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Smo' Joes Loop
Smo' Joes is a trail that follows the eastern rim of the same mesa as
Luke's Trail. The Smo' Joes Loop is a counterclockwise loop that's
essentially Knott Pete's Rim, the Smo' Joes
trail, plus Luke's Trail backwards.
Typical trail on Smo' Yoes -- rocky
dirt among junipers along the edge of the mesa, with occasional brush and
flowers. Trail review May 2011.
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| Smo' Joes Loop is 7 miles You can add some side meanders
such as Wyatt's Way, Bonus Loop, and Alan's Alley to make it longer.
There are a lot of other riding options on the mesa. See the Luke's
Area page for a list of trails.
The Knott Pete's Rim trail skirts the
north edge of town on the mesa overlooking Price. |
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The trail starts from the old Luke's trailhead by backtracking a
little bit east on the dirt road. (Note this is NOT the new Wood Hill
trailhead. See below.)
From the road, head east on Knott Pete's Rim. After a mile, you'll fork north on Smo' Joes. (Option: keep eastbound onto
Wyatt's Way, circle around, and rejoin Smo' Joes 0.1 mile from the trail
fork.)
Near Wyatt's Way. |
| Smo' Joes is mostly easy riding northbound along the eastern
edge of the mesa. There's a gentle upward slope. Occasional rock rollovers
are offered along the side of the trail, but overall it's a pretty easy
ride.
Trailside rock rollover on Smo' Joes. |
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Keep straight as the trail hits a little cattleguard in the
fence. Just after crossing a dirt road, you'll reach the IMBAtween fork.
Head left on IMBAtween -- away from Mead's Rim.
(At the cattleguard, an alternative shorter loop is to take the cutoff
trail over to Bill's Sandy or Luke's.)
Heading north, we see the Book Cliffs
in the distance. The Book Cliffs are layered sandstone of the Mesa Verde
group of the Cretaceous. |
| At Mead's Rim, if you're
looking for a much bigger ride, follow the directions for Floating
Rocks or Yoo Hoo. You get there by forking
left toward Mead's Rim at the IMBAtween fork.
Otherwise, take IMBAtween to begin heading west toward the Kenilworth
Road.
Trail sign at the IMBAtween fork. |
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IMBAtween will turn back to the south and begin climbing.
There's a little rocky loose stuff. Not too hard, but tougher than what
you've been riding so far.
IMBAtween crosses the dirt Kenilworth road to become Luke's Trail. Keep
going. Cross another road. Shortly after that 2nd road, a fork to the
right will take you through a wash to the Bonus Loop. To skip it, keep
left.
Looking north as IMBAtween heads away
from Smo' Joes toward a wash crossing. |
| When you reach the cattleguard on Luke's, there's a trail
heading left. This is the Cutoff. It will take you over to Bill's
Sandy if you want a less-techy descent -- bypassing almost half of
Luke's.
Luke's Trail aims gently downhill. There will be some tight
turns in trees. The dirt surrounding the trail base gets softer here. If
you overshoot a turn, your tire will dig in and throw you.
A little tech rollover on IMBAtween. |
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At the fork with Alan's Alley, consider this as an add-on.
It takes you out to the west mesa edge and back, adding about a mile to
the total distance.
The trail on the western edge of the
mesa as we head back. |
Smo' Joes Loop counterclockwise:
0.0 From Luke's TH, backtrack E on DT
0.1 Cross road to ST N39 37.357 W110 48.697
1.3 L on Smo' Joes N39 37.652 W110 48.276
R = Wyatt's Way (option side
loop)
1.4 Stay L (R= Wyatt's Way)
N39 37.727 W110 48.242
2.8 Keep straight, cross cattleguard
N39 38.722 W110 48.272
L = shortcut to Lukes
3.4 L on IMBAtween N39 39.075 W110 48.063
4.2 Cross road to Lukes N39 39.031 W110 48.268
4.5 Cross road N39 38.849 W110 48.430
4.55 Keep straight (L) N39 38.849 W110 48.458
R = option Bonus Loop
4.6 Straight N39 38.829 W110 48.496
(L after cattleguard = to Smo
Joes)
5.8 Keep L N39 38.246 W110 49.160
(R = option Alan's Way loop)
6.1 Keep L N39 38.038 W110 49.046
(R = return from Alan's)
7.1 At trailhead
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Getting there, Wood Hill trailhead parking: Eastbound on US 6, take the
first Price exit. Turn left and enter town on 100 North. About a mile
after leaving the freeway, turn left (north) on 300 East. Drive to 900
North and turn left. The road will turn to dirt and/or narrow asphalt, and
will veer right and climb the mesa. As you reach the top of the mesa
1/2 mile later, continue straight north for another 1/2 mile. The gravel
trailhead will be on your left. Solis Way begins across the doubletrack
from the northwest corner.
South Luke's parking: As you first reach the top of the mesa, fork left (west)
and proceed 100 yards to the primitive Luke's parking area. |
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