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Land of Lakes

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 0.5 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 10,749 - 10,826 feet
Cellphone: 1-3 bars
Time: 30 mins.
Trailhead: Land of Lakes
Fee: none




The Land of Lakes Trail is a half mile long paved trail on the south side of the Grand Mesa just off US Highway 65. The turn off to the paved parking area is between the County Line trailhead and the Crag Crest trailhead. There aren't any facilities at the Land of Lakes trailhead but there are vault toilets at both Crag Crest and the County Line trailheads. The folks at Grand Mesa Lodge are also happy to let you use their restroom and they also have free coffee.


The pavement on the Land of Lakes Trail looks in good enough shape for a wheelchair to negotiate and definitely smooth enough to push a stroller on. There is one spot where a tree root has pushed the trail up 4 or 5 inches making it a possible obstacle to a wheelchair.


The trail leads up to an overlook where a couple of kiosks have been setup to point out some of the mountains and lakes. The views are pretty awesome and on a clear day you can see 'like' forever.


The trail runs along the ridge for a little ways and then loops back down through the trees to the parking area.


There is a picnic table on the west end of the parking area and there wasn't much in the way of mosquitoes. The south side of the Grand Mesa has already dried out quite a bit and the mosquitoes seem to have thinned out considerably compared to the north side of the mountain.

The National Forest Service has done a nice job making the Land of Lakes Trail accessible and putting together an enjoyable experience. If you have need of a nice smooth trail that is easy to get around on or are just looking for a good place for a picnic then check out the Land of Lakes Trail and 'Take a hike'.