Old Grand Mesa Road

Rating: 1. This is a well maintained road that doesn't require high clearance. The washboards can get pretty bad on this road which might make it slow going.

Location: Grand Mesa, north of Cedaredge, CO.

Trailhead: 10.1 miles north of Cedaredge on highway 65 (measured from Main Street). 6.0 miles south of the Grand Mesa Visitor Center.

The coordinates are 39.004461, -107.942910 (39°00'16.1"N 107°56'34.5"W).

We started at the Old Grand Mesa Road, followed it in a north-east direction until it ended at forest road 121. We followed 121 west until we reached the visitor center.

The Old Grand Mesa Road is an easy dirt road that is a nice scenic drive off the pavement to get to many of the area's lakes and reservoirs. There are many dirt roads in the area that range from well maintained roads to those that offer more of a challenge. From my experience, most of the roads range from 1-3 in difficulty rating, but I have only explored a few of them.

The south end of the road starts in forests of aspen trees, which makes it a fun drive in the fall. As you increase in elevation, the forest changes to mainly pine trees with a few patches of aspen groves. There are many campgrounds and camping spots in the area as well as many places for fishing.

If you want something a little more challenging and not well traveled, take forest road 123 to road 122. The coordinates for the turn-off for 123 are 39°01'24.4"N 107°56'23.5"W (39.023452, -107.939850)  The coordinates for 122 are 39°01'43.9"N 107°56'51.6"W (39.028855, -107.947661). Forest road 122 is an enjoyable road with some bigger rocks and mud puddles. FR 122 is a short run, only about 4 miles long.

Here are the KML and GPX files from our trip.