Grand Mesa National Scenic and Historic Byway

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Cedaredge, CO
Grand Mesa National Scenic and Historic Byway

The largest flat top mountain in the world boasts over 300 lakes, 400 miles of year 'round recreational trails, alpine meadows and abundant wildlife.

The Byway is Colorado Hwy 65 from Cedaredge to Exit 49 on I-70 and includes a spur trip on Lands End Road A playground in the sky, the Grand Mesa offers year 'round recreation from hiking and mtn. biking to Nordic skiing and snowmobiling.

09/13/2026

From Colorado Geological Survet.

09/12/2026

𝑰𝒏 𝟏𝟖𝟕𝟔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑵𝒆𝒘𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒚 𝑯𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑫𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝑬𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

Colorado was a baby state--just months old.

Its population had been thrown together by the gold rush. People had poured into the territory from across the country and around the world, chasing gold, land, business and opportunity.

Just three months after Colorado became our 38th state, it's three votes in the Electoral College may have decided the presidential election.

The race was between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden.

Tilden won the national popular vote by about 264,000 votes. But presidents are not chosen by popular vote, but rather through the Electoral College.

The new state suddenly had three votes.

Now Colorado had been trying to become a state for years, but President Grant was uncomfortable about which way Colorado would vote. He would not sign the paperwork.

In 1874, A guy named Thomas MacDonald Patterson, a Democrat, was was elected Colorado's territorial delegate to Congress.

Patterson was born in County Carlow, Ireland, in 1839. In 1849, during the Great Famine, his family left Ireland for America. He later served in the Union Army, became a lawyer and moved to Denver in 1872.

And he arrived in Washington at an interesting time--Democrats had just taken control of the House of Representatives for the first time since before the Civil War.

Patterson's own election suggested that the new state might vote Democratic. And 1876 was a presidential election year.

If Colorado became a state in time, it would have three votes in the Electoral College.

Patterson believed those three votes might go Democratic.

On August 1, Colorado became a state, and on October 3, Coloradans elected their first state government.

Patterson had won his fight for statehood. Now came the election.

The race for governor was close. Republican John L. Routt defeated Democrat Bela M. Hughes by only 838 votes.

Republicans also won control of the new state legislature.

And that mattered more than anyone could have imagined.

There wasn't time to organize a regular popular vote for president in Colorado, so the new legislature would choose the state's three presidential electors. For the first—and only—time in Colorado history, the people of Colorado had no direct voice in choosing their presidential electors.

The Republican-controlled legislature chose three Republican electors.

All three electoral votes went to Rutherford B. Hayes.

The presidential election that followed was one of the messiest in American history.

Tilden won the national popular vote. When the initial electoral count was tallied, he had 184 uncontested electoral votes—just one short of the 185 needed to become president.

Hayes had 165.

But 20 electoral votes were disputed—from Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina, along with one vote from Oregon.

Both parties accused the other of wrongdoing. There were allegations of fraudulent voting, intimidation and violence, and competing claims over which electors had actually won.

The country didn't know who its next president would be.

And the fight continued for months.

Congress itself was divided. Democrats controlled the House. Republicans controlled the Senate.

Eventually, Congress created a special 15-member Electoral Commission—five representatives, five senators and five Supreme Court justices—to determine which disputed electoral votes should count.

In the early hours of March 2, 1877—just days before the inauguration—the count was finally completed. The commission ultimately awarded all 20 disputed votes to Hayes, each decision coming on an 8–7 vote.

One electoral vote.

And sitting there in Hayes's total were three votes from a state that hadn't even existed when the summer began.

Had Colorado remained a territory for just a few more months, it would have had no electoral votes.

If Colorado had not been a state, there would not have been an issue. Samuel Tilden would have had enough electoral votes to become president.

One of the defining events of his presidency was the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, which Hayes resolved by calling in the U.S. Army against the railroad workers. It remains the deadliest conflict between workers and strikebreakers in American history.

Hayes did not seek a second term.

The baby state may have changed the course of American history.

09/10/2026

🍂 You might want to schedule your annual Colorado fall color trip a little earlier this year.

