Hay Park

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 4.2 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
MTB Skill level:
Elevation: 10,283 - 10,410 feet
Cellphone: 0-1 bars
Time: 2 hrs.
Trailhead: Hay Park
Fee: none
Attractions: Multi-use, deer, moose

The Hay Park trail is located in the Grand Mesa National Forest near Grand Junction, Colorado. The multi-use trail, which is open to ATVs with a width of 50 inches or less, begins off of Forest Road #129 where it travels around Lily Pad Reservoir and the Carbonate Camp Reservoirs before coming to an end at a junction with the Eureka trail. Some maps are calling this the Hay Ride trail but those maps are also showing slightly different routes for the Green Mountain and Eureka trails. Our GPS files and the map at the end of this post are accurate according to the current routes taken.

Mesa Top

Rating: 
One-way Distance: 7.7 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
MTB Skill level:
Elevation: 10,018 - 10,733 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 3 hrs.
Trailhead: Mesa Top/Flowing Park
Fee: none
Attractions: Forest trail

The Mesa Top trail is located in the Grand Mesa National Forest near Grand Junction, Colorado. The east end of the trail begins at the Mesa Top trailhead off of Highway 65 near the Delta/Mesa county line. The trail travels across the mesa through the forest to the southern rim of the Grand Mesa overlooking the Granby Reservoirs. From there it follows the rim to its western end near the Flowing Park Reservoir off of Forest Road 109. The trail can be combined with the 15 mile Flowing Park Loop for a total round trip distance of 30.4 miles.

Grand Mesa FR 253

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 4-4.5 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 9935 - 10,465 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 2 hrs. 30 mins.
Trailhead: FR 253 & Highway 65
Fee: none
Attractions: Forest, moose, camping

Forest Road 253 is located in the Grand Mesa National Forest near Grand Junction, Colorado. The road begins off of Highway 65, just east of Mesa Lakes, follows a valley for about a mile, then climbs a long switchback where it rejoins Highway 65 near the top of the Grand Mesa. FR 253 gets very little use from vehicles or anyone else but as you will see it has its redeeming qualities that make it worth checking it out.

Waterdog Reservoir

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 2.8 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 9797 - 9998 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 1 hr. 45 mins.
Trailhead: Jumbo Reservoir
Fee: none
Attractions: Forest, deer, moose

The Waterdog Reservoir Loop is located in the Grand Mesa National Forest near Grand Junction, Colorado. The hike begins at Jumbo Reservoir and follows the Barnes Road to the Waterdog turnoff where it begins a loop that continues past the north side of the reservoir following an old jeep trail until it connects with the Long Slough Road and loops back to the trailhead.

Tonahutu Creek

Rating: 
One-way Distance: 2 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 8505 - 8771 feet
Cellphone: 1-3 bars
Time: 1 hr.
Trailhead: North Inlet
Fee: $20/vehicle
Attractions: Forest hike, moose

The Tonahutu Creek trail is in the Rocky Mountain National Park near the village of Grand Lake, Colorado. This post is of the south end of the trail between the East Inlet and the Kawuneeche Visitor Center. This section of the trail probably sees more traffic from horseback riders than it does from hikers. The overall length of the Tonahutu trail is 13 miles. Other sections will be completed in future posts.