Grand Mesa Scenic Byway

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Cedaredge

   Cedaredge is a small orchard town on the south-eastern flank of the Grand Mesa, a place of about two thousand people where apples, peaches, cherries and pears are grown in the warm lower slopes and the main street holds a few cafes and a museum of pioneer buildings. It sits at about six thousand feet, with the huge bulk of the mesa filling the sky to the north, and from here the byway starts to climb. The town is a quiet, friendly stop, and Delta, with larger stores, is down the valley.

   Read the complete Cedaredge write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Cedaredge is where the day begins. Next is Grand Mesa.

2. 2. Grand Mesa

   Grand Mesa is said to be the largest flat-topped mountain in the world, and when you climb onto it you understand why. From the orchards and desert canyons of western Colorado, the road rises through scrub oak and aspen onto a lava-capped plateau about forty miles long, at around eleven thousand feet. The top is forest, meadow and lake, cool in summer and buried in snow in winter, and it feels like a different region from the hot valley floor below.

   Read the complete Grand Mesa write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Grand Mesa comes up 24 km in. Nothing on this route is higher. Next is Mesa Lakes, mostly downhill.

3. 3. Mesa Lakes

   Mesa Lakes is a cluster of small lakes and forest cabins on the north slope of Grand Mesa, just below the rim, and it is where Coloradans go to fish, walk and avoid the summer heat. The lakes sit in hollows scooped out by ice, surrounded by spruce, fir and aspen, with meadows opening between them and the air cooler by many degrees than the valley of the Colorado River far below. There is a resort feel to the place, with a lodge, a few cabins and a campground, but it is quiet and woodsy, not busy.

   Read the complete Mesa Lakes write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   49 km in you reach Mesa Lakes. Next is Palisade.

4. 4. Palisade

   Palisade is a small town in the Grand Valley of western Colorado, and it smells of peaches in summer. The orchards that surround it, nourished by water from the Colorado River and baked by long hot days and cool nights, produce fruit so good that people drive from Denver to buy it from roadside stands. The harvest runs from July through September, with peaches at their best in August, and the town holds a festival to celebrate. It sits at about forty-seven hundred feet, which makes it one of the warmest places in the state.

   Read the complete Palisade write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Palisade closes the day.