Colorado Trail Organization Receives over $500,000 for Palisade Plunge Trail Project

The Palisade Plunge, a proposed 32-mile, 6,000ft. descent on Colorado's Western Slope just received a huge boost in funding.

One of the overlooks along the Palisade Rim. Photo: John Fisch.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) awarded the Colorado Plateau Mountain Bike Trail Association (COPMOBA) and partners a $527,000 grant this past week for the trail organization’s Palisade Plunge project.

The grants put the total project funding at $685,249 for the planned trail, which will run from the Grand Mesa, Colo. (10,700′) down to Palisade (4,700′) for a 6,000-foot descent of mostly backcountry singletrack through mountainous and desert terrain.

COPMOBA is currently partnered with the towns of Palisade, Fruita, and Grand Junction plus the BLM, U.S. Forest Service, and others for the Palisade Plunge trail project.

Palisade Rim, Colorado. Photo: delphinide.

The CPW grant covers the first phase of the project, which includes about 18 miles of new, point-to-point trail and also creates new loop options at the existing Palisade Rim trail.

In the beginning of this year, COPMOBA started Power the Plunge, a fundraising campaign for the Palisade Plunge trail and has raised almost $100,000 in donations toward grant matching requirements, trail maintenance, and construction.

Despite the large grant, COPMOBA still needs funding contributions due to the projected cost of about $1.6M.

Phase one is slated to start in the summer of 2019 and COPMOBA will pursue the second phase of construction afterward.