Round Trip Distance: 3.3 miles
Difficulty: Strenuous
Skill level:
Elevation: 5866 - 6417 feet
Cellphone: 3-5 bars
Time: 2 hrs.
Trailhead: Third Flats
Fee: none
Attractions: Multi-use trail
The Easy Rider and Roll Over Ridge trails are located in the Third Flats section of the BLM Bangs Canyon Management Area. The Third Flats Area doesn't have an official parking area. There are signs near the entrance that direct people to the Bangs Canyon Staging Area to park. The area around the kiosk is all posted 'No Parking'. With that said, most people who use the area either park on the hill on the west side of Little Park Road or if they have a high clearance vehicle they drive past the trailhead kiosk and park in one of the spots a little further in.
The trailhead kiosk has a nice map of the Third Flats trails. You can also download a map from the BLM to printout and take with you.
To get to the turn off that leads to the Easy Rider/Roll Over Ridge trails you need to follow the Third Flats road for a little over a quarter mile after you pass the kiosk. The trail departs on the right side of the road at the same point as the Quad Rocker trail.
After hiking through the wash and continuing up the hillside you will come to the beginning of the Quad Rock Loop. Follow the trail to the right to get to Easy Rider.
The Quad Rocker trail crosses the old Cedar Point road. Take a right on the road and continue up the mountain.
As you progress up the mountain you will eventually see the beginning of the Easy Rider trail on the right side of the road. If you were to skip this turnoff you could continue on up the road where the Easy Rider trail reconnects but that isn't quite as cool.
The mountain side that the trail climbs is a lot higher than it seems. Because of the gradual slope you can never really see the summit until you get there. Before you get to the top there is a fork in the trail and as in 'all roads lead to Rome' both routes reconverge at the top.
The trail tops out eventually on the ridge where you can get some pretty cool views of the western part of the valley. This is a great place to take a break and have a snack.
The trail follows the ridge for a few hundred feet until it comes to an end at the road that serves as the Roll Over Ridge trail.
The Roll Over Ridge trail descends the mountain along the north rim of the upper section of Billings Canyon. After about a half mile the Roll Over Ridge trail comes to an end where it meets up with the Quad Rocker trail. Take a left on the Quad Rocker Loop and follow it over the hill, back across the Cedar Point road, and down the other side.
Take a left at the marker for the beginning of the Quad Rocker Loop and cross the wash back to the Third Flats road.
The trails in the Third Flats Area haven't seemed to have caught on all that much with mountain bikers as much as some of the other trail systems in the valley but that is probably sure to change as the word gets out. The Visitor Center in Fruita has free BLM maps of a lot of the trails in the area and the one they have for the Third Flats is in color just like the trailhead kiosk. It is my opinion that the Third Flats would be a perfect place for the BLM to develop a campground similar to the one they have out at 18 Road in the North Fruita Desert area. At present the Third Flats Area is designated as 'Day Use Only'. Wishful thinking aside the Easy Rider and Roll Over Ridge trails are well worth checking out. If you would like to see them for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.