East Bull Section

Rating: 
One-way Distance: 6.1 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
MTB Skill level:
Elevation: 8420 - 9607 feet
Cellphone: 0-2 bars
Time: 1 hr. 45 mins.
Trailhead: E. Bull Road
Fee: none
Attractions: Forest hike/bike

Tabeguache (TAB-a-watch) is a 150 mile long trail that has one end in Grand Junction, Colorado and the other end in Montrose. This post covers a 6 mile stretch of the trail that begins where the Pool Creek section leaves off. It follows the East Bull Creek Road/trail for just over 4 miles and then turns north where it follows an ATV trail to Trail #544. Trail #544 is followed as it heads into Long Canyon as far as the Fence Line trail. That is the point at which our description of the 25 Mesa Section of the Tabeguache Trail came to an end.

The Pool Creek Section of the Tabeguache trail ends at the point where the Parallel trail crosses East Bull Road which is a quarter mile or so from where E. Bull begins off of the Divide Road. The Tabeguache trail turns right and leaves the Parallel trail to follow the East Bull Road.

East Bull Road is a little rutted in places but it rides fast.

Stay to the right at a fork that comes up just past the half mile point. At the 0.9 mile point the road reaches the Gray Cow Camp and the East Bull Road transitions to become the East Bull Trail.

A steep climb begins after passing the cow camp. Views are pretty descent from the top of the hill.

From the top of the hill the trail begins a steady downhill stretch that passes through thick groves of aspens.

Near the 4.23 mile point the trail enters an open area where there is a 4-way intersection. At present there are no trail markers of any kind. Since distance readings can sometimes be unreliable on GPS devices we have included the coordinates of the intersection. This is the first place since the trail left the cow camp where there is any kind of intersection so that makes it a little easier. A short distance after taking the left fork there is a sign that says 'This trail adopted by Uncompahgre Valley Trail Riders'.

After turning left the trail heads north across an open hilltop and then it makes an easy descent that takes it across a branch of Roubideau Creek.

Next the trail climbs out of that drainage and then makes a short drop that takes it across several branches of Bull Creek.

Near the 5.5 mile point the trail comes to another unmarked intersection where it connects to Trail #544. There is a brown mylar marker near the intersection but it doesn't have any arrows or stickers on it.

There is one more small stream to cross that is a branch of Long Creek. The trail veers to the right after crossing the creek. These pictures were all taken around the middle of June. Many of these small streams might dry out as the summer progresses.

For this post we turned around at a cattleguard where the Fence Line trail branches off on the left. The Tabeguache trail continues from this point down into the Long Creek drainage. The part of the Tabeguache trail from this point north to the 25 Mesa Road is covered under the post for the 25 Mesa Section.

These are the real rockstars around here. With chainsaws, pruning shears and shovels they were riding all the double track trails and clearing them of fallen trees and cutting back the brush. It is kind of amazing how many trees fall in the forest over the course of a year. They mentioned that this was the last trail that they had to do and then they would be done. If heading out on the East Bull or 25 Mesa Section be sure to print out the map and download the GPX file if you have a GPS. If you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is grab your bike or 'Take a hike'.