If you've ridden out of the Loma boat launch any time this year, you've probably had the same conversation twice. Someone mentions that e-bikes are legal on Kokopelli's Trail now. Someone else says that's not true, they just rode Mary's Loop last weekend and the signs still say non-motorized only. Both people are right, and both are talking about the same 15-word phrase that means two different things depending on which end of a 142-mile trail you're standing on.
Here's the short version, because it matters if you live near this trailhead and ride it regularly: the e-bike change that made headlines this spring covers roughly 190 to 200 miles of singletrack around Moab, Utah, and it includes exactly 1.7 miles of Kokopelli's Trail, the non-motorized section near the Utah end. It does not touch the Colorado side. The singletrack that starts at the Loma boat launch, the loops locals actually ride before work or after dinner, was not part of that decision and remains closed to e-bikes.
Three Field Offices, One Trail Name
The confusion isn't accidental. It comes from the fact that a single named trail, built in 1989 by volunteers from the newly formed Colorado Plateau Mountain Bike Trail Association, now falls under the management of three separate Bureau of Land Management field offices, each running its own e-bike rulemaking on its own timeline.
| Field Office | What Changed | Effective | Reaches the Loma Trailhead? |
|---|---|---|---|
| BLM Moab Field Office | Opened roughly 190 to 200 miles of Utah singletrack to Class 1 e-bikes, including the 1.7-mile non-motorized section of Kokopelli's Trail | March 1, 2026 | No, this is the Utah end, within the Two Rivers Special Recreation Management Area |
| BLM Grand Junction Field Office | Authorized Class 1 e-bikes on 29 miles of trail in the North Fruita Desert SRMA, a separate trail system north of Loma | April 2022 | No, this is the 18 Road system, not the Kokopelli corridor |
| BLM Colorado River Valley Field Office | Ran a public scoping period on whether to add Class 1 e-bikes to its own designated trails near Rifle, Glenwood Springs, and Carbondale | Scoping ran February 23 through March 25, 2026 | No, this field office doesn't manage any trail near Loma |
None of the three rows in that table changes what happens when you clip in at the Loma trailhead. The BLM's own environmental assessment for the Moab decision is explicit that the 1.7-mile carve-out sits within the Two Rivers Special Recreation Management Area, on the Utah side of the state line, more than a hundred miles from where the trail actually starts.
What Actually Changed, and Where
The Moab decision is real and it's a big one for that end of the trail system. The BLM's own tracking page for the Moab Field Office confirms Class 1 e-bikes, pedal-assist only, motor capped at 750 watts, assistance cutting off at 20 miles per hour, are now allowed on trails like Amasa Back, Klondike Bluffs, Gemini Bridges, and that short non-motorized stretch of Kokopelli's. Moab Field Office Manager Dave Pals framed the move as a way to let riders disperse across more of the landscape rather than concentrate on a handful of trails.
That framing makes sense in Moab, where the trail network spans 12 systems and sees international traffic. It has nothing to do with the loops locals ride between Loma and Mack, places with their own names and their own regulars: Mary's Loop, Wrangler's Loop, Steve's Loop, Horsethief Bench, Troy Built, Mack Ridge. Over The Edge, the bike shop based in Fruita that keeps some of the most current trail-condition notes for this exact system, still lists e-bikes as not currently legal at Kokopelli, drawing a clear line between that trail and the North Fruita Desert system a few miles north, where e-bikes have been legal since 2022.
That 2022 change is worth knowing too, because it's the one piece of good news for anyone in Loma who does want e-assisted singletrack close to home. The 18 Road trail system, sometimes called North Fruita Desert, sits north of town and has allowed Class 1 e-bikes on 29 miles of trail since the Grand Junction Field Office's own authorization went into effect. If you want that kind of ride, that's the trailhead to use, not the boat launch.
Why the Headlines Keep Blurring Together
Part of the reason this keeps circulating as one story is that outdoor press covers trail systems by name, not by jurisdiction. A headline that says "Kokopelli's Trail opens to e-bikes" is technically accurate and also misleading if you don't read past the first sentence, because the trail crosses a state line and two BLM administrative boundaries partway through. The same phenomenon shows up any time a long-distance route, whether it's a trail, a highway, or a river, gets managed by more than one agency. Locals who only ride the Colorado end have no reason to track a Utah field office's rulemaking, and locals who only follow Utah outdoor news have no reason to know that Colorado's Grand Junction office hasn't touched the question at all.
There's also no pending proposal on record from the Grand Junction Field Office to extend e-bike access onto the Kokopelli corridor itself. The Colorado River Valley Field Office's scoping period this spring covered its own trails near Rifle and Glenwood Springs, a completely separate management area more than an hour east. If that process eventually expands somewhere down the road, it still wouldn't apply here, since McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area and the Kokopelli Loops fall under Grand Junction's authority, not Rifle's.
What This Means If You Ride Out Your Back Door
For anyone who lives close enough to the trailhead to treat it like a backyard, here's what's actually true heading into fall riding season:
- The singletrack loops accessible from the Loma boat launch, including Mary's, Wrangler's, Steve's, Horsethief Bench, and Mack Ridge, remain traditional mountain bike only.
- The March 2026 e-bike opening applies to the Moab side of the state line and to a specific 1.7-mile stretch there, not to the Colorado approach.
- If you want legal e-assisted riding near Loma, the North Fruita Desert system north of town has allowed it since 2022.
- There is no active proposal from the Grand Junction Field Office to change that on the Colorado side of Kokopelli's Trail.
None of this is a criticism of the people sharing the Moab news. It's genuinely useful information if you're planning a trip toward Cisco or Dewey Bridge. It just isn't information about the trail you can see from the highway on your way into town.
It's worth remembering, too, that this whole network exists because a handful of BLM staff and COPMOBA volunteers spent six weekends in the spring of 1989 mapping and building it by hand, long before anyone had a word for what a mountain bike even was. The trail has outlived several rounds of jurisdiction changes already. This one is just the latest, and it stops well short of your trailhead.
If you're weighing whether a property near this trail system fits how you actually want to live, whether that means riding distance to a specific loop, proximity to the boat launch, or just wanting to know what's really going on with the land around you, that's the kind of question Sorrel Properties spends its time answering. Let's Connect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
