Palisade CO - Mountain Biking the Palisade Plunge from Lands End Road. This is not the fully completed trail and ride. This video is a first look at one of the most highly anticipated new trails in the United States.
It's here! A first of its kind, purpose built virgin singletrack trail with a shuttle in mind. When complete, the head dirt of the Palisade Plunge will begin on the top of the Grand Mesa on Colorado Highway 65 and descend to US Highway 6 in Palisade. At the time of the recording, Memorial Day 2021, the upper half of the Plunge had yet been completed and was covered in remnant winter snow. The Full Plungilada should open by mid summer 2021, when it's too hot and monsoon rain hopefully will be ever present.
Memorial Day 2021 marked the opening weekend to a trail that's been years in the making. The Palisade Plunge was a massive collaborative interagency feat between the Bureau of Land Management, the US Forest Service, the City of Grand Junction, private landowners, and local Mountain Biking Non-Profit COPMOBA. We can all thank Scott Winans personally for being a catalyst for delivering the Plunge. A few years ago, Singletrack Trails entrenched themselves in this unprecedented project. Trail builders enjoyed the full Western Colorado line dig experience. This included being eaten alive by swarms of gnats, ticks, sweltering heat, impossibly thick Gambel Oak, and pesty outcropping of basalt. The trail should be called the "Miracle on the Mesa" for the massive effort made by stakeholders and trail builders alike. THANKS!!!
In this video you'll see the lower half of the Palisade Plunge. Singletrack Trails has been calling this "Phase 1 of the Palisade Plunge" and this portion is the main course of the 6000 ft. descent. We start this ride at the intersection of Lands End Road and the Plunge putting this descent at a tick above 4K ft and I've been calling it Lands End Down, an homage to Burro Down which is the original name of the Whole Enchilada. There are a number of shuttle companies that will get you to the trailheads when this becomes fully open at a price tag of around $30. I self shuttled this with Brian to the Wild Rose Picnic area and climbed the gradual Lands End Road 2 miles to the intersection with the trail.
I refuse to rate brand new tracks because oftentimes they are very raw and the dirt conditions make them difficult to ride. Over time, the trail will be packed by volume biker traffic and I can give you an assessment 2-3 years from now. I felt the Plunge was a blue trail with 3-5 black diamond sections of rollers and switchbacks and 1 double black feature. Otherwise, features were few and far between. The vast majority of the trail rode very intermediate with sections of moderate exposure. I did not feel like sections of the trail held a clear and present danger of falling off a cliff and if you didn't feel like riding a section, it was reasonable to walk. There is still a level of risk in certain sections. Towards the end heat and uphill traffic caused rockfall will be you primary concerns. You'll also find inconsistent trail conditions and ALOT of sand. This is usually a problem associated with new trails.
The Plunge is not a beginner trail and it requires strong effort and solid base skills. Despite the trail serving a significant amount of downhill, it does not feel like a 4K descent. My Strava picked up 1500 ft. of climbing in that 18 miles. You will do ALOT of pedaling and the trail seems favorable to mid travel trail bikes. On your first trip, give it a good pre-ride and ride it in moderation, the track is littered naturally with traps and inconsistent trail conditions. Bring ALOT of water, the final section can be a bit toasted. AND BE CAREFULL, there are no bailout points on the trail, you must be self sufficient to make this run. If you are not prepared, you will do a lot of walking. Early starts on sunny days in the early fall are going to be your prime time to take a plunge. Bikers Wanted. Give it a ride, help us pack this thing down.
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