Fruita - Horsethief Bench |
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| Overall Rating | |
| Technical Difficulty | |
| Aerobic Difficulty |  |
| Distance (mi) | 14.7 |
| Elevation Range (ft) | 4362 - 4887 |
| Total Ascent (ft) | 2143 |
| Total Descent (ft) | -1982 |
| Total Ascent Distance (mi) | 5.9 |
| Total Descent Distance (mi) | 8.8 |
| Moving Time | 02h 26m 42s |
| Stopped Time | 01h 26m 06s |
| Average Speed (mph) | 3.8 |
| Average Moving Speed (mph) | 5.7 |
| Stops | 37 |
| Start Time | 2006/10/14 11:19:39 |
| Finish Time | 2006/10/14 15:12:27 |
| Time Zone | Mountain Time (US & Canada) |
Description
We took on this ride starting at the Kokopelli trailhead in Fruita under rather unusual meteorological conditions: heavy, steady rains tried to make mtb life miserable. They didn’t quite succeed, as most of Mary’s loop and the full Horsethief Bench loop turned out to hold up really well in the overall wetness and offered great singletrack, stunning vistas and fun drops, ledges and bits of slickrock.
Our original plan was to connect to Lion’s loop and ride back to the trailhead along Moore Fun, but Lion treated us on a particularly vile type of sticky mud – clay, rather, and it was clogging our drivetrains and at some point blocking my wheels altogether. We backtracked, held a cleaning session, cut the loop short but still attempted to do Moore Fun: unfortunately the same story here, the trail was a sticky mess – with mud of a different color. An even muddier descent later (plowing through a black variety this time), our final option was to take the gravel road back to the trailhead. Nevertheless, it was a great ride, and we’ll surely need to come back here to explore more of Fruita’s mtb goodness.
Nearby trips
| Distance to (mi) | Name | Created by | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8.5 | Window Rock Nature Trail | bwise |
|
| 9.9 | Coke Ovens Overlook | bwise |
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| 48.8 | Devil's Garden Primitive Loop | ghadzoox |
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| 50.4 | Procupine Rim - Castle Valley Overlook | tom |
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| 54.9 | Slickrock Trail | tom |
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| 54.9 | Slickrock Trail - Practice loop | dirk |
|
| 54.9 | Slickrock | bwise |
|
| 60.7 | Hidden Canyon | tom |
|
| 61.5 | Amasa Back | dirk |
|
| 61.8 | The 2007 EAS 24 hours of Moab course | dirk |
|
Map
Map Markers:Printable Maps
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Pictures
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Rain at the trailhead
2006/10/14 11:21:14
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Map
2006/10/14 11:24:50
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Mary's Loop
2006/10/14 11:41:15
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View on Mary's loop
2006/10/14 11:42:20
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Horsethief Bench
2006/10/14 11:58:19
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Hm, fairly technical here
2006/10/14 12:00:13
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Slippery slickrock
2006/10/14 12:05:03
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Fruita singletrack
2006/10/14 12:14:01
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Interesting rock formation
2006/10/14 12:23:44
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The Colorado river
2006/10/14 12:34:12
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Horsethief Bench
2006/10/14 12:42:34
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Vista
2006/10/14 12:56:50
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Vista with some fall colors
2006/10/14 13:06:00
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Interesting trail section
2006/10/14 13:06:24
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More Fruita singletrack goodness
2006/10/14 13:16:39
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View on the Colorado
2006/10/14 13:16:43
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Fruita's fall foliage
2006/10/14 13:25:08
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The Kokopelli trail system
2006/10/14 13:40:55
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Sticky stuff on Lion's and Moore fun
2006/10/14 13:52:41
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Glad to have brought Glad
2006/10/14 15:29:25
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Comments
I wonder what time of year?
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