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Leon Peak: Returning to Mesa County’s Highest PointLeon Peak: Returning to Mesa County’s Highest Point

Leon Peak: Returning to Mesa County’s Highest Point

Summer Solstice on the Grand Mesa | Sunday, June 21, 2026

After going on a nice overnight backpacking trip into the Flat Tops Wilderness with Jackson, I returned home on Saturday afternoon to spend some time with our new kitties. Then on Sunday morning Diane and I drove up onto the Grand Mesa so we could hike to the summit of Leon Peak, which at 11,236 feet is the highest point in Mesa County, since she had never been up there before and I was interested in returning again since the last time I was there was about twelve years ago. The area was very busy when we arrived at the trailhead by the Weir and Johnson Campground, but it seemed like everyone else was there to fish and spend time by the water because we saw no one else along the route after leaving the lakes behind.

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Fall Colors on the Grand Mesa 2025Fall Colors on the Grand Mesa 2025

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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Fall Colors on the Grand MesaFall Colors on the Grand Mesa

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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The Crest of the Grand Mesa: Crag Crest TrailThe Crest of the Grand Mesa: Crag Crest Trail

The Crest of the Grand Mesa: Crag Crest Trail

Sunday, August 1, 2021

This was one of those rare weekends when my plans just didn’t work out at all. I was originally planning to spend most of the weekend trying to hike around the strong monsoon weather in the San Juan Mountains around Silverton, but after leaving work on Friday afternoon and almost making it to Red Mountain Pass, I was stopped by a mudslide that wasn’t going to be cleaned up for a while. I ended up driving back to Ouray figure out my next move, but with mudslides and road closures already common throughout the mountains and strong storms predicted for the rest of the weekend, I decided it was finally time for me to take a weekend off, so I headed back home.

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Grand Mesa Fall Colors 2018Grand Mesa Fall Colors 2018

Grand Mesa Fall Colors 2018

Fall Colors 2018 | Sunday, September 16, 2018

After a quick trip up to Imogene Pass in the San Juan Mountains on Saturday morning I wasn’t planning on going anywhere else for the rest of the weekend. However, when I saw that the fall colors were looking pretty good this early in the season I figured it would be worth it to take a quick drive up onto the Grand Mesa later on Sunday afternoon to catch the sunset. It turned out to be a pretty good decision! Originally, I was planning on heading up to the Grand Mesa after work one day during the last week of September like I usually do, but now I’m sure if I had waited until then it probably would have been way too late! While there were still plenty of green trees up there, and there were also groups of trees that had already dropped most of their leaves, I thought there was a really good mix of colors that looked nice. I also saw more reds and oranges than I usually do up in this area. Here are a few photos from our evening on the Grand Mesa.

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