of the Colorado River and because there are long stretches of single track as well as some technically challenging parts.
Rabbit Valley is about 30 miles west of Grand Junction. To get there, take exit 2 off of I-70. Initially you are on BLM land where a dirt road parallels the Kokopelli Trail. If you don't want to ride a mountain bike, and you have a high-clearance four-wheel drive, you could actually drive to the McDonald Creek trailhead.
If you park your car at the Rabbit Valley parking lot (rest rooms available), it's an easy ride for 2 3/4 miles to the McDonald Creek trailhead from where you can take a 1 1/2-mile hike to see some petroglyphs. McDonald Creek has been designated as a cultural resource area so no bikes are allowed (bring a bike lock). Nor will there be any signs at the rock art sites.
A sign at the trailhead does give instructions for finding four rock art panels. Two of them are easy to spot, but two of them are not. You'll also see cacti and other flowering plants.
Two miles down the canyon, McDonald Creek flows into the Colorado River. If you clamber over the railroad tracks, you can perch atop some boulders and have a picnic at the water's edge. In the spring, when the river is high, there is no shoreline.
Some guidebooks recommend the ride to the McDonald Creek trailhead as being great for novices and families. And it is flat. But in the dry season, which tends to last for many months on the Colorado Plateau, the sand is deep along this trail. Young bikers and novices may become frustrated. Bear in mind, also, you are riding down a gentle slope on the way toward McDonald Creek. When you ride back up, after your hike, you may not find the slope to be so gentle.
Note: The 3-mile loop adjacent to the Highline Lake State Park campground, which is not on the Kokopelli Trail but is nearby, about 7 miles north of Fruita, Colo., might be an even better bet for a family with young bikers. The trail is not at all strenuous and, in the tall grasses around the lake, you may come across a heron or some ducks or other wildlife.
E-MAIL: susan@desnews.com