Mileage: 7.3 mile loop
Elevation Gain/Highest: 680ft to the mesa top, 1240 accumulated gain (TH is at 7740ft)
Map: Prater Trail
Favorite Eats After Hike: We definitely Packed A Cooler.
As always, practice Leave No Trace. Pretty Please.
My Hike:
8/13/2016
Prater Trail was a route we could do right from our campground early in the morning before setting out for some tours of the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park. This hike is great for the whole family. Once you climb up to the mesa top from a easy graded trail that leaves from the campground, it is all views.
You can stop here at an overlook or choose between two loops depending on how long you want to be out. The longer loop was amazing with all the different desert flowers and cacti, colored rocks and views of the valleys and canyons. It was hard to stop taking pictures!
Directions: From the Morefield Campground at Mesa Verde National Park (in Colorado) you can use the above linked map to find the TH. You will turn right out of the visitor’s center and the TH will be on your left just shortly up the road.
For more of the national parks, hikes and other stops on our road trip through Utah and Colorado, visit my page Beyond The PNW!
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