Grand Mesa is said to be the largest flat-topped mountain in the world, and when you climb onto it you understand why. From the orchards and desert canyons of western Colorado, the road rises through scrub oak and aspen onto a lava-capped plateau about forty miles long, at around eleven thousand feet. The top is forest, meadow and lake, cool in summer and buried in snow in winter, and it feels like a different region from the hot valley floor below.
The lava is the reason. Millions of years ago, basalt flows covered the area, and as the softer rock around them wore away, the hard cap was left standing as a table above the landscape. Glaciers later carved the surface, scooping out hollows that now hold hundreds of small lakes, so many that the mesa is a paradise for anglers. The old stories say that the Ute people used the mesa for hunting in summer, and the name Grand Mesa comes from Spanish and French trappers who saw its vast, flat profile from afar. Spruce, fir and aspen cover much of the top, and in autumn the aspens turn the slopes gold.
The byway, Colorado 65, climbs from the Cedaredge side and runs across the top before descending toward Mesa Lakes and Interstate 70. It is a smooth, easy road with long bends, sweeping views from the rim over the Gunnison and Colorado river country, and little traffic outside holidays. Watch for deer and elk at dusk, for cattle in open areas, and for sudden weather: afternoon thunderstorms are common in summer, with lightning on the exposed plateau, and snow can arrive in September. The road is usually open from late spring to late autumn, depending on snow, and winter closures apply to some sections.
Services are limited on the mesa itself, with a lodge or two and a visitor centre in season. Cedaredge and Delta, to the south, have fuel, supermarkets and restaurants, and Palisade, famous for peaches and wine, makes a pleasant stop on the way down, so fill the tank before you climb. Take a jacket, as temperatures at the top can be twenty degrees cooler than in the valley.
Pull over at an overlook near the rim, and look out across the desert far below. The contrast between cool forest and hot canyon country is the best part of the ride.