The Mara Canyon Trail is sometimes called the Cinnamon Ridge Trail or the Hoodoos Trail.   There are two deep canyons on the south side of Mara Mountain and the trail goes through the western  one.   It is a narrow canyon with many eroded features reminiscent of canyon hiking in the US Southwest.     Access is best done by using the level crossing at Ord Road, then turn down the dirt road to the end.    This avoids the illegal crossing of the CN tracks off Tranquille Road.   We started from the trailhead at the end of the dirt side road and climbed up through the sagebrush on a good trail to a junction.

The trail brings us to an unmarked junction below Mara Canyon.   We turned onto the Ridge Trail bearing off to the right

Many of the hoodoos and eroded formations stand at the lower end of Mara Canyon.

The Ridge Trail climbs side slopes past rock formations.

Wide views to the south are found on the Ridge Trail.  As the river rises, the floodlands  widen, especially from May to July.

The Ridge route is a gradual climb for 1.5 km.

Along the way were a few spring wildflowers.

larkspur	old man’s whiskers
balsam root with a beetle	geum triflorum with spiders

The Ridge Trail climbs to a high point right between the two canyons.   No junction is visible,  but the trail ahead continues to climb through the east gully to the summit, or we can drop down the slopes to the west on faint tracks to meet the Canyon Trail below.

At the junction area we can look down into Mara Canyon from above.

Once into the canyon, the trail stays right at the bottom of the narrow canyon for 1.5 km, emerging at the foot of the canyon where we started.

Basalt columns have been turned on their side at the entrance into Mara Canyon.

A wall of eroded hoodoos stands under the front face of Mount Mara.   The section back to the trailhead/start from there is only 0.4 km and the whole loop route hike is 4 to 4.5 km, depending on your route choices.

More Information:

• Mara Canyon Access
• Mara Canyon and Summit
• Park at N50 43.130 W120 28.452 in the dirt road loop
• Junction – bear right to go onto the Ridge Trail – 50° 43.212′ N 120° 28.496′ W (stay right at the next junction too)
• Upper Junction – between the canyon descent and the peak ascent – 50° 43.424′ N 120° 28.316′ W (go left and down)