Colorado Scenic and Historic Byways - 2024/2025

Traversing the world’s largest flattop mountain, this route is a playground in the sky and offers travelers more than 300 stream-fed lakes on the mesa with thriving trout populations. Crossing the footprints of convicts, farmers and American Indians, the byway reveals a timeline of the mesa’s human history. The log-constructed Grand Mesa Visitor Center — located in the Land O’ Lakes region — features interpretive exhibits and trails. Near the midway point, a spur off the main road leads to an impressive vista known as Lands End. An observatory here was built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Prisoners from the state penitentiary in Cañon City wielded picks and shovels to cut the original climb to this vantage point. Another site of interest on the Lands End Road are the Raber Cow Camp Cabins, which are restored and listed on the State Register of Historic Properties. Back on the main route, the byway zigzags around a series of idyllic lakes created by glacier melt that filled the mesa’s numerous volcanic depressions following the last ice age. The route descends to Cedaredge, which is well-known for its apples and the annual Apple Fest held in early October.

Distance: 63 miles • Allow 2 hours 

Total elevation gain: 4,780-10,500 feet