One-way Distance: 1.9 miles
Difficulty: Easy
MTB Skill level:
Elevation: 5037 - 5097 feet
Cellphone: 2-5 bars
Time: 30 mins.
Trailhead: North Fruita Desert
Fee: none
Attractions: Good alternate route
The Zip Off trail is located in the 18 Road Mountain Biking Area north of Fruita, Colorado. The trail makes a connection that is almost 2 miles in length between the Zippity/Zippity Do Da trails and the Western Zippity trail. The Zip Off trail is a good alternate route to get to the Western Zippity trail that follows less of the older Pipeline Road route.
For this post we began at the North Fruita Desert trailhead and followed the Zippity trail for a half mile to where it meets up with the Zippity Do Da trail. This intersection marks the eastern end of the Zip Off trail. Enroute to this point we passed by the lower ends of the Kessel Run and Mojoe trails.
The Zip Off trail is an easy to follow dirt singletrack with very few rocks or other obstacles. The dirt has a lot of adobe or bentonite in it which tends to shed water at first but then becomes much gooier with increasing rain or snow melt.
The first half of the trail runs parallel with Zippity Do Da which is higher up on top of the hill.
Zip Off has a few minor ups and downs but the general trend is slightly downhill in this direction where it ends up having a negative 47 foot elevation gain by the time you reach its western end.
There are a couple of small washes to cross.
But mostly just rolling around the base of the hillside.
A small hill comes along as the trail begins turning away from Zippity Do Da and toward Western Zippity.
After the hill it is an easy roll across the open flats.
With a couple more small washes to cross.
