Glade Park is an
unincorporated community and a
U.S. Post Office located in
Mesa County
Mesa County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 155,703. The county seat is Grand Junction. The county was named for the many large mesas in the area, including Grand Mesa.
Mesa Co ...
,
Colorado, United States. The Glade Park Post Office has the
ZIP Code 81523.
[
]
Geography
Glade Park is located at (38.993572,-108.749886), and is west of downtown Grand Junction, Colorado, the largest city on Colorado's western slope. To access Glade Park, one must either drive up Little Park Road, or drive up the Rim Rock Drive
Rim Rock Drive is a scenic road in Colorado National Monument. The drive follows the upper rim of a series of canyons, extending from the vicinity of Fruita, Colorado, in the west to near Grand Junction, Colorado, in the east, connecting points o ...
in Colorado National Monument, gaining approximately elevation over of hairpin curves. The views on the drive are spectacular, encompassing red sandstone canyons and sheer rock faces. The elevation of Glade Park is approximately . Due to the elevation, the temperature in Glade Park is typically ~10 °F cooler than in Grand Junction, though in winter temperatures can be significantly warmer than in Grand Junction if an inversion layer is present in the Grand Valley below.
Community
Glade Park is a former western Colorado ranching and farming community. As precipitation has declined, much of the ranch land has been split up into 35-40 acre parcels on which homes now stand. Area zoning permits a density of one house per parcel. There is no municipal water system available in Glade Park; most houses have water wells. The water table is approximately below the ground surface. Some homes harvest their own water off the roof.
The remoteness of the area and the creativity of its residents, has made Glade Park home to an unusually high number of alternative and sustainably-constructed homes, including Earthship
An Earthship is a style of architecture developed in the late 20th century to early 21st century by architect Mike Reynolds (architect), Michael Reynolds. Earthships are designed to behave as Passive solar building design, passive solar earth s ...
s, rammed earth construction, straw bale
Straw is an agricultural byproduct consisting of the dry stalks of cereal plants after the grain and chaff have been removed. It makes up about half of the yield of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, rye and wheat. It has a number ...
, geodesic dome, earthen berm and log construction. The distance of many of the building lots from electrical infrastructure has stimulated construction of a number of energy self-sufficient homes.
References
External links
Community website
{{authority control
Unincorporated communities in Mesa County, Colorado
Unincorporated communities in Colorado