Originally published in the Winter 2019-2020 issue of Spoke+Blossom

Less than eight miles south of downtown Grand Junction lies a favorite locals’ hike. At 2.6 miles round trip, the Mica Mine Trail offers ease, accessibility and year-round beauty. It provided the perfect “altitude adjustment” destination for our visiting flat-lander, Wisconsin relatives right after their plane landed.

Up until 20 years ago, off-highway vehicles (OHVs) shared the Mica Mine Trail, which was often dangerous due to the narrowness and popularity of the canyon. Today, the trail has undergone vast improvements and is limited to hiking, with world class jeep trails such as Billings Canyon and mountain bike opportunities on the Tabeguache Trail nearby.

The Mica Mine and Rough Canyon trails share the same trailhead and are well-marked as you leave the BLM Bangs Canyon Management staging area off Little Park Road. The biggest challenge for the inexperienced hiker is a “staircase” cut through an entrada sandstone cliff at the trail’s beginning. Kids love the clambering, and all ages can endure the short descent with a walking stick or helpful hand.

The only fork in the trail is at the bottom of the cut where you hang a right. You’re now in Ladder Canyon, where it’s a gentle, winding journey following the Ladder Creek stream bed, dry most of the year except spring and early summer. The trail is lined with willows, oak brush, wild roses, sagebrush and at least seven varieties of trees. Spring and summer offer an abundance of wild flowers.

Stop occasionally and look around or miss the dramatic red rock sculptures and towering Wingate cliffs. After 1.3 miles, the canyon narrows once again as you approach the historic mica and quartz mine. Mica, a shiny, layered silicate mineral, is found as tiny scales in granite, other rocks or as crystals. It is used as a thermal or electrical insulator. The mine is inactive, but the seemingly endless supply of mica and quartz frequently makes it home in pockets by curious explorers of all ages.

Dogs are welcome, although best kept on a leash as the trail can be active with children and the foliage and canyon curves keep your line of sight short. When you’ve finished your mine discovery, head back to the trailhead via the same gradual path.

As another option, continue past the mine to a waterfall area and switchback trail leading to the upper Ladder Canyon section. After the short climb, the trail once again becomes an easy trek, bar the lack of trail markings. Enjoy the additional traversing, views and turn around at your leisure.

To get to the trailhead from downtown, travel west on Broadway/Highway 340 taking a left on Monument Road. After a short distance and before the canal, turn left on to D Road which soon takes a sharp right and becomes Rosevale Road. Take a right turn on Little Park Road. The BLM Bangs Canyon Management parking area will be on your left after 5.5 miles.

Mica Mine Trail: A Grand Junction Classic