Blue Mesa Trail

Blue Mesa Trail is a one-mile loop from the Blue Mesa sun shelter, dropping from the rim into a basin of banded badlands and returning to the same start. Choose it for the colored hills and the close walk among them; the route is short, but the first descent and the climb back make it feel like a proper hike. Allow about 45 minutes to an hour, especially if you stop for the views and logs.

The route leaves the mesa edge on a steep, zigzagging grade. The hills quickly rise around you, and the lower circuit threads between them before bringing you back to the point where you began the descent. From there, climb the same short connector to the shelter. That repeated section is part of the full mile, so don't treat the lower loop as the whole outing. Take your time on the drop and save a little energy for the return.

This is a developed trail, but not a flat promenade: the surface alternates between pavement and gravel, and the opening slope is steep. Those grades matter more than the distance if steep paths or uneven footing are a concern. The open basin has little shade, so the short walk can feel hot on a sunny day. If the descent isn't a fit, you can still take in the badlands from the rim by the shelter without committing to the loop.

The Blue Mesa Member is about 220 to 225 million years old. It is mostly thick mudstone in gray, blue, purple and green, with a little sandstone. Those bands are ancient soils: blue and green shades formed where the ground stayed wet and low in oxygen, while shifting groundwater let iron oxidize and redden other layers. The colors are easiest to appreciate close up, where one slope can show several bands at once.

Petrified logs appear among the hills, but the layered badlands are the main reason to walk this loop. Paleontologists have also found plant and animal fossils in Blue Mesa's sedimentary layers; those are traces of ancient life, not a promise of wildlife sightings today. If seeing the largest petrified-wood deposits is your priority, add the separate Crystal Forest Trail rather than expecting Blue Mesa to be all logs.

Begin at the Blue Mesa sun shelter, where the trailhead has parking, an interpretive kiosk and a picnic table under shelter. Low morning light can bring out the colors on the western hills; on the lower loop, include a piece of trail or a pedestal log in the frame to show the scale of the formations. Leashed pets are allowed on developed trails, and visitors should clean up after them. The shelter's rim view is a good stopping point if you want the landscape without the steep descent.