I first heard about Grand Mesa while I was on Colorado’s Western Slope earlier this fall. It is supposedly the world’s largest flat-topped mountain and has more than 300 lakes. I was told it was beautiful but was initially skeptical; mesa tops in New Mexico are often rather ho-hum. On the other hand, New Mexican mesas seldom (if ever) boast lakes, so off I went on a new adventure.
As you can see from the image above, my skepticism was completely unwarranted. There were a lot of lakes. There were also a lot of trees, and many of them were aspens in the midst of turning.
I ran into another hiker, told him I was looking for aspens, and asked what he recommended. He said, “Oh, Lost Lake is beautiful! And it’s a really easy trail — only about a mile round-trip!” Since I’d already hiked earlier in the day, a single mile sounded really good. I was also intrigued since I’d hiked to an entirely different Lost Lake the previous day.1
Turns out the hike was a mile and a quarter one-way so the expedition took a bit longer than I’d planned. I didn’t explore much since the lake was lined with huge rocks that I didn’t feel I could safely negotiate at the time.2 That’s likely part of the reason I was unable to get a shot of the entire lake. The two photos above instead show roughly each half of the lake.
The last image shows one more Grand Mesa body of water. I’m not sure whether it was one of those official 300+ lakes or simply a stock pond, but I thought the reflections were beautiful either way.
Photos of the other Lost Lake will be showing up very soon.
It was late in the day and I was by myself. Plus I was pretty tired by that time.
Your photos really capture the Colorado landscapes with such beauty & adventure!
Stunningly beautiful, Lisa!