Colorado River bottomlands in the Grand Valley have slowly but steadily been transformed into a “String of Pearls” over the past 30 years thanks to the Grand Junction Lions Club, the Colorado Riverfront Commission and Great Outdoors Colorado.

Now, suddenly, we’ve hit a high-speed mode where years of planning and vision are culminating with a flurry of proposed projects that amplify their impact on each other and move us a step closer to becoming the recreation-centric community prescribed by economic development experts.

The Grand Junction City Council on Wednesday unanimously agreed to apply for a $1.5 million GOCO grant to build a hard-surface trail that will connect the Riverfront Trail to the Lunch Loops, or Tabeguache trailhead.

On its own, that doesn’t seem to be that big of a deal, but it fixes a major gap in the trail system. The Lunch Loops enjoy more than 100,000 user days per year, putting it in the company of Hanging Lake as far as popular outdoor destinations. But it’s cut off from t

Read more at The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.