Just when I thought I had seen every landscape in Colorado, I caught sight of Mesa de Maya, northeast of Branson in southeastern Colorado. This massive tableland, rising above the surrounding grasslands is part of the Raton-Clayton Volcanic Shield; in fact, it is contiguous with Black Mesa, in the Oklahoma Panhandle, that I discussed earlier this week.
Like all mesas in this Volcanic Shield, Mesa de Maya is an erosional remnant, protected by a thick cap of basalt. Its elevation is 6900 feet in Colorado, declining to 4900 feet in Oklahoma. Northern portions of the Mesa drain to the Purgatoire River (a tributary of the Arkansas River) while the southwest portion drains toward the Dry Cimarron River, in northeast New Mexico, and the southeast portion is drained by tributaries of North Carrizo Creek (itself a tributary of the Cimarron).
The thin soil atop Mesa de Maya supports a grassland ecosystem while its flanks are covered by a mixed woodland of juniper and piñon pine. Unfortunately, almost all of the Mesa is privately owned ranchland, not accessible to the public. Nevertheless, we can certainly appreciate its grandeur from afar.
