Grand Mesa, one of Earth’s largest landforms, towers over the scenic city of Grand Junction, Colorado, like an 11,000-foot-high dinner table.
Sitting the near the edges of the red-rock Colorado National Monument, the world’s largest flattop mountain was formed nearly 10 million years ago from an ancient lava flow that filled a river canyon. “In cross-section, the mesa resembles a giant layer cake that has been nibbled away from the sides,” says Rex Cole, emeritus professor of geology at Colorado Mesa University.
With its desert sandstone canyons, cool evergreen forests, and more than 300 picturesque lakes, Grand Mesa can easily be mistaken for Rocky Mountain National Park. Travelers can experience it via the Grand Mesa National Scenic Byway or one of dozens of easy-access hot spots, such as Island Lake, a glacier-clawed waterway of clear blues and greens, or the Crag Crest National Recreation Trail, a 10.3-mile out-and-back hike that takes you up 11,189 feet and through seven of the world’s 10 biomes.
Here’s how to explore this vertical world.
“Anybody can get in their car and see superb fall color on Highway 65,” says Zebulon Miracle, a local historian and outdoors enthusiast. A designated Colorado Scenic Byway, the canyon-traversing road makes the mesa accessible year-round, with fall color seen for roughly 40 of its 63 miles.
For a more remote scenic drive, Miracle suggests heading to the Trickle Park area in the town of Cedaredge—Surface Creek Road is one of the region’s best for fall color. Visitors can also take a 40-minute detour from the byway to explore the Land’s End Observatory, a defunct Forest Service outpost that sits at the mesa’s rim at 6,000 feet. The area offers some of the best overlooks for the national forest and the Grand Valley below.
(Walk across the sky in the U.S.’s highest-elevation city.)
To explore beyond your windshield, scout out the Mesa Lakes area—eye the 3.2-mile Mesa Lake Trail and its 1-mile spur to the aptly named Lost Lake for views of aspen leaves turning amber and gold through November. Further from Highway 65, the Twin Lake Dispersed Area offers similar views with a more backcountry feel. For avid hikers, the Grand Mesa’s signature trek is the Crag Crest Trail. It won’t get you in the foliage but above it. “It’s a thigh-burner, for sure,” Miracle says.
If it snows—which it can as early as September or as late as June—all the better. “That white ground with yellow leaves looks really nice,” says Miracle.
The Grand Mesa offers one of the longest ski seasons in the U.S.—and some of the best Nordic trails in the country. Thirty-one miles of groomed ski trails run through the Grand Mesa National Forest across three networks. The Skyway trail system, just south of
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The combination of champagne powder, endless blue skies, mammoth mountains and a live-to-ski ethos makes skiing in Colorado the stuff of legend. From cruisers and tree runs to back bowls and terrain parks, Colorado is one of the country's best and most varied places to ski.
New Year, new national park to check off your must-visit list? Mark your calendars: The park system just announced a half dozen “free days” for 2024 that are spread throughout the year, beginning with Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 15, 2024.
Despite the La Niña weather pattern that dumped snowfall by the foot last winter at many mountain resorts in the western United States, global warming fundamentally threatens the survival of the ski business. In response, ski areas are increasingly investing in efficient snow-making and carbon emissions reductions. Some areas, especially in the West, are also pursuing another method: developing terrain higher up mountains where colder climes or steeper, tree-filled terrain are more likely to hold the snow.
It’s now cheaper and more convenient to hit the slopes this ski season at a popular Colorado resort. Amtrak announced the return of the Amtrak Winter Park Express, which provides seasonal service between Denver's Union Station (DEN) and the based of Winter Park Resort in Winter Park, Colorado. «This 'ski train' is another example of Amtrak's commitment to enhancing the travel experience for riders across the country, bringing travelers to exciting destinations safety, affordably, and sustainably,» Eliot Hamlisch, Amtrak's CMO, said in a statement obtained by Travel + Leisure. Ski enthusiasts looking to utilize the special route will have a choice of 40 round trips this ski season. The train will operate every weekend (on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays) from Jan. 12, 2024 through March 31, 2024. There will be special routes on holidays such as service on Jan. 15, 2024 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day) and Feb. 19, 2024 (Presidents’ Day). The train will also operate on two Thursdays: March 14, 2024, and March 21, 2024. (Travelers should visit amtrak.com for the most current schedule and updates.) A one-way trip, which takes approximately two hours, departs Denver at 7:00 am and leaves Winter Park Resort at 4:30 pm local time. This means skiers can maximize their time on the slopes. Families can save money as children aged two to 12 are eligible for 50 percent off tickets. There are additional discounts for senior citizens and members of the military. Passengers also have the opportunity to carry on their skis, and the trains have special storage areas on board.
One of the best ways to get to know a country is through its food and beverage offerings. For the holiday season, check out these excellent wines from under-the-radar wine regions in different parts of the world (which we should be drinking more from!) for your wanderlust wine-loving friends who are eager to try something new. Note: All wines mentioned are available in the United States.
There’s something truly magical about meandering through a Christmas market with a glass of hot wine or apple cider in hand. The sights, sounds and smells of the market—wherever you are in the world—make it hard not to get into the spirit of teh season.
Winter sports involve all kinds of exhilarating sensations: a sharp breeze rushing past your face, bright snow stinging your eyes, the merriment of après-ski.
A sweeping storm system is impacting much of the United States on this, the final day of the busy Thanksgiving holiday travel weekend. Nearly 14 million people found themselves under various winter weather alerts on Sunday, according to The New York Times.