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| Mesa County and Bureau of Land Management personnel conduct an inspection of the work that has been completed on the Palisade Plunge Trail. |
A tremendous amount of progress has been made this week with two Palisade Plunge Trail crews working in separate locations. The crew working out of Palisade completed another 880 feet of new trail. The second crew working above finished 1,000 feet of new trail and has been careful to stay outside of the ½ mile buffer areas identified in the raptor survey.
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| A bird's eye view of the Palisade Plunge Trail. |
The upper crew has also completed over a mile of corridor clearing, which entails taking a chainsaw ahead of the trail construction crew and cutting any trees, bushes, and branches that would hinder future construction through the area.
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| BLM and Mesa County personnel discuss plans and strategies with Palisade Plunge Trail crew members. |
Last Thursday, Mesa County and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) personnel met at the upper crew's campsite to inspect the trail, flag lines, identify future campsites, and possible landing zones. After inspecting nearly a mile of the flagged route, a future campsite was identified for the crew, and their BLM permit was updated to allow them to better access the area.
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| The Palisade Plunge has many spots overlooking the Grand Valley, but there will be a variety of views for trail users to enjoy. |
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| Upper trail crew's campsite. |
To date, 13.51 miles of trail have been completed, leaving about 3.65 miles to go before completion of Phase 1 of the Palisade Plunge Trail. Phase 2 will begin this year as soon as weather permits.
