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Fall Colors on the Grand Mesa 2025

After Work Adventures | Tuesday, September 23, 2025

I’m not going to have very much time to chase fall colors this season, so I decided to head up onto the Grand Mesa after work this afternoon to spend a few hours seeing how the colors were coming along so far this year. I’m glad that I did since the colors were almost at peak and looking pretty great just about everywhere I went, including at my favorite overlook at Skyway Point. I also took a chance exploring some new areas that I had never been to before and found some nice patches of colors along the way. It was a nice way to spend a few hours until sunset this evening!

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Coal Creek Basin: Switchback Trail to Shirttail Point

After Work Adventures | Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Although we didn’t get to go backpacking on the Grand Mesa late last month like we had hoped, now that the Lands End Road is open I figured I’d head up after work this afternoon to hike a short loop above Coal Creek Basin from the Switchback Trail to Shirttail Point. Last summer I had hiked down the Palisade Plunge Trail to Otto’s Wall from Shirttail Point but was turned back by an incoming storm, so I was looking forward to returning to this part of the Grand Mesa. This hike turned out to be a nice little 5.5 mile loop with about 900 feet of elevation loss and gain that was perfect for when the temperature in the valley below is just too hot for hiking after work.

Early Fall Colors on the Grand Mesa 2024

After Work Adventures | Thursday, September 19, 2024

I’ve got a very busy couple of weeks coming up with a Canyon of Lodore river trip schedule for next week and right afterwards I will be leaving to spend a week along the Arizona Strip at the beginning of October, so I’m not really going to have any time to chase fall colors in Colorado this year. Even though I know it’s too early for peak fall colors, I thought it would be a good idea to head up onto the Grand Mesa after work this afternoon to see how the colors were coming along since it’s going to be my only chance this season. As I suspected, it was still mostly green out, but there were some scattered patches of nice colors to be found, so it’s wasn’t a total waste of my time. Here are a few photos from my short trip up onto the Grand Mesa this evening.

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Otto’s Wall: The Palisade Plunge at Shirttail Point

After Work Adventures | Monday, July 15, 2024

Today I spent all day up on the Grand Mesa for work as we inspected three of the City’s largest dams with a drone. The project took us most of the day and since we finished around the time I would usually be heading home form work, I decided to stick around for a while to get a little hiking in on a segment of the Palisade Plunge Trail before I headed home for the evening.

Fall Colors on the Grand Mesa

After Work Adventures | Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Hard to believe, but I recently realized that it’s been five years since I last headed up onto the Grand Mesa to check out the Fall Colors, which was something I used to do almost every year at the end of September. With that in mind, even though I knew the autumn colors seemed to be running a bit behind this year, I decided to head up onto the Grand Mesa after work today for a short evening visit since it would be my only opportunity this week. Unfortunately, there was also a prescribed burn happening on the Uncompahgre Plateau near Gateway today, so there was a lot of smoke in the air and conditions weren’t ideal for photography, but here are a few of the photos I took this evening.

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Tag: grand mesa national forest

Fall Colors on the Grand Mesa 2025

Coal Creek Basin: Switchback Trail to Shirttail Point

Early Fall Colors on the Grand Mesa 2024

Otto’s Wall: The Palisade Plunge at Shirttail Point

Fall Colors on the Grand Mesa