This year, we didn’t have the vacation days to swing a two-week roadtrip, so instead we settled for a much more low key – but still fun – belated anniversary three-day weekend in Palisade, Colorado.
Palisade is a small town on Colorado’s Western Slope, best known for its wineries and peach orchards. It’s a town we’ve driven past a handful of times, but we’d never bothered to stop. This trip would remedy that.
We arrived in the land of fractional street names around noon, after stopping for an early lunch at James M. Robb Colorado River State Park en route – yet another place we’d driven past many times but never bothered to stop. There’s not a lot to do at the park, and it’s right next to the highway so it’s not exactly a peaceful place, but it worked well for a quick picnic and it’s only about 10 minutes from Palisade.
Table of Contents
Peach picking
When researching the trip, I came across multiple sources stating that peach season was from mid-July to mid-September, so we assumed we wouldn’t have any trouble finding a place to go peach picking if we visited in that window. We assumed incorrectly. The peach crop is very susceptible to weather, and it was running behind schedule this year. Only one of the U-pick places was open for picking, so that’s where we went.
Palisade Peach Shack is right off the interstate. We arrived at their farmstand first, where we were offered free samples of a variety of their fruits. They also sell peach soft serve ice cream (which was delicious) and peach lattes (which were also delicious), as well as various homegrown products (we bought peach jam and salsa, but those were just two of dozens of options).
Just up the road is their U-pick location, though their orchards are quite expansive. The peach trees right behind the parking lot must not have been ready yet, because instead we piled into a wagon with a few other customers for a tractor ride out to the more distant orchards. The driver gave us a safety spiel before we headed out, and we all got quite a laugh out of the fact that he had to start by asking if anyone was allergic to peaches – because yes, it’s happened before.
He dropped us off at one end of a smaller collection of peach trees and we proceeded to spend the next 30 minutes picking and eating far too many peaches. We ended up bringing home nearly four dozen of them, and then spent the next two weeks enjoying peach coffee cake, peach sauce on waffles, yogurt with peaches and granola, a cucumber/tomato/peach salad, and just plain old fresh peaches. As I write this, there are still a few peaches in the freezer to be eaten later.
It’s not the most inexpensive way to purchase Palisade peaches, but I have no regrets.
Wine tasting
At the end of our session, Palisade Peach Shack gave us coupons for a mini wine tasting at their winery. It’s right next door, and it was free, so we figured we might as well check it out. Deroco Cellars is clearly a newer facility and they were in the middle of doing some renovations. It’s beautiful for sure, but the service was a bit lackluster. We were the only ones there, yet the lone employee wasn’t overly interested in talking with us and didn’t know the answers to any of our questions about the wine. We were each given four extremely tiny samples of their wines in a little plastic cup, and that was it. Granted, it was a free tasting. But still. It was underwhelming.
Luckily, we’d already booked an actual wine tasting the next afternoon at Talon Wines/Meadery of the Rockies. There are dozens of wineries to choose from in Palisade, and many people will opt to spend an entire day – or even an entire weekend – sampling wines. We decided to choose just one, and I think we chose well.
Things we liked about Talon:
- We were able to build our own flights (which was the most important thing for me because I don’t like a lot of wines).
- They offer a variety of regular wines, but they also have fruit wines and mead. All are available as flights, glasses, and bottles.
- We were able to sit right at the bar and chat with the sommelier, who was friendly and knowledgeable.
- The cheese board was simple yet tasty, and we got to bring the board home with us.
- And, lastly, all 15 wines/meads we sampled were really good! We even brought some lavender honey and strawberry honey mead home with us.
Beer and cider
While mostly a wine destination, Palisade is home to one brewery and one cidery. We visited both.
Talbott’s Cider is located way up on the mesa above the Colorado River on the southern edge of Palisade. They have about a dozen ciders on tap as well as a few wines and a small food menu. We ordered two flights, allowing us to sample 10 of their ciders. The pear was probably my favorite, followed by the peach. The peach habañero was certainly the most interesting. As my husband described it:
“Wow, that does have a kick to it. I’m feeling it in my left eye. It went right up my nose into my left eye. But I like it.”
