kokopelli part 2

From Moab, we headed up to I-70 then over to Grand Junction to bid a fond farewell to yoda at the GJ airport. His flight was early enough that we didnt have time to drop the trailer at the RV park first so we drug it through but the airport is small enough that it was not an issue at all. We headed back to Monument RV park, which we have stayed at more times than any other place we've been for a couple more nights. It was really too hot to do any afternoon riding so we took the rest of the day off, restocking at Sam's club n wally world.
We started off early the next morning with the intent of doing as much of the kokopelli loops as possible. It was an extremely pleasant 66 degrees to start as we headed over the jeep road to mary's loop. Out to Horsethief bench, a must ride for any koko ride. Howie wanted to catch the shot above with morning light.


Mary's loop turns to single track. theres a few other pics at this point from last years blog if you're really interested. Yes's Close to the Edge was running through my head


Beyond Mary's loop is Lion's loop, a bit of a climb to start then lots of rock bench cut and tight squeezes like above, and rocky bench cut like below

all with great views of the colorado river and the valley on either side.

We finished up with Troy's loop then around the ridge to the jeep road back. We skipped the heinous climb up to Mack's ridge and took it down to the beginning of Moore Fun, a trail Ho and I did last year, but new to Howie. Its a true technical grunt up a good 500 feet up to the ridge above all we rode earlier. Its a fun ride back down the other side finishing up with a little bit of re-tracking over the jeep trail back to the truck. It was actually one of the lower temperature finishes we have had on the koko at only about 90 degrees, 4 hours or so later than when we started.
Truly one of the great rides that we do.