Grand Mesa

The Grand Mesa is just what it says it is – this huge expanse of land that rises from the plains.  Coming up from the plains below, it looks like a huge flat iron. It was formed when basaltic lava capped a low area but then the softer rock around eroded and left the hard mesa intact.  Once on top (over 10,000 feet in most places) the mesa is heavily forested and it is not that flat.  And big surprise, there are lakes everywhere!  Big ones, little ones, deep ones and some that were not a lot bigger than puddles, but over 300 hundred of them are on the Mesa.

It was so cool and magnificent that we decided to stay several days.  Our first two nights were at Island Lake Campground.  It was a small campground nestled at one end of one of the larger lakes.  So unbelievably quiet and incredibly dark and starry skies.

Island Lake - campground nestled in trees near lower right edge of lake.