In a press conference this morning, the Colorado Plateau Mountain Bike Trail Association (COPMOBA) and the Palisade Plunge Trail Project partner organizations announced more than half of the full route is complete and soon to be open for public use. Weather permitting, Phase II of the project will be completed before year-end and the full trail will be open for use in Spring 2021.
The partners – COPMOBA, Mesa County, City of Grand Junction, City of Fruita, Town of Palisade, Colorado Tourism Office, Outdoor Recreation Coalition of the Grand Valley (ORC), Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, Colorado Parks & Wildlife, Powderhorn Mountain Resort, and the Grand Junction Economic Partnership – gathered at the newly constructed Shirttail Point trail head on the Grand Mesa to share updates on the project.
“The Palisade Plunge Trail will challenge users through a truly unique and unforgettable trail experience, providing access to remote public lands while traversing stunning alpine to high desert terrain as it connects the top elevations of the Grand Mesa to the Town of Palisade, 6000′ below,” said Scott Winans, President of COPMOBA and member of the ORC Leadership Council. “For over 30 years, COPMOBA has been a national leader in planning, building and maintaining trails. Through projects such as the Palisade Plunge, COPMOBA creatively engages local communities to improve our regional quality of life while simultaneously creating economic engines in our home towns. We intend for the Palisade Plunge to be a jewel of western Colorado for decades to come.”
For nearly ten years, COPMOBA has spearheaded the Palisade Plunge trail project – which takes riders from the top of the Grand Mesa (10,700’) to the Town of Palisade (4,700’) on a challenging, terrain-shifting and visually stunning singletrack trail. In 2015, the project gained headway when former Colorado Governor Hickenlooper included it among 16 priority trails in his Colorado the Beautiful campaign and community partners received funding to commence detailed planning for the trail project. Phase I, for which trail construction has just been completed, will soon open the lower half of the Plunge route from Lands End Road crossing on the western flank of the Grand Mesa to the Palisade Rim trailhead. Phase II, begun in Spring 2020, is scheduled to be completed in December 2020, connecting Mesa Top Trailhead on Highway 65 atop the Grand Mesa to the lower Phase 1 trail section. The third and final phase involves a paved portion of the trail connecting the Plunge trail to the Colorado Riverfront trail in downtown Palisade. (See trail map.)
Singletrack Trails, the contractor hired to complete this project, has been working diligently to complete it. In addition to the official project partners, the Bureau of Reclamation and Colorado Department of Transportation have also played key roles in the initial planning and approval of the trail, as did VanWinkle Ranch, which operates via lease on part of the land through which the trail runs.
Once completed, the Palisade Plunge trail will be one of only a handful of such trails in the country and is expected to contribute minimum $5 million annually to the local economy.