The prediction is that Colorado's fall colors may arrive about a week earlier than usual in 2026.

After a hot, dry year, many of Colorado's aspens are stressed. Drought can cause leaves to change sooner, and this year the color may also come and go more quickly.

In other words, this might not be the year to say, “We'll go next weekend.”

The good news is that Colorado's fall colors don't change all at once.

Leaves in northern Colorado start the glow, and then it moves south. The change also tends to start at the top of the mountain and move down into the valleys.

That gives leaf-peepers a pretty simple rule:

🍂 If the valley is still green, head higher.
🍂 If the top of the mountain is already past peak, head lower.

Colorado's aspens have also been dealing with insects, disease and drought stress for years, and the effects aren't uniform. One grove may be spectacular while another nearby has thinner foliage, damaged leaves or trees that are already dropping their leaves.

So don't judge an entire mountain—or Colorado's fall color season—by one grove.

Instead, chase the color.

And maybe we can help each other do that.

📸 Please share your best Colorado fall-color photos from 2026 in the comments—and tell us WHERE and WHEN you took them.

Together, we can create our own Colorado fall-color report and help everyone know where the color is happening right now.

2026 fall-color forecast: CBS Colorado

09/08/2026

What was it like here in the Grand Mesa area in 1881?

09/08/2026

Land’s End Observatory

If you're driving the Grand Mesa National Scenic and Historic Byway, there is one gravel-road detour that is definitely worth taking.

Take the spur off Highway 65 to Land’s End.

The road winds through open country on top of Grand Mesa, and the drive is part of the experience. And don't hurry. Watch for potholes, and enjoy the view.

Depending on the season, you might pass spectacular fields of wildflowers, see glacial deposits left behind from Grand Mesa's geologic past, and see the remains of one of the old cow camps.

Stop occasionally and look around. There are incredible views in every direction—a true 360-degree view of Grand Mesa and the surrounding country.

At the end of the road, you arrive at one of Grand Mesa's most recognizable landmarks—the Land's End Observatory. You wont want to miss this view!

Perched at the edge of the Mesa, the stone building was constructed in 1936–37 by the U.S. Forest Service and Works Progress Administration (WPA) laborers, with some assistance from two Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) side camps.

The work was supervised by stonemason Ivan Anderson.

And the geology you've been seeing along the way became part of the building itself. Grand Mesa is capped with basalt, created by lava flows millions of years ago. Workers selected basalt stones from the Mesa and carefully fitted them together to form the walls and terrace. Even the wood shingles were hand-sawn.

The result was an example of the “rustic” style of architecture used in public buildings throughout the National Parks and forests. The idea was simplicity and craftsmanship—using local materials so a building appeared to grow out of the landscape rather than intrude upon it.

The building has been called several names over the years—the Land's End Shelter House, Visitor Center and Concession Building. But on February 28, 1997, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places--now it's a national treasure!

The observatory was boarded up in 2014, but it still stands at the edge of Grand Mesa, surrounded by those remarkable views.

While you feed the chipmunks and admire the view, think of the WPA workers who built it during the Great Depression.

note: Land's End is reached by a seasonal gravel spur from Highway 65. The road is not maintained during the winter months.

09/06/2026

Sad news from Mountain Top Resort. Than you for the update Josh.

09/06/2026

On September 9, 1776, the United States finally stopped calling itself the “United Colonies.”

After all, it had declared independence more than two months earlier, on July 4.

But old habits apparently die hard.

Congress was still using “United Colonies” on commissions and other official documents—even though those colonies had just declared themselves “Free and Independent States.”

Finally, on September 9, Congress fixed the problem.

There was no grand ceremony or stirring speech. Tucked among the day’s other business was a simple resolution:

“That in all continental commissions, and other instruments, where, heretofore, the words ‘United Colonies’ have been used, the stile be altered for the future to the ‘United States.’”

And that was that.

They had declared their independence in July.

In September, they finally changed the name.

Sometimes even a revolution requires a little paperwork.

09/05/2026

One of the most accessible trails and spectacular views on Grand Mesa is the Land of Lakes Trail near Island Lake.

