Sunday, February 28, 2016
A hazy morning view over the Colorado River from an overlook on Mack Ridge.
After spending Saturday at Arches National Park I decided to stay close to home on Sunday and just go on a short local hike in the morning. I was originally thinking about hiking in the Book Cliffs, but thought it still might be a bit too muddy there with the recent melting snow so instead I headed west to Mack to hike something in the Kokopelli Trail System. While I have ridden the Rustler’s Loop and Horsethief Bench trails on my mountain bike before, I have neglected hiking the other trails that are out there, especially the ones closer to Mack.
Even though I was unfamiliar with the trails in this area I decided to drive the frontage road to the end because I assumed it would quickly end at a trailhead, and then I would start hiking from there. What I didn’t realize is that the road went much further than I anticipated and ended at a nice overlook of the Colorado River on top of Mack Ridge. I parked at the overlook and continued hiking along the Mack Ridge Trail. It followed the rim above the river to the end of the mesa and then descended down to the main trailhead in the area. When I reached the trailhead I turned around and climbed back up to where I had started. There were some great views from this high trail in the area.
Following the Mack Ridge Trail.
The view across the river to the Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness Area.
The trail on top of the ridge offered great views overlooking Horsethief Canyon.
Following the trail back up to the top of Mack Ridge after reaching the trailhead and turning around.
Below is a map of the road I drove to the overlook in gray and the Mack Ridge Trail I hiked in pink.