Round Trip Distance: 7 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 4586-4840 feet
Cellphone: 3-4 bars
Usage: Hiking - Biking - Equestrian
Time: 3 hrs. 40 mins.
Facilities: Vault Toilet at Kokopelli Trailhead
Trailhead: Moore Fun Parking area
Fee: none
View Horsethief Bench Loop in a larger map
The Horsethief Bench Loop is part of the Kokopelli Trails system just south of Interstate 70 between Loma and Mack. The Kokopelli Trails are some of the most popular mountain bike trails in western Colorado. To access the Horsethief Bench Loop trail you can park at the Kokopelli Trailhead and follow the road over the hill or you may be able to find a spot open at either the Moore Fun parking area or the Rustlers Loop trailhead. I parked at the Moore Fun area and began from there.
From Moore fun I walked down the trail that parallels the road to the beginning of the Mary's Loop trail. I followed Mary's Loop for about 1.65 miles to the start of the Horsethief Bench Loop trail. Most of the elevation gain on this hike is at the first part of Mary's Loop. The trail climbs at a fairly steep angle to the top of a bench overlooking the Rustlers Loop trail before it levels off. The bikers didn't seem to be having too much trouble with the climb. Some even had enough breath left to extend a greeting.
The first thing the Horsethief Bench Loop trail does is drop down a very rough section of cliff. The trail drops off about 70 feet through this rough section. That isn't much of a challenge for a hiker but the one biker I saw going up it was carrying his bike. He didn't seem to be having any trouble though.
At the base of the cliff there is a sign instructing bikers to take the trail to the left and round the loop in a clock-wise direction. That was the direction that I wanted to go anyway so I did the same. The trail followed along the base of the Entrada sandstone cliff and headed off towards the river. I was back in the morning shade for the next little bit.
The trail paralleled the Colorado River for the next 1.5 miles as it traipsed around the bench along the inside bend of the river. Across the river I could see the mouths of west Pollock Canyon, Rattlesnake Canyon and Bull Canyon which are all in the Black Ridge Canyon Wilderness Area. This part of the trail was a lot of fun to hike and provided some excellent scenery.
There is a sharp corner where the trail comes upon a deep ravine at about 1.8 miles. I didn't see any bodies piled up at the bottom so I guess I was the only one that it took by surprise. The trail follows the ravine back to the east for quite a ways before it wraps around the end of it and heads back towards the river.
After the trail re-approaches the river it quickly makes a hairpen turn along another ravine. The further along the ravine the trail goes the shallower the ravine becomes until at last the trail drops into the ravine which now resembles a shallow wash.
The trail skirts the base of the sandstone cliffs as it heads back in the direction of the trailhead. At times the trail would continue to make use of the washes in areas where it would break away from the cliff.
It didn't take long before I was up the little cliff and back at the start of the trail. Rather than follow Mary's Loop back to the parking area I went the other way so I could go back on Wranglers Loop. Otherwise it would be about 1.7 miles back to the vehicle. I snapped over 150 photos just of the Horsethief Bench Loop trail. I included them all in the 2 slideshows that follow. Other than an occasional bush, rabbit or bit of scenery I tried to capture the nature of the trail by taking a picture every time it transitioned from one look to another. This is definitely another great place to 'Take a hike' and enjoy the outdoors in the greater Grand Junction area.