09/05/2026

The Ute Language Is All Around Us

While the Native Ute People were forcibly removed from much of their traditional lands in Colorado in 1881, their words remain all over the Colorado map.

But what do they mean? And why do we sometimes see the same Ute word—or the name of the same Ute person—spelled several different ways?

Spelling is a funny thing.

Some of us were taught that there is only one way to spell a word. But language is full of examples that say just the opposite—and new spellings are constantly being adopted.

Just look at the names people give their children. The same name can be spelled three or four—or a dozen—different ways.

And we can look at Ute words through the same lens.

The Ute language was spoken long before anyone tried to write it using the English alphabet. Knowledge and stories were passed from one generation to another orally, while pictographs and other images could record events and ideas.

Different groups of Ute People spoke different dialects. When those spoken words were eventually written using English letters, there wasn't necessarily one obvious way to represent every sound.

Different spelling doesn't necessarily mean somebody got it wrong.

Unfortunately, the Ute language eventually faced a much greater threat.

Beginning in the late nineteenth century, Ute children were forced into government schools where English was imposed and Native languages suppressed. That interrupted generations of children learning Ute from their parents, grandparents and elders.

Today, the Ute People are working to keep their language alive through classes, radio programs and other efforts.

And some Ute words have been sitting right in front of the rest of us all along.

They're on the map.

Now it's your turn.

Get out a map of Colorado and try to complete the list of Ute place names below. Along the way, you might discover something about the names of places you already know.

Some will be easy.

I bet a few will surprise you.

09/03/2026

Long before there was a town named Hotchkiss, Enos T. Hotchkiss was already a well-known figure in Lake City.

Hotchkiss came to Colorado in 1853, when he was just 23 years old. He became involved in mining and was credited with discovering and locating the Golden Fleece mine near Lake City. Even a local landmark, Hotchkiss Mountain, carried his name.

By 1878-1880, Hotchkiss was looking around. The cattle industry was booming, and he explored the Indian country west of Lake City, including the North Fork of the Gunnison.

He was looking for grass.

He wasn't alone. Other men from the Lake City area, including Pierre Settle, were doing the same thing before the Ute People were forcibly removed.

Hunters, trappers and other travelers had crossed Ute lands for years. Exploring Ute country was one thing, but no one could legally claim land and make a home here—it was still reserved for the Ute People.

On August 27, 1881—two days before the scheduled removal of the Ute People—a Lake City newspaper reported:

“Enos Hotchkiss left Powderhorn Friday for the North Fork of the Gunnison, where he has selected a new ‘home in the promised land’—the late Ute reservation.”

Hotchkiss was moving 600 head of cattle and 200 horses into the North Fork country.

His family remained behind for the time being.

A few weeks later, Samuel Wade returned to Lake City with a story to tell.

Wade had traveled into the newly opened country with Hotchkiss, W. A. Clark, G. L. Root, Joseph Wade, G. Duke, E. G. Wade, William Duke and others. The newspaper reported their purpose was to explore the country and locate land.

Wade described their journey in detail.

From Lake City they traveled down the Lake Fork to the Gunnison River and then followed the river west.

Along the way, they were looking at the country with the eyes of men searching for places to establish ranches.

Wade described the grass. He noted the water and timber. He looked at the amount of land that might be cultivated and considered whether livestock could survive the winters.

At Crystal Creek, the party found good grass and water. Farther west, they examined the country around Muddy Creek and continued toward Smith's Fork.

The country kept opening before them.

At Smith's Fork, Wade described good agricultural land extending for miles. There was water, grass and timber nearby—the things these men were looking for.

From there they continued toward the North Fork of the Gunnison.

By the time they reached it, some of the men had seen enough to begin choosing land of their own.

Hotchkiss chose land on the North Fork, near its confluence with the Gunnison River.

Near what is now Paonia, Wade selected land for a ranch of his own.

Both men would make their homes there—and leave lasting legacies in Delta County.

Photos: Hotchkiss on left, Wade on the right.

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Cedaredge, CO
81413

Website

https://www.codot.gov/travel/colorado-byways/northwest/grand-mesa

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