The Brins Mesa Trail runs 3.65 miles from the Jordan Trailhead to the Brins Mesa Trailhead in the Red Rock-Secret Mountain Wilderness Area. The trail rises through stunning red rock formations to the eponymous mesa top, where it levels across a broad plateau and drops through heavy forest to its northern terminus.

The 'Mitten' formation from the beginning of the Brins Mesa Trail

At 1.0 mile, the Brins Mesa Trail climbs 350' in just .4 miles to the mesa top

Cryptobiotic soil is a fungible crust that can expand to absorb 10x its volume in water

Century Plants are semelparous, meaning they experience a single reproductive episode before death

View of Maroon Mountain (6,666') from the end of the Brins Mesa Trail

The Brins Mesa Trail runs northwest along the east side of Capitol Butte

Juniper, cypress, and pinyon line the the Brins Mesa Trail

The Century Plant stalk can grow to 25' before flowering and dying

Canyons on either side of Brins Mesa are sheltered corridors for deer and javelina

A side trail on the mesa top leads through fire scars from 2006