Grand Mesa National Forest

Well all I can say is WOW I even wanted to go for a hike and get lost in this unique place. It does not do it justice for a two hour drive.

Simply breathtaking views. Do the Land’s End Observatory viewpoint. Cannot believe how far you could see. Quite a few hikes to choose from. I did a really easy half mile one, the Land O’ Lakes one. Stunning views with minimal effort to get to a cliff to peer out.
The terrain varies from low shrubs growing out of rocky formations, to aspen, to pine. Quite a few livestock as well. Saw moose, a turkey, a bunch of cows, marmots, chipmunks, etc.
Lots of bodies of water if you are a fisher or like to boat.
I would give it 5 stars but it is a 4 hour drive from Denver… not something I could regularly do.

This place is ruggedly awesome and beautiful. We comfortably camped here for about a week and never ran out of stuff to do and see.
There is a watering hole (with some jumps) that gets a small crowd in the summer, but nothing overwhelming. Just a bunch of locals hanging out, having some drinks, going for a swim. The pools are carved in to the rockbed by the flow of the water throughout the ages. The big jump is incredibly scary, and once you commit, you pretty much have to do it because you slide down a nearly vertical, featureless rock wall to get to the jumping spot. To attempt to climb back up… well, you risk slipping and falling over the edge anyway. Trust me, it’s better to jump than to tumble.
When I got to the edge and looked down, there was a massive boulder sticking out below me! Then a small pool that I had to aim for while trying to clear the boulder! ugh… as soon as I got to the jumping ledge, I wanted to back out. I tried to precariously climb back up the wall, and despite my amateur rock-​climbing skills, I got nowhere. So I went over the f***ing edge and waited for my friend to take the plunge as well because, after all, she was the one who had talked me in to it. Oh, but she never came. Her hysterical crying had summoned a team of burly men to bail her out (one joined her on the ledge to boost her up to the guys at the top). Wow. I will never listen to her again!
Aside from the epic swimming hole, there was a lot of sage brush and juniper trees, as well as interesting rock features, and colorful cliff faces to the mesas (translates to «table» because the top is flat). We did a lot of hiking and some bouldering, and on our last day there, her dog saved me from falling to my death (be careful while trail blazing… seriously!).
I come from the flat land of Florida, so I wasn’t at all used to this terrain. There are a lot of overhangs, and steep rock faces to what I call «shelves». If you’re trying to get down in a hurry, make sure you can see a trail or something. If her dog hadn’t freaked out and nipped me before I slid down to the 3^rd ledge, I would have needed climbing ropes to get back up (if I hadn’t already fallen to my death)…many thanks to the person hiking at the bottom who realized what I was attempting and started waving and screaming frantically for me to not to continue descending past where I was. When I got back to the top and took the ridge trail around and down, I saw that there was nothing below where I was going. It was a thin, extremely high and deep overhang, with no other options. Whew! (Lucky!!!)