One-way Distance: 0.6 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
MTB Skill level:
Elevation: 6395 - 6480 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 15 mins.
Trailhead: Phil's World
Fee: none
Attractions: Scenic singletrack
The Abajo trail is located in the Phil's World Mountain Bike Trails System near Cortez, Colorado. The trail begins a short distance from the top of Coco Race and ends at a junction with the Ledge Loop and Stinky Spring Loop. The Abajo trail is also the route to take to get to the top of the ever popular Rib Cage trail.
The Abajo trail begins about 2.7 miles from the Phil's World trailhead a little over a quarter mile from the top of the Coco Race trail.
The trail starts out on an easy singletrack of hard packed dirt.
Some minor rockiness comes up as the trail progresses.
The rim of the hilltop is formed by rocky ledges.
Near the halfway point the trail comes to the Cortez-Abajo Lookout. From here there are good views of Cortez with Sleeping Ute Mountain in the background. Off to the right at a distance of about 75 miles the Abajo Mountains, near Blanding, Utah, are visible on a clear day.
After the lookout the trail continues on an easy route.
To keep things interesting the trail seeks out the slickrock ledges along the way.
The only ledge of any consequences has a pretty good ramp on it.
Towards the end the trail crosses one of the jeep roads in the area. It is pretty quiet up here so anything coming by with a motor should be obvious enough.
The trail finishes up with more good riding.
It all comes to an end for the Abajo trail when it meets up with the beginning of the Ledges Loop and the Stinky Springs Loop. Ledges Loop is an optional trail because you can take the right fork and skip it all together. The Rib Cage trail is less than 500 feet away along the right fork. Other than a few ledges the Abajo trail stays at the easy MTB skills level. If you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is grab your bike or 'Take a hike'.