Front: dry apple, sweet apple, mimosa, pear
Palisade Brewing, meanwhile, is much more centrally located, right near downtown Palisade, and there’s plenty of free parking in the surrounding blocks. We weren’t originally planning to come here because their menu seemed fairly average, and when I mentioned it to a friend she confirmed that the beer was fine but the atmosphere was meh.
All these things turned out to be true. The beers were fine but nothing outstanding. The food (pretzel with beer cheese for me and pork nachos for him) was fine. The outdoor seating area was decent, but the inside area wasn’t great; it wasn’t well-lit and the music was far too loud. I don’t feel the need to return here.
Right: peach sour, kolsch, Mexican lager, blonde ale
Hiking
Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper trip for us if we didn’t do at least some hiking. While not necessarily a hiking destination, there are a handful of trails nearby so we had a few options to choose from. Our original plan was to do two short hikes back-to-back – Mount Garfield, followed by a section of the Palisade Rim Trail. We didn’t end up doing the latter. I’m sure it’s a nice hike, but it was hot, climbing Mount Garfield was hard, and after standing on the highest point around with views in all directions, walking along the Palisade Rim felt a bit redundant.
To reach the Mount Garfield Trailhead, drive through a tunnel under the interstate and then up a short but somewhat steep hill; my maps app got us here without issue. However… the road is unpaved, and I’m fairly certain it’s made of bentonite. Signs warn to proceed with caution when wet. It had rained overnight and there was a large puddle in the tunnel, so we got out to assess the situation. Finding the water to be fairly shallow, we decided it was safe to proceed. We made it without issue, but even just driving through that one puddle was enough to leave our tires coated in mud. If the entire road was wet, I wouldn’t attempt it. I’ve learned this lesson the hard way.
I learned about this hike from a friend, and my first thought when she told me you could climb Mount Garfield was: how? It’s so steep. Surely, I thought, the trail must loop around the back where the terrain might be more manageable.
It does not.
It just goes up.
In the first mile (1.6 km), we gained almost 1300 feet (400 m)!
After a brief stretch of flat trail, we began our second ascent, followed by another short reprieve and then another climb, gaining approximately 900 feet (275 m) in this final mile (1.6 km) to the summit.
In addition to the elevation gain, one stretch of trail is very exposed, and would probably not be a good choice for someone with a fear of heights.
But we did it, and after a small section that required a little bit of scrambling, we made it to the summit. The highest point is marked by an American flag and 360° views. Though wildfire smoke obscured the views to the south, we were able to see quite a distance in all other directions.
The trail is unfortunately pretty braided, and this is BLM land meaning that maintenance is minimal. As a result, there were no signs or cairns marking the correct path and we ended up off route in a couple places during the ascent. It wasn’t a big deal; it still got us there. But from below, you really just can’t tell which path is the actual trail. It was much easier to figure out when viewed from above, and we were able to stay on route on the way down.
We’d begun our hike before 8:00am and it was already plenty warm. By the time we were back to the car, it was 90°F (32°C) and the sun was blazing. There’s no shade on this trail, so we were glad we’d started early. Now, we had the rest of the day to relax and give our legs a break.
Accommodations
Palisade has clearly worked hard to maintain its small town feel. There are no chain hotels in town (if you want one of those, you’ll need to head a few exits up the highway to Grand Junction) so accommodations are limited to small local motels or BnBs. We stayed at the Spoke and Vine Motel, and the rooms were tiny and minimalist, but it had everything we needed for the weekend. Downtown Palisade and a few of the wineries were within walking distance, though the peach orchard wasn’t. Palisade is a small town, though, so nothing is ever that long of a drive.
And that pretty well wraps up our time in Palisade. We felt like a three-day/two-night trip was a good amount of time here. We were able to see everything we wanted but we also had some downtime in between. We opted to leave first thing Sunday morning for the drive back home so we could beat the traffic (the traffic, sadly, had other ideas, and the drive home was awful), so this is actually more of a two-day itinerary. For a full three-day trip, you could easily visit some other wineries and hike or mountain bike part of the Palisade Rim.
I wouldn’t, however, recommend doing these things in the order they’re listed here. Hike first, then drink!
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