Fruita, Colorado: The Perfect Vacation Town for a Road or Mountain Biker

While researching mountain biking destinations in Colorado I discovered information on the town of Fruita.  It sounded like the perfect stop for our second mountain biking adventure of this road trip.  It was less than a 2 hour drive from Ridgway, which was our first stop in Colorado and would not require a long day of driving.  We chose to camp in the Fruita section of James M. Robb Colorado River State Park because of its proximity to the trails.  We picked site 32 because it was shady and a short walk to the restrooms, showers, & laundry; the facilities were very clean and the showers were no longer pay showers as the website had described but they were on a timer.  The temps were around 100 degrees all 3 days we were there so we were very thankful we found a spot with shade because some spots had no shade at all.  Originally, this was going to be a truck camping trip which would have been miserable because we would have only had a fan at night and it NEVER cooled down at night.  Thankfully Mike got the tiny camper bug just in time for us to find the perfect camper for us or we would have been looking for a cool hotel room! https://cpw.state.co.us/placestogo/parks/JamesMRobbColoradoRiver/Pages/FruitaCamping.aspx

Downtown Fruita was only 5 minutes from the campground and we could have easily biked it with all the trails they have available but we weren't sure about bike accommodations or what would actually be open due to the virus.  We had lunch at Suds Brothers Brewery because they were allowing dine-in.  We both had the BBQ sandwich which did not disappoint. http://www.sudsbrothers2fruita.com

While in downtown we shopped at Over the Edge Sports  https://otesports.com/locations/fruita/ which had a hand washing station set up outside the store for you to use before entering and they were also limiting the number of people inside the store. They had a great selection of mountain biking apparel but I chose to go with a Fruita trucker hat which I love.  We also shopped at Happy Trails where I bought a really colorful tech Fruita mountain biker shirt. https://happytrailscolorado.com  The downtown area was very neat and everyone we encountered was very friendly.  We also got to see the statue of the legendary Mike the Headless Chicken. https://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org/mike/page/history

After we returned to the campground we decided to get on the bikes to ride and see how the riverfront trail in the campground connected to the trail that we would be taking in the morning towards the mountain bike trails.  We knew we would have to head out super early in the morning to finish our ride before the hottest part of the day.  The riverfront trail is a wide paved path that runs along the Colorado River.  There was artwork under the overpasses and a fun directional sign at the intersection toward the Kokopelli Trail.  According to their Ride 2020 magazine, the total one way distance of the trail is 27.8 miles, 23.9 miles of which is on paved bike path.  https://www.traillink.com/trail/colorado-riverfront-trail/

We hit the bike trail at 6:30 am after a hearty bowl of Apple Jacks.  Mike had researched some of the Kokopelli trails and decided that Rustler's Loop would be one we could both ride.  The 5 mile ride to the trail head was flat until we reached the exit toward the trail and then it was uphill for a small distance of the paved trail & a little over half a mile on a gravel road.  The first part of Rustler's Loop is a climb but once I survived that, the trail was very flowy with beautiful views of the Colorado River.  There were signs posted all along the trail with tips for riding which was very cool, especially as most of them were tips on how to ride an upcoming section.  I wish I would have taken the time to stop and read each sign as I need all the helpful info I can get.  The downhill back to the trailhead was a fun ride.  I really like that the trail was one directional so you could enjoy the ride without worrying about someone riding toward you.  After we got back to the trailhead, we took a break & ate our pb&j sandwiches.  Before heading back to the campground we tried out a section of Mary's & Wrangler's.  Both were out of my comfort zone.  By the time we got back to the campground we had over 16 miles. 

https://www.blm.gov/visit/kokopellis-trail

After returning to the campground & getting cleaned up, we drove to downtown to order a pizza from Hot Tomato.  This was the ONE restaurant I had really wanted to eat in Fruita because they had great reviews & a really cool sounding outdoor sitting area but they were doing take out only because of the coronavirus.  https://www.hottomatopizza.com  We ordered an appetizer of chips & queso at Suds Brothers while we were waiting for our pizza because our Apple Jacks & pb&j had worn off long ago.  We picked up our pizza & took it back to the campground.  We ordered The Bob Steve and it was soooooooo good!  Even though I was disappointed we could not dine-in at Hot Tomato, I was grateful we were able to try their pizza. 

After stuffing ourselves on half of the pizza, we retreated to the nice air conditioning of the camper to watch Netflix until the hottest part of the day passed.

Thursday morning we decided to drive to Colorado National Monument and hike some of the trails.  The monument was only a short drive from the campground.  There were two tunnels you drove through on the road into the park.  We parked at the Visitor Center and walked to the Book Cliffs area, which was about two miles round trip.  After going in the visitor center we hiked part of the Black Ridge trail so that we could see our campground from the monument.  It was interesting to see the view from the opposite side as we could see the monument from the campground. I was hoping to see a big horned sheep but we only saw their tracks; we did however see several colorful lizards along the trail.  https://www.nps.gov/colm/index.htm

The day ended with Fruita getting strong winds from a nearby storm so we had to take down our awning, canopy & changing tent earlier than planned.  It actually worked to our advantage because we were heading out in the morning for Monticello, Utah and it allowed us to have a much more leisurely morning by having almost everything packed up.

If you are ever in the area of Fruita, I would highly recommend spending a few days there. They have a welcome center in town that can help you with any information you need to get the most of your visit.  https://www.codot.gov/travel/state-highway-rest-areas/map-of-rest-areas/fruita-welcome-center  I hope to go back and ride some of their other trail systems when I get a few more mountain bike skills under my belt.