The Mara Canyon Trail (sometimes referred to as the Hoodoos Trail or the Cinnamon Ridge Trail) is one of the favorites of our area.   Even though we have hiked this route many times in the past, we went up the route this fall to look at the possibility of improving the trail, to see how much erosion had occurred and how many trees have fallen across the trail.   We started at the main trailhead directly across from the Cinnamon Ridge Spray Irrigation project.   A gap in the fence leads north, across the tracks and up the hill.   We were also looking at signage and braided trails and we could see that two new signs are needed near the start.

The route is not obvious.   Follow the trail to the lip of the gorge and then continue up the hill, then drop down a slope into the green space below.   First-time visitors are surprised that the route drops right down to the bottom of the gully.      At this point, the creek bed is the trail.   It is dry almost all the time, but it can be wet and muddy in the spring as the snows melt.   There is nowhere to build a trail from this point all the way through to the narrows.   The best we can do is to encourage the stream to stay in its bed and clear a pathway to hike on as we climb up the bottom of the canyon.   A few fallen trees will need some chainsaw work.    Some erosion has undermined banks and there are 3 spots where some scrambling is needed.   The route through the narrow is usually wet, but it is a fascinating route below the towers and hoodoos of the canyon.  

Past the narrows, sections of the trail can still be seen, crossing back and forth across the creekbed, but there is a need to clear out fallen trees and rework sections of the eroded trail.   At the upper end of the canyon, the canyon splits into two and trail follows the eastern of the two, opening up onto a sagebrush slope.   At this point the trail become indistinct so we added some flagging tape, but it will need some work to make it easier to follow.   The trail climbs to the top of the ridge and comes to a hard-to-recognize three way junction.

The route above to to the gully below the summit, but the trail is rough, loose, and not a lot of fun.   We prefer to come up the back side to go to the top of Mount Mara.   The recommended route is to follow the ridge down to the south.   The Ridge Loop route has wonderful views all the way down.   It is in good shape until the section that cuts back toward the start.   As it crosses a  sidehill, there are srctions that will require some TLC.   It brings hikers back to to the start in a pleasing loop.

The day of the hike was a cold, windy one after a snowfall, but we enjoyed the route anyway. The canyon trail is a scramble. This route can never be a high-quality trail, but it is such an unique trail that it will remain popular nonetheless. The Loop route is already a good trail that is not well-known. A few days of work area needed to upgrade the Canyon Trail after the spring thaw.