Trekking For Trout on the Grand Mesa of Colorado: The Return of the Hawkeye by Michael "Hawkeye" Johnson

This second 10-day adventure began August 7, 2023, in the Trickle Lake region on the eastern side of the Grand Mesa. Last month I explored the western side by foot and packraft visiting 15 lakes in a 10-day loop that I devised called Trekking for Trout. On this adventure, I’m hiking and packrafting new trails and lakes on my return to the Grand Mesa of Colorado.

Deb and I drove in the night before and dispersed camped in our van near the Trickel Park Reservoir. In the morning, Deb went for a hike, and I inflated the raft to fish this large body of water catching several good-sized rainbow trout. Off to a good start! Deb headed for home, and I hit the trail hiking a combination of dirt road and ATV track on the Surface Creek and Cedar Mesa roads. I found a nice campsite at the Cedar Mesa Reservoir, but the fishing was a little slow; only 2 trout.

The next day I picked up the Cedar Mesa Trail, an ATV 2 track, and found a nice campsite but no fish at Cherry Lane Reservoir. Continuing on the trail for several miles I reached Marcott Park Reservoir and found a nice, shaded spot to camp, inflated the boat and fished the rest of the day but catching only 1 trout. The next morning was unproductive and as I was breaking camp and packing up, I noticed a herd of cows came over to watch me. The call of nature took me a little out of sight and when I returned the cows had gotten into everything and scattered my gear all around, I was hopping mad, but they just stood there staring dumbly and ticked off that I had spoiled their fun and refused to run off. I managed to collect everything, nothing was broken thank goodness, and I headed north on the dirt Marcott road with the cows watching me depart.

I followed this road several miles being passed by a few jeeps and ATVs, until I reached the lovely Y&S Reservoir with a strange name but loaded with large Cutthroat Trout! I found a cozy campsite here and caught some of the biggest trout of my life including a huge 20-inch Cutthroat.

The next day I continued north on the road to reach the popular Leon Lake. The nice thing about reaching your destination early is the choice of campsite. I inflated the raft using the bag to collect air and squeeze it into the boat. Takes 8-9 bags to fill it. The fly fishing was kind of slow here although the bait fishermen on shore seemed to be doing well. It was fun to explore that large lake over the next 2 days. When it was time to leave, I lashed my gear onto the front of the boat, paddled, and fished to the far end of the lake looking for the Leon Lake Trail. As I paddled along a bald eagle swooped down low on me. This was unusual behavior for an eagle, and I looked around to discover I was paddling without realizing a trout was on the end of the line. I’m glad I didn’t catch an eagle!

I found the trail without trouble, deflated the boat, and rolled it up tight until about the size of a sleeping bag. Loaded it on top and stowed the paddles in my SMD Flex PR backpack which is ideal for packrafting. The Leon Lake trail leads me to the Weir and Johnson Reservoir where I am scheduled to meet my friend Tony sometime today. This popular area features a campground, and I luckily scored a campsite for the next couple of days to get to fishing. Tony shows up and joins me with his packraft. The fishing here is quite good. When we depart, we can fit both rafts in his van without deflating them. We drive to the Crag Crest campground for a final night and fish at Eggleston Lake.

The Grand Mesa of Colorado is an amazing place located southeast of Grand Junction. It’s loaded with lakes, streams, trails, and dirt roads. Many of the lakes are stocked with fish. A little on the rustic side, it contains lodges and cabins, only a couple of full hookup campgrounds, and many basic campgrounds and offers dispersed camping and boondocking throughout the area. It’s vast, with over 500 square miles of terrain to explore, unpopulated, and I’ve only scratched the surface. I'm looking forward to another visit next season.