Stucki Spine DH

Approaching a rock outcrop on the ride's most-technical stretch. Review by Bruce on February 10, 2026.

Stucki Spine Trail

The Stucki Spine trail is a 1.9 mile downhill trail that connects the far south side of the Stucki Springs trail to Hoj Wash (aka the Bloomington Microloop trail). The trail is considered upper-intermediate in technical skill overall, even through most of the trail is just a narrow dirt ribbon. You should be comfortable with riding on a fin, skilled at brief sharp loose descents, and able to handle one 18-inch drop on a rough rock outcrop.

Many locals call this trail "40-plus" but it's listed as "Stucki Spine" on both Trailforks and Strava. So that's the name I'm going with.

In 2026, the entry to the trail is unmarked. And there are other ("unofficial") trails nearby that fork away from the Stucki Springs trail. So read the "Getting to the Trail" section below carefully.

The Stucki Spine trail drops only 440 vertical feet in just under two miles. There will be spots where you'll pedal. The minimum ride (going straight to the trail and returning via the Apex Mine dirt road) is 8.6 miles with 800 feet of overall climbing.

Typical scene, eastbound on the Stucki Spine. Easy cruising.

Bruce rolls eastbound toward Hoj Wash.

If you decide to continue a longer ride from the bottom of Stucki Spine via singletrack, I suggest climbing Hoj Wash back uphill to the Stucki Springs trail.

You can also descend Hoj Wash to the Farmer's Fenceline trail (labeled as part of Hoj Wash on Trailforks in 2026). This can take you to the Bupstarch Loop and Bloomington Connector. But it's not obvious navigation to those who aren't familiar with the area.

Getting to the trail!

Coming back into the parking area at Bloomington.

Bloomington Trailhead

Go to the west end of Navajo Drive in Bloomington. Go across the cattle guard and drive about 1/10th mile. Turn right into the large multi-level trailhead. (There's a bathroom at this trailhead.) Around the middle of the trailhead, on the downhill side, there's a ride-over gate.

The gravel road past the trailhead is the Apex Mine or Curley Hollow Road, which can be a return path from Hoj Wash if you're riding the short loop. Be aware that Curley Hollow is a popular destination for ATVs, and in dry years some sections of the road get quite powdery.

At the trailhead, go across the gate into the fenced riding lane, then turn left onto Bearclaw Up. This trail is one-way uphill. (So if you use it for your return from Hoj Wash, you'll need to go back uphill to a connector to the Bearclaw downhill trail.) Pedal 2-1/4 miles west, staying on the main trail.

At the trail fork where Bearclaw turns north toward Clavicle Hill and the one-way Bearclaw downhill trail, keep straight onto the Stucki Springs trail. You'll pass the connector to Hoj Wash (which you might use as a return path from the bottom of Stucki Spine).

Outbound on Bearclaw Up for the first 2.2 miles.

Climbing the final slope on Stucki Springs to arrive at the summit where the Stucki Spine trail begins.

Pedal 1-3/4 miles on Stucki. Ignore any branching trails. At mile 4.0 from the Bloomington Bearclaw trailhead, at the apex of a hill, the Stucki Spine trail forks hard left. As of 2026, there's no trail sign. If in doubt, check Trailforks to confirm that you're entering the correct trail.

Notes on the Stucki Spine trail

Looking east from the trail fork off Stucki Springs.

As mentioned above, the uphill end of the trail on Stucki Springs is at the top of a hill. If you're not looking at a very-steep slope to the west, you're not there. It's at exactly 4.0 miles from the Bloomington Bearclaw trailhead, 1.75 miles from the origin of Stucki Springs on Bearclaw Up.

When going westbound (away from Bloomington), you'll make a sharp left turn at the trail fork at the apex of the hill. It should look like this photo as you complete the 180-degree turn.

Most of the trail is pretty mellow in slope. But the white clay has two characteristics that make the trail a bit more challenging than you'd think. (1) The clay tends to form rock-hard bumps. So at speed, some stretches of the trail bounced the tires pretty hard, like monster stutter-bumps. (2) During long dry spells, the trail will build up moon dust, especially on the short steep drops. Riders without brake-control skills will spook.

A few small (optional) jumps have been built into the trail. But mostly, this trail is just flowing narrow singletrack and views for miles.

Looking back at a steep ramp down from the fin.

Rolling into a rocky spot.

The most-technical spot on the ride comes at around mile 0.9 from Stucki Springs. The ridge on which you're riding narrows from a hump to a sharp fin. In the middle of this fin are two nasty little drops. The first drop has a vertical drop-off in rough rock, just over a foot in height. This leads rapidly to the second, which is a steep loose ramp.

My advice is just "roll it." If you stop to hike-a-bike down it -- or stop to set up for a nice video of yourself dropping it -- you're more likely to hurt yourself than if you're moving along on top of your bike.

A couple of side-routes will merge onto the trail as you descend. There's one trail fork at mile 1.2 (measured from the top of Stucki Spine) that might confuse you. The fork to the right will drop down rather steeply to an alternate (unofficial) route. (If you blunder onto it, this route will still get you to Hoj Wash at the very bottom near the Apex Mine dirt road.)

Keep to the left at this trail fork to follow the ridgeline down to Hoj Wash.

Looking southwest. The white streak is an unofficial trail dropping down to an alternate line.

On the final S-turn down into Hoj Wash.

At mile 1.9 from Stucki, the trail drops through a couple of turns into Hoj Wash. Turn left if you want to climb back to the top. Go right if your ride plan is to descend Hoj Wash.

Returning via Farmer's Fenceline

Heading up the final section of the Farmer's Fenceline section of the Hoj Wash return. We'll find the Bloomington Connector on top of the white bluff straight ahead.

As you approach the gate at the bottom of Hoj Wash, turn left and pop out of the wash along the fence. As the trail turns left to begin climbing a low bluff, keep to the right at the trail fork. At the top, go right again. After a mile of cruising, the trail will turn left uphill.

You'll reach the Bupstarch loop at mile 1.4 from Hoj Wash. Stay right and uphill to find the link to the Bloomington Connector. Go right again and drop down to Bearclaw Up. (One way, uphill!) Now either climb Bearclaw Up or find a LEGAL connector over to Bearclaw downhill.