The Crag Crest Trail was carved out during the Great Depression in 1937. The Forest Service had $1,800 to spend, 8 men, a mule, a summer (to work), and unlimited dynamite. Workmen earned $2.50 per day. Every displaced rock was repositioned mossy-side up. It was called the Rim Rock Trail then.
Pioneers discovered and climbed Crag Crest Trail in days when there was no such thing as a one-day outing on Grand Mesa. Usually, it took a day just to get up there. Even women climbed the rocks, undeterred by the handicap of long skirts and petticoats.
The trail forms 2.5 miles of the Delta-Mesa County border. It is a 10 mile loop. When originally built, there was no loop. The loop to the South was added in 1972.
Along the Crest itself, the trail is 36* wide. The trail designers decided that ‘when people who are fond of each other are moved by great beauty, they like to be able to walk side by side. The other 7.5 miles are 24 inches wide.
In 1978, the Crag Crest Trail became part of the National Recreation Trail System. It was only the third trail so designated in the entire U.S.
Jim Wetzel
Director, Delta County Historical Society and Museum
(970) 874-8721
Linda
