The Chisholm Trail is found off Highway 313 (the route to Dead Horse Point ) around 10 miles from US 191. It was completed in 2016. The trail is 7.2 miles long, with two trailheads near its south (uphill) end. The top elevation on the trail is around 5950 feet.

The Chisholm Trail connects the western side of Big Lonely on the Navajo Rocks Loop to the Mustang Loop of the Horsethief Area trails . On the way, it passes near the Horsethief Campground with three connecting spurs to the camping area. The southernmost of these spurs connects to the Rodeo and the Rowdy and Wrangler trails south of the campground.

The Chisholm trailhead can be used to descend the last 1/2 mile of Chisholm to the Mustang Loop and its attached trail system. This is just a tiny bit of Chisholm. But if you do the loop I describe below, you'll catch this piece at the end of your ride.

From the 313 trailhead, go across the road and ride northwest for 1/2 mile. Just after the trail rolls over a large pipeline, fork left to do a clockwise ride around the Rodeo loop. To do Rodeo counterclockwise, continue another 0.3 miles then fork left toward the campground. At the 4-way 1/10th mile later, turn hard left and you're on Rodeo.

Chisholm is also your access to the beginner Horsethief Campground trails ( Rowdy and Wrangler ) if you're not actually camped there. From the trailhead on the campground road, go south 1/10th mile, fork hard right onto the alternate to the campground, then keep straight at the 4-way trail fork. 

From either the Highway 313 or Horsethief Campground road trailheads, Chisholm can be done northbound as an out-and-back. The distance simply depends on how far you want to go. If you start at 313 and turn around when you hit Big Lonely , your ride will be 13.6 miles. 

Let's start our ride from the Highway 313 parking, northbound. Cross the road to the continuing singletrack. The riding surface is easy here, and can be done by beginners and experienced kids. There's one mound of slickrock where you might need to shift a gear or stand on the pedals. The trail will get a bit harder once you're past Horsethief Campground.

Keep straight and right to continue toward Big Lonely.

After doing Chisholm northbound from the Horsethief Area trailhead on Highway 313, fork right on Big Lonely . Cross the road and continue to Coney Island. It will be 0.7 miles from Chisholm to the spot where Coney Island starts as an old jeep road.

After 2.8 miles, you'll pass the fork to Middle Earth (keep right) as Coney Island makes its last 0.3-mile drop toward Rocky Tops on the Navajo Rocks loop.

You'll spend the next 0.9 miles working south on the white dot doubletrack. (You won't see the dots until you're almost to Seven Up.) The DT will drop off the hill, then run across a grassy valley before climbing up to join Seven Up. Keep right and begin climbing on Seven Up , marked by blue paint spots.

After 1.6 miles, follow the singletrack Seven Up as it veers to the right off the doubletrack. Around 0.2 miles later, the Whirlwind connector forks to the right uphill.

If you're looking to get the climbing done early in the loop, start at the Navajo Rocks Big Mesa trailhead. Cross the road to Middle Earth. Go 1/2 mile to Coney Island and turn left onto the loop described above. This will add one mile and about 100 vertical feet of climbing.

A very nice option is to fork when Chisholm hits Big Lonely . Continue on as the trail becomes Big Mesa. Drop down to the Big Mesa trailhead and cross the road to Middle Earth. Fork to the left on Coney Island and enter the loop ride above. You'll spend 6.5 miles on this "detour." Substituting this route for Coney Island adds 3 miles to the loop distance and around 400 vertical feet of climbing.

After doing Big Lonely and Big Mesa as above, continue to Ramblin rather than dropping to the Big Mesa trailhead. Take Rocky Tops back. When you hit the doubletrack marking the start of Coney Island, turn south (left) on the White Dot doubletrack to resume the main loop. This makes your loop 10.2 miles longer and adds over 1000 vertical. That makes your ride 26 miles with 2400 feet of climbing. Need still more? Extend the south end of the loop (see below).

When you reach the fork from Seven Up to Whirlwind on the loop above, there are five possible routes back uphill:  Whirlwind's right fork (the loop described) versus Whirlwind's left fork, Seven Up to Hildalgo or Wildcat or to Getaway . All these routes will eventually funnel into the Mustang Loop . The longest path is continuing Seven Up south to Getaway, then heading uphill to the Mustang Loop's south side. This option is 2.8 miles longer and adds a hundred-plus feet of extra climbing. A loop extended both north AND south (substituting Big Mesa and Middle Earth for Coney Island, and taking Seven Up to Getaway) would be 21.8 miles. And if you did the Ramblin-Rocky Tops thing, you're around 30 miles.