Reportedly the only true cut-your-own Christmas tree plantation in Colorado, which makes it worth the Western Slope drive but also means the field will be busy on any given weekend.
'Charlie Brown' trees from $25; standard trees 6-30 ft start at $85; potted living trees (4-6 ft) also sold.
Covered Bridge Ranch, also marketed as Colorado Conifers, is a 300-acre working ranch outside Montrose on Colorado’s Western Slope that has grown Christmas trees since 2005 alongside a bigger landscaping-nursery business. That second detail matters more than it sounds: a December 2023 Colorado Public Radio feature reported that the Riessen family’s main income comes from selling landscaping trees, with the holiday season and a fall pumpkin patch as side businesses layered on top. That’s part of why, per the same reporting, this can financially support being what the National Christmas Tree Association and the owners themselves describe as the only true cut-your-own Christmas tree plantation operating in Colorado, as opposed to a retail lot selling trucked-in trees or a permit to cut on national forest land. Colorado’s dry climate and strong sun make commercial tree farming unusually hard, which is the reason genuine u-cut operations are so rare here in the first place.
The farm uses drip irrigation and a no-weeding method the family says keeps the soil cooler, growing roughly 1,000 trees a year across nine listed varieties: Austrian pine, Black Hills spruce, Colorado blue spruce, Douglas fir, Fraser fir, Norway spruce, Scotch pine, white fir, and white pine. Visitors walk several acres of planted rows, tag the tree they want, and a tractor-drawn wagon hauls it back to the barns for shaking, netting, and loading. That’s a meaningfully more involved process than picking a tree off a retail lot, and it lines up with the record confirming both cut-your-own and choose-and-cut are offered, with saws provided.
There is no admission charge to walk the fields, according to the research notes, so the tree itself is the real cost. The farm sells “Charlie Brown” trees, its term for less-than-perfect specimens, starting at $25, which is a genuinely useful budget option if a full, symmetrical shape isn’t the priority. Standard trees run 6 to 30 feet and start at $85, though the record doesn’t give a per-foot rate beyond that floor, so a taller tree within that range will presumably cost more than $85 without a stated ceiling. Potted living trees in the 4-6 foot range are also sold, but no price is published for those. Beyond the tree, expect small optional spending on weekend concessions, wreaths, and the gift shop, none of which have published prices in this record.
Because this is reported to be the only true cut-your-own tree farm in the state, expect real weekend traffic, particularly on the first Saturday after Thanksgiving, which tends to be the single busiest day at any farm running a season this short. The farm is open Wednesday through Sunday only, 10am to 4:30pm, so there’s no way to dodge weekend crowds by going Monday or Tuesday since the gates are simply closed those two days. A Wednesday or Thursday visit within the season window is the closest thing to a quiet option this record supports.
The record doesn’t address parking surface or accessibility, and given this is a 300-acre ranch with field rows rather than a paved retail lot, expect an unpaved surface as a reasonable inference, not a confirmed fact. There’s also a real discrepancy worth flagging: the farm’s own site lists 2026 dates of November 27 through December 20, while a separate aggregator, last updated in December 2025, lists different dates that appear to describe the prior season. Trust the farm’s own current listing, but a quick call before a long Western Slope drive is cheap insurance.
The farm's own site lists 2026 dates of November 27-December 20, open Wednesday through Sunday, 10am-4:30pm. Go on a weekday within that window if you can, since a farm reported to be the state's only genuine cut-your-own tree farm draws crowds on weekends, especially the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Not stated directly, but the visit includes tagging a tree in the field, then a tractor-drawn wagon ride back to the barns for shaking, netting, and loading, which suggests more of a half-outing than a quick in-and-out stop.
Not measured directly in the record, but the research notes describe this as the only known true you-cut Christmas tree farm operating in Colorado (as opposed to a retail lot or a national-forest permit cut), and note it is expected to be busy on weekends in late November as a result. A Wednesday-through-Sunday schedule also means there's no midweek relief on Mondays and Tuesdays because the farm is simply closed then.
Not described in the record. This is a 300-acre working ranch, so expect a field or gravel lot rather than a paved surface, which is a reasonable inference for this kind of property rather than a confirmed detail.
Not addressed in the source. Given that visitors walk several acres of planted fields to tag a tree before a tractor wagon hauls it out, this is not a paved or fully accessible layout.
Skip Covered Bridge Ranch if you want a quiet, low-traffic visit, since it is reportedly Colorado's only true cut-your-own tree plantation and draws weekend crowds accordingly, and skip it if you can only visit Monday or Tuesday, since the farm is open Wednesday through Sunday only.
No specific nearby-farm pairing is available in this record. Montrose sits on the Western Slope, geographically separate from the Front Range and Denver Metro farms elsewhere in this dataset, so this is likely to be a standalone trip rather than one leg of a multi-farm day.
According to a December 2023 Colorado Public Radio feature, the National Christmas Tree Association and the farm's own owners describe it as, as far as they know, the only true you-cut Christmas tree farm (rather than a retail lot or a national-forest permit cut) operating in the state, because Colorado's dry climate and intense sun make commercial tree growing unusually difficult.
'Charlie Brown' (imperfect) trees start at $25. Standard trees, 6 to 30 feet, start at $85. Potted living trees in the 4-6 foot range are also sold, though no price for those is published in the record.
No. The record confirms saws are provided.
The farm's own website, checked August 29, 2026, lists November 27-December 20, 2026. A separate third-party aggregator, updated in December 2025, listed different dates (Nov 25-Dec 23) with the same hours, which appears to describe the prior 2025 season rather than 2026. Go with the farm's own posted 2026 dates, but a quick call to confirm before driving out is a reasonable precaution given that discrepancy.
November 27 – December 20, 2026. Wednesday-Sunday. Hours: 10:00 AM-4:30 PM.
Trees start at $25. 'Charlie Brown' trees from $25; standard trees 6-30 ft start at $85; potted living trees (4-6 ft) also sold.
Yes. It's cut-your-own and choose-and-cut (staff cuts it for you), and a saw is provided.
17249 6250 Road (Dave Wood Road), Montrose, CO 81403, in Montrose County. It is one of 1 farms we track in Western Slope CO.
Map pin is set to the town centre. Navigate to the street address above, not the pin.
coveredbridgeranch.com · pickyourownchristmastree.org · colorado.com
Checked September 2026.