One-way Distance: 1 mile
Difficulty: Moderate
MTB Skill level:
Elevation: 4640 - 4802 feet
Cellphone: 3-5 bars
Time: 30 mins.
Trailhead: Lunch Loop or Little Park Road
Fee: none
Attractions: Fun singletrack
The Clunker trail is located in the Lunch Loop Trail System near Grand Junction, Colorado. The trail travels along the west side of a small valley below Miramonte Rim connecting the Holey Bucket and Holy Cross trails. Enroute it is connected to by the Bunker and Gunny Loop trails and a short spur that leads up to the Miramonte Rim trail.
For this post we began at the north end of the valley where the Clunker and Holey Bucket trails meet up. Rather than parking at the main trailhead on the Monument Road we parked at the primitive trailhead that is just off of the Little Park Road near mile marker 12.
The trail starts out on a smooth singletrack that takes it across a small wooden bridge and toward the hillside.
Once the trail gets over to the west side of the valley it begins heading south up the drainage.
As the trail progresses it works its way around the contours of the Miramonte Rim gradually gaining a little elevation as it goes.
The namesake 'Clunker' can be seen in the wash below the trail.
Just past the quarter mile point there is a short spur that branches off on the right that leads up to the Miramonte Rim trail.
From there the trail continues working its way around the shoulders of the mountain where large boulders add to the scenic nature of the trail.
A little before reaching the 3/4 mile point Clunker is joined on the left by the Gunny Loop. The two trails share routes for the remainder of the distance to the Holy Cross trail.
After climbing a little rise the trail levels off and is connected to on the left by the Bunker trail which cuts across the middle of the valley and joins up with the Holey Bucket trail.
The last stretch of the trail takes a fun route through the forest of boulders that are strewn about the base of the mountain.
The Clunker trail comes to an end when it meets up with the Holy Cross trail. From here you can follow Holy Cross to the left and either continue on it if you are looking for something that is more advanced or just take it as far as the Holey Bucket trail where you can loop back to where we began. If you follow the Holy Cross trail to the right the options are almost endless once it gets up to Coyote Ridge where there are connections to the rest of the Lunch Loop trails. Clunker is a fun easy to intermediate trail that is very popular with hikers, bikers and trail runners. If you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is grab your bike or 'Take a hike'.
