The World's Largest Flat-Top Mountain Is Having Its Moment

Ever wonder why the mountain looming east of town looks less like a peak and more like a tabletop? Grand Mesa's fall color is running about a week ahead of schedule this year, with peak conditions expected to hold through Powderhorn's Color Weekend on September 26-27 — and the shape of the mountain underneath all that gold is the better story.

Grand Mesa is the largest flat-top mountain in the world, and its tabletop shape isn't a fluke of erosion so much as the opposite of it. Somewhere between 9 and 10 million years ago, lava filled an ancient valley and hardened into a cap of volcanic basalt. The softer sedimentary rock around it wore away over millions of years; the basalt didn't. What's left is a plateau stretching more than 500 square miles, sitting over 10,000 feet above sea level, dotted with more than 300 alpine lakes.

The mountain's protection has its own long history. The Grand Mesa Forest Reserve was set aside in 1892, making it one of the earliest forest reserves established anywhere in the country — decades before "national forest" was even the standard term, and long before most people thought to protect a watershed just because a growing valley below it would someday need the water.

This year's color show comes with a caveat: drought conditions mean a shorter, slightly duller display than usual, with aspens turning earlier and faster rather than holding gold for weeks. If you've been putting off the drive up, this is the week to stop putting it off. The Grand Mesa Scenic and Historic Byway winds 63 miles across the top of it, and Powderhorn Mountain Resort is running its annual Color Weekend September 26-27, with scenic chairlift rides, hiking, and mountain biking up top for anyone who'd rather ride into the view than drive to it.

It's easy to take for granted when it's just "the mountain" out the window on a commute, but there aren't many places where you can point at your own backyard and say, accurately, that it's one of a kind on the planet. That's part of what living here actually means — not just proximity to a pretty drive, but easy access to something genuinely rare.

— Scott Cotton - Realtor® @ The Christi Reece Group and Your Real Estate Trail Guide

Sources:

Colorado's Grand Mesa Is Ready for Its Fall Color Peak — https://kool1079.com/ixp/507/p/colorado-grand-mesa-fall-color-preview/

Grand Mesa — Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Mesa

Grand Mesa National Forest — Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Mesa_National_Forest

Color Weekend — Powderhorn Mountain Resort — https://www.powderhorn.com/events/color-weekend