The Paradox Trail is located in western

Montrose County, Colorado Montrose County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 42,679. The county seat is Montrose, for which the county is named. Montrose County comprises the Montrose, CO Micropolitan Statisti ...

and traverses a route of over through various terrain. The trail was rerouted 17 miles due to a trespass issue near the

Tabeguache The Uncompahgre Ute () or ꞌAkaꞌ-páa-gharʉrʉ Núuchi (also: Ahkawa Pahgaha Nooch) is a band of the Ute, a Native American tribe located in the US states of Colorado and Utah. In the Ute language, means "rocks that make water red." The ban ...

area north of Nucla in 2017. The trail links with two other long-distance trails in the region, the Tabeguache Trail to the east on the

Uncompahgre Plateau The Uncompahgre Plateau in western Colorado is a distinctive large uplift part of the Colorado Plateau. is a Ute word that describes the water: "Dirty Water" or "Rocks that make Water Red". The plateau, with an average elevation of , rises fro ...

and the

Kokopelli Trail The Kokopelli's Trail (also known as the Kokopelli Trail) is a multi-use trail (but primarily used by mountain bikes) in Grand County, Utah and Mesa County, Colorado in the western United States. The trail was named in honor of its mythic muse ...

to the west in the La Sal Mountains of

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. These three trails together form the "Grand Loop", a grueling 360 mile course.

History

The trail was established in 1995 by the Colorado Plateau Mountain Bike Trail Association, Montrose West Recreation, the

US Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

and the Bureau of Land Management. Funding for the reroute came from the Telluride Foundation, the Colorado Historical Society, Montrose County and the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Trails Grant fund for the 17 mile reroute project bringing the Paradox Trail within a quarter of a mile to the Town of Nucla. .

Route description

Most of the trail is a two-track path that ranges from altitudes of on the

to the lower elevations of along the

Dolores River The Dolores River is a tributary of the Colorado River, approximately long, in the U.S. states of Colorado and Utah. The river drains a rugged and arid region of the Colorado Plateau west of the San Juan Mountains. Its name derives from the Sp ...

. Some areas qualify as single track because of the trail width and there are a least five "hike-a-bike" sections to be negotiated. While there are trail sections that utilize some seasonally graded

county roads A county highway (also county road or county route; usually abbreviated CH or CR) is a road in the United States and in the Canadian province of Ontario that is designated and/or maintained by the county highway department. Route numbering can ...

, much of the Paradox Trail is inaccessible to motorized vehicles although vehicle access points exist at many places. Wildlife such as elk, mountain lions, coyotes and rattlesnakes abound throughout the trail.

References

External links

West End Trails Alliance
{{authority control Protected areas of Dolores County, Colorado Bureau of Land Management areas in Colorado Uncompahgre National Forest Mountain biking venues in the United States Protected areas established in 1995 1995 establishments in Colorado