After Work Adventures | Tuesday, January 30, 2024
After taking the winter off from my After Work Adventures it’s finally starting to feel like the days are getting a little bit longer, and since the temperature has been in the low 60’s for the past two days, which set a record high for todays date, I decided to head out after work for a little hike. I headed back over to the Kokopelli Trails near Mack so I could continue working on the project I had started in the fall of hiking the remainder of the trails in the area that I had not been on before. This afternoon I set out to hike a couple of segments of trails at the western end of Mack Ridge by creating two short loops out of them.
After driving up onto Mack Ridge I followed the Lion’s Loop Trail down to the western end of the Mack Ridge Trail.
Then I headed up the switchbacks to the top of Mack Ridge and followed the trail and road back around to my Jeep.
Mack Ridge Trail
Since the first loop hike didn’t take me very long, I drove back down the road a little ways and then made a loop out of two Connector Trails that met up with the Mack Ridge Trail. The two Connector Trails are old closed two-tracks that don’t really offer much in the way of a view until you reach the edge of Mack Ridge.
From the edge you have a great view over Horsethief Canyon and the Colorado River.
Mack Ridge Overlook
Here’s a view looking beyond the rim of Mack Ridge to the Grand Mesa. The dark smoke lingering in the sky is from open burning in the Grand Valley which seems to have started early this year with the warmer temperatures.
Here’s one last view from the edge of Mack Ridge before I followed the old road back to my Jeep and then headed home.
