Grand Mesa Getaway

Leslie and I have never been to the Grand Mesa in Colorado. We have only seen it from the highway many times. According to Wikipedia, “It is the largest flat-topped mountain in the world…reaching an elevation of about 11,000 feet.”

We made reservations at the Grand Mesa Lodge cabins several months ago and were excited to explore the area. We planned to be there for 3 nights, so we basically had 2 days to explore.

Thursday

On the morning of the first full day (Thursday), we took an easy hike along Mesa Lake to Lost Lake. It was a beautiful hike.

Map showing hiking trails around Mesa Lake and Lost Lake in Colorado, featuring elevation contour lines.
Narrow hiking trail surrounded by bright green aspen trees in Colorado.
A serene view of a lake surrounded by lush green trees and a hillside in the background under a partly cloudy sky.
Person standing by a lake surrounded by trees and rocky terrain, wearing sunglasses and a plaid shirt.

After our hike, we had lunch at the lodge. Then we decided to check out this road we saw. It had a sign that said “Observatory 12 Miles”. We didn’t find anyone that could tell us much about what we would find on this road, so we went to find out for ourselves.

The name of the road was “Land’s End Road” 😨

The drive was beautiful! Along the way we discovered the Raber Cow Camp. Most of the abandoned cow camps on the Grand Mesa were thought to be hazardous so the Forest Service tore them down. However, the Raber Cow Camp was spared and was actually renovated in 1993 as an example of what life here was like in the 1940’s and 1950’s, the heydays of cow camp life on Grand Mesa. Winifred Raber, who stayed at the cow camp every summer from the 1930s until 1966, has helped document the history of the camp.

A rustic log cabin nestled among tall green grasses and surrounded by dense evergreen trees under a bright blue sky.

We continued on Land’s End Road and after more wonderfully scenic driving we arrived at the Observatory.

Land’s End Observatory is a Ranger Observatory, built in 1936-37 by the United States Forest Service and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It is marked by simplicity and craftsmanship, appearing to grow out of the earth rather than intrude upon it.

While near the observatory we spotted another road to get there; this one looked like fun, so we took it!

Panoramic view of the Grand Mesa in Colorado, showcasing lush greenery and winding roads against a backdrop of expansive skies.

That was an awesome drive! Great job Leslie. The road is a narrow one-vehicle width road near the top, so you have to be pretty careful as you wind around all those switchbacks. It relaxes in width slightly as you make your way down this incredibly fun and beautiful drive.

As we made our way back, the very long way (rather than going back up Land’s End Road), we meandered into the Adobe Badlands. After gawking at the badlands initially we tried to find a place to stop to take pictures, but the narrow road with traffic didn’t allow for it until we got to this place; which was OK but doesn’t truly capture the moon-like landscape we saw along the drive. I would love to go check these out again some day.

A panoramic view of the Adobe Badlands in Colorado, featuring rolling yellow and gray hills under a blue sky with scattered clouds.

Friday

On Friday we decided to take another hike. Thursday’s hike was pretty flat, and we wanted to take a slightly longer hike that had some gain to it. We found the Crag Crest National Recreation Trail.

Map showing the hiking route on the Grand Mesa with elevation details.

We opted for the out and back as opposed to the much longer full loop. We were delighted with the fantastic scenery along the way, and the spectacular views once we reached the summit.

Saturday

We had planned to take an indirect route home and stay in Cripple Creek that night, since Leslie had not yet been there. On our drive we passed Black Canyon, and since Mark had never been there, we stopped for a look. Beautiful place.

It was a pretty long driving day with nice stops as mentioned above, and I should also mention Teller County Road 11 which was a short but very fun roller coaster of a road with its blind ups and steep downs. We arrived at our home for the night, Cripple Creek Hospitality House. This was a very nice place to stay, and fun and interesting given its history as a turn of the century (19th to 20th) hospital. That evening we ate in Cripple Creek and Mark checked off one of his bucket list items by finally eating rocky mountain oysters (the easy way… deep fried with cocktail sauce). Yum. 😋

A view of a charming street lined with historic buildings in Cripple Creek, Colorado, showcasing intricate architecture and storefronts under a clear blue sky.

Sunday

Before heading home, we were compelled to visit a nearby town we spotted on the map: Victor. We found Victor to be a wonderfully quaint town. We walked around the town as they were having a Rock and Gem show that morning. We were both taken by the town’s charm and may very well have to visit again sometime soon.

We took a very long and arduous route to home trying to avoid Highway 25. We’ll probably take Highway 25 next time. What a fun quick getaway it was, exploring more of our home state.

Thanks for reading,

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