The Palisade Plunge One Step Closer To Reality

Mountian bikers rejoice!  The Palisade Chamber of Commerce overwhelmingly voted to move forward with the "Palisade Plunge" bike trail project.

81 out of 85 members said "yes" in favor of the project. The next step is now the Town of Palisade's approval which is excepted. The Palisade Plunge, one of the trails part of the Governor's initiative to improve 16 trails across the state of Colcordo.

The "Plunge" trail will test even the most skilled biker. The trail drops about 6,000ft in from the top of the Grand Mesa down to Palisade. Earlier this year the project received a boost when the Department of Local Affairs granted Mesa County $200,000 toward further planning and design. A few months ago, the Colorado Mountain Bike Trail Association sat down with cattle ranchers in Palisade to revise the trail route to make it amenable for both current ranching business and future mountain bike visitors.

After the cities approval, the project will be headed down the trail (sorry) towards completion. All the hoopla is the scale of the project and the draw it hopes to become. Most believe it will be comparable to Moab’s "The Whole Enchilada" or the Monarch "Crest Trail". That will draw in the bikers and the money they'll spend in the valley. Some estimates put the financial windfall somewhere around $3 million into the area's economy.

Credit: westernslopnow.com