Where in Western Colorado Will You Find This Balancing Rock?

Have you ever crossed paths with this balancing rock? You'll find it on a popular Western Colorado trail. Where is it?

I've hiked this trail literally hundreds of times, and until yesterday, have never noticed this curiosity. Strangely, it's only a few feet off of the main trail.

I think you'll agree this constitutes an impressive balancing act. Thankfully a good Samaritan braced it up with a dead tree limb. No doubt that a piece of wood will be more than adequate to support several tons of rock.

This curiosity can be found when hiking the East Trail up Mt. Garfield. When making the hike, you'll encounter two "plateaus." Many hikers refer to the first plateau as "First Flats" and the other as "Second Flats." This rock would be found on Second Flats. It can be spotted when looking south from the trail towards the valley.

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I guess the primary reason I find this rock so interesting would be the way it came to rest. Basically a giant cube, it somehow came to rest on one of its points, like a diamond. That's a neat trick. The idea that it has managed to remain positioned like this is impressive.

Check out the Second Flats on a smokey September morning. The photo above is facing east towards Grand Mesa. In this case, the cube-like balancing rock would be found on the right side of the trail. Look how far to the north the rock face is. I'm not a geologist by any means, but I can only assume the cube-like rock originated from the cliff to the north. It would have rolled a tremendous distance to come to rest where it did.

The hike up Mt. Garfield is calling your name. When hiking last Thursday I had the mountain entirely to myself. There wasn't another person anywhere on the trail. Like I said before, my journeys have included hundreds of hikes up this trail, and yet until now, this rock had gone totally unnoticed. There's always something new to be found on the hike up Mt. Garfield.