Lands End Road and Grand Mesa

Difficulty Rating: 1. The Lands End Road is a graded road with washboards. A passenger car can easily travel the entire length from the valley to the top of the mesa. From the top at the Lands End Observatory, a passenger car should be able to travel south along the rim to the highway that crosses over Grand Mesa with no difficulties. We went north along dirt roads that would be the upper limit of a passenger car. My wife was driving our Jeep Patriot and hit her undercarriage on a deep rut, but otherwise no difficulties. It is mainly due to some deep ruts that would make it a little more difficult for a passenger car. No 4-wheel drive is necessary.

Location: Grand Mesa, between Delta and Grand Junction, CO. 

Trail head: 25.5 miles north of Delta, CO (from the Maverick gas station) or 7.5 miles south of Grand Junction from the intersection of highways 50 and 141. GPS Coordinates are 38°56.14N 108°23.79W.

Lands End Road starts at the above coordinates. The road is marked with a sign for the turn-off for "National Forest Access Grand Mesa Lands End." The first 9 miles are paved until you enter the Grand Mesa National Forest. The road from there to the top is a well maintained road with some washboards. It starts at about 5200 feet in elevation and ends at about 10,500 when you reach Higway 65 on the top of Grand Mesa. 

The road starts in the desert valley with sparse sagebrush, then it transitions to a cedar forest, then scrub oak and some scattered pinion pines, then to aspen trees, then to pine trees. There are multiple views of the Uncompahgre Plateau. When you approach the top you go through some large rock fields along the base of a cliff. We also saw a small waterfall going down one of the cliffs that was neat to see. 

This road was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) between June 1933 and May 1934 and the workers were paid one dollar a day. The sign at the top stated that they built the whole road "blasting and all, without injuries." I guess times were different, not many people would do that job for $10 an hour!

When you reach the top you can stop at the Lands End Observatory. It was build by the Forest Sevice and the Works Progress Administration in 1936-37. It is situated near the edge of Grand Mesa where you can look down on Grand Junction, the Uncompahgre Plateau, and the valley to the south. On a clear day you can see as far as the La Sal mountains to the west in Utah. If you look to the north you will be looking down on the Book Cliffs. I'm used to seeing the Book Cliffs from the I-70, so that was a nice change of perspective.  

We turned north from the observatory to stay on the dirt road. This road wasn't quite as well maintained and had deeper ruts, but no 4-wheel drive was needed. Higher clearance was nice so I didn't have to worry about going over the ruts, but a lower clearance vehicle could have passed through with care. The road we followed came out just 10 miles southeast of Powderhorn Ski Resort. 

The top of Grand Mesa is gorgeous. It is filled with multiple fields with wild flowers surrounded by pine trees and hundreds of lakes. These lakes seem to be popular to the fishermen in the area. Wikipedia states it has over 300 lakes and reservoirs, and reaches an elevation of just under 11,000 feet. Shortly after we got onto Highway 65, there was a sign saying the elevation was 10,839 ft. The elevation made it pleasant. It was about 70 degrees on top of the mesa, while down in the valley it was over 90 degrees. 

We still had time in our day so we didn't drive home down Highway 65. We turned in at the Grand Mesa Visitor Center and followed the easy graded roads that access many of the lakes. We were greeted with more green fields, wild flowers, pine trees, and mountain lakes. It was a pleasant drive on well maintained roads with some great views. We joined once again with Highway 65 in Cedaredge and made our way back home to Delta.

During our trip there were multiple forest roads branching off that looked like fun and would actually require 4-wheel drive. Too bad we didn't have time to go exploring...

Here are the GPX and KML files for the Lands End Road. Here are the GPX and KML for the road we took along the lakes on the top of Grand Mesa. 

 A nice view of the Uncompahgre Plateau.

 Another nice view of the Uncompahgre Plateau.

 The rock fields you go through as you near the top.

 This is the view from the Lands End Observatory.

 If you look closely, the La Sal Mountains are on

the right at the horizon. Also, you can see the
Lands End Road snaking up the mountain.

 View of Grand Junction. You can see the Book Cliffs

just to the right of midline.

 The La Sal Mountains just visible in the distance,
about 70 miles away.

 This is the Lands End Observatory. It is boarded up,
so we couldn't see the inside. 

 This is the view from on top of Grand Mesa

 One of many meadows and tress on top of Grand Mesa.

 This is where we stopped for lunch. It was a nice 

shady area under the trees by the lake. 

 This is one of the lakes by the visitor's center.

Owl Creek Pass (Difficulty 1)

Difficulty Rating: 1. The first 15 miles I followed a Buick sedan, so this is passable in a car in dry conditions. Depending on recent weather, however, the rating may go up to a 2 if there are a lot of ruts. The south end on the trip had about 6 inch deep ruts. A passenger car still could have gotten around them, but it would have required some careful driving to not bottom out in a small car. I never shifted my Cherokee into 4-wheel drive during the trip.

Location: Just east of Montrose, CO

Trailhead: 22 miles east of Montrose, CO. There is a sign pointing to Cimarron Rd, which is the road you follow. Coordinates are 38°24.87'N 107°31.61'W.

We ended on County Road 8 at 38°13.40N 107°43.61W on highway 550, just north of Ridgeway. We came out at that road because it was closer to home since we live north of Montrose. You can end at Ridgeway on County Road 10 at 38°10.43N 107°44.52W. The benefit of going through County Road 10 is that it is marked with sign for Owl Creek Pass and Silver Jack Reservoir if you are starting from the Ridgeway side.

Description: Easy, graded dirt road. There were moderate washboards in a few areas, but generally a smooth road. According to the visitor information on the website for Montrose, this road was originally a cattle-drive trail from 1885. Initially the scenery seemed to be rolling hills and scrub brush, but later it turned into pine trees and aspen tress. The features that most stick out are the jagged peaks and spires of Cimarron Ridge, Courthouse Mountain, and Chimney Rock. Every time I drove down Highway 550 toward the San Juan Mountains, I always admired the jagged skyline that Cimarron Ridge forms, and I was pleased to have a much closer look. There are numerous jagged cliffs and spires that make the trip worthwhile. As an added bonus, you get a few great views of the San Juan Mountains in the distance.

Expect to see a lot of traffic on the road. There are many campgrounds and access to numerous roads in the area. This is also the access to Silver Jack Reservior, which is a nice lake in the mountains. Supposedly it has good fishing, but I wouldn't know too much about that.

All in all, it was a fun day.

Here are the GPX and KML files. The GPX file is incomplete (only the red portion on the map below). I am using my phone for the GPS and it died right at the beginning. I didn't realize it wasn't working until the red portion started (it recorded the first 200 yards, which I didn't include). I included the rest of the trip on the KML file with google maps, which should have both portions of the track.