Second Thoughts

Rating: 
One-way Distance: 3 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
MTB Skill level:
Elevation: 5368 - 5886 feet
Cellphone: 2-4 bars
Time: 1 hr. 30 mins.
Trailhead: Third Flats/Little Park
Fee: none
Attractions: Fun singletrack

Second Thoughts is a motorized singletrack trail that is located in the BLM Third Flats Area near Grand Junction, Colorado. The upper end of the trail begins off of Twist-n-Shout where it travels along a canyon for about 2.5 miles before turning and reconnecting with the Twist-n-Shout trail about a mile and a half from where it had originally left it. Enroute Second Thoughts is connected to by the Snakeskin trail which provides a route to Good Vibes, Gunny Loop and the Little Park trailhead.

To get to the Third Flats trailhead turn off of the Monument Road onto the South Redlands Road. Follow South Redlands for just over 1 mile and turn right onto Little Park Road. Stay on Little Park Road for 4.2 miles and turn left into the Third Flats area. The trailhead will be on the right after 250 feet or so.

From the parking area head back toward Little Park Road to the Twist-N-Shout trail.

Second Thoughts branches off of the Twist-N-Shout trail about 300 feet from the Third Flats Road.

The trail starts out along a scenic route that mostly parallels the Little Park Road.

There are a few minor hills but overall the trend is downhill.

The elevation profile shows how the 705 feet of descent and the 373 feet of gain are distributed along the length of the trail. Most of the uphill, going in this direction, comes toward the end of the trail.

A little before the 1 mile point the Snakeskin trail branches off on the left.

From there the Second Thoughts trail travels along one side of the canyon while the Snakeskin trail parallels it on the other side of the canyon.

There is almost a mile long stretch of trail here that rolls by pretty quick.

At the 2.2 mile spot the trail travels around the point of a ridge and heads into a side canyon.

The trail heads up the side canyon for a half mile or so and then crosses the drainage and begins a steep climb up the opposite hill.

Second Thoughts comes to an end when it reconnects with the Twist-N-Shout trail. From here it is 1.5 miles to the right to get back to where we began. In other words it is half as long looping back than it was getting here. The Butterknife trail is just over a half mile to the left and the Third Flats Road is right at 1 mile. The shortest route to the Third Flats Road is to go to the right and then take the Nut-N-2-It trail. Nut-N-2-It comes out onto the Third Flats Road about 3/4 a mile from the Third Flats trailhead. The Second Thoughts trail is a nice addition to the Third Flats system of trails. If you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is grab your bike or 'Take a hike'.