Mesa County

The county in brief

A traveler's read on Mesa County

Five hundred square miles of basalt-capped flat-topped tableland at 11,000 ft elevation makes Grand Mesa the largest flat-topped mountain on Earth per USGS Pictorial Atlas of Western North America topographic classifications — a Tertiary-age erosion remnant capped by 10-million-year-old basalt lava flows that protected the underlying Mancos shale from the same Colorado River downcutting that exposed the surrounding valleys 5,000 ft below. The mesa surface holds 300+ alpine lakes per Grand Mesa National Forest inventory, with the Grand Mesa Scenic Byway CO-65 traversing the mesa from Cedaredge in Delta County to Mesa in Mesa County (63 miles, climbing from 5,000 ft at the I-70 access to 10,839 ft at the Land's End overlook). Mesa County's 3,329 sq mi wrap Grand Junction (population 65,560, the largest Colorado city west of the Continental Divide and the only one west-of-divide with metropolitan statistical area status per US Office of Management and Budget), Colorado National Monument (the 32-square-mile NPS unit established 1911 by President William Howard Taft, anchored by Independence Monument's 450-ft red-rock spire and accessed by Rim Rock Drive — a 23-mile scenic byway with 3 tunnels capped at 11 ft 4 in vertical clearance and 22 switchbacks, limiting rigs to under 32 ft per NPS Colorado NM vehicle-size guidance), the Grand Mesa National Forest, and the lower Gunnison River valley.

Saddlehorn Campground inside Colorado NM accepts rigs to 40 ft on 80 sites with no hookups, with reservations through recreation.gov opening 6 months out and spring-summer dates routinely selling out. Highline Lake State Park accepts rigs to 40 ft with electric hookups on 27 sites. Grand Mesa NF dispersed camping is permitted under the standard 14-day stay limit on most forest roads. Grand Junction Regional Airport (GJT) is the primary commercial air gateway for the Western Slope. The Riverside Parkway scenic drive along the Colorado River frontage in Grand Junction connects the Botanical Gardens of the Western Colorado, the Cross Orchards Historic Farm, and the Museums of Western Colorado's three downtown sites. City of Grand Junction Municipal Code §28-12 prohibits overnight RV street parking citywide; Walmart on Rimrock Avenue has historically permitted self-contained overnight stays at the manager's discretion.