Press "Enter" to skip to content

Tag: debeque canyon

Plateau Creek: Spring Runoff from the Grand Mesa

Fleming Point to Big Wash | Average CFS: 1,385
After Work Adventures | Tuesday, May 23, 2023

While Jackson and I were floating through Little Yampa Canyon a few days ago we were talking about where we wanted to go next and decided that it was finally time for us to paddle down Plateau Creek after work this week. This is a creek that is very close to home that we have wanted to check out for quite a long time, but some years it’s hard to catch enough water to make it happen during the short spring runoff window. This year happens to be one of those rare years where there is enough water up on the Grand Mesa to get on Plateau Creek for an extended period of time and we wanted to take advantage of that opportunity. We left from work, dropped off a car at the mouth of Big Wash, where we planned to take-out, and then drove up the canyon a couple more miles to a put-in just below Fleming Point.

Leave a Comment

Big Wash

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Recently I’ve been trying to get out on more hikes in the evening after work before the days start getting too short for that. Today I was looking for something close to home without too much elevation gain and settled on hiking up Big Wash which is located a short distance up Plateau Creek from I-70 along the Grand Mesa Scenic Byway. Big Wash drains part of the west side of the Grand Mesa starting up near Chalk Mountain and joins Plateau Creek just upstream from the Colorado River. It turned out to be a nice easy canyon hike with a trickle of water flowing through the canyon. While the water was nice to listen to as I hiked, it made for some very slick mud. I had to hop across rocks through many parts of the canyon to avoid the slippery mud. There were a couple of easy obstacles to scramble up and bypass, I just had to make sure to avoid the poison ivy at one of the bypasses. The hike ended at an overhanging waterfall inside a large wet alcove. I didn’t see a way around it so I turned around and headed back down. Here are a few photos from the short hike.

Leave a Comment

Mount Lincoln

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

I see Mount Lincoln (No, not that Mount Lincoln!) almost every day since it stands above the Little Book Cliffs at the east end of the Grand Valley between Mount Garfield (6,765) and the Grand Mesa. It’s not very far from home and I have wanted to climb it for years, but for some reason I never seemed to get around to it. Last week I finally decided to give it a shot from the Stagecoach Trail in Palisade, but ended up changing my plans based on the weather that evening.

1 Comment

Mount Garfield Sunset

Friday the 13th | Friday, March 13, 2015

This evening it looked like there might be a really nice sunset over the Grand Valley so I hopped into my Jeep and took a quick drive into the North Desert at the base of the Little Book Cliffs to take a few photos. It was a good decision since there were nice clouds over Mount Garfield and the Grand Mesa when the sun set.

1 Comment