Blue Mesa Reservoir is the largest lake in Colorado. It is 36 miles long and the highway actually crosses it once and an arm of it once. As you can see, it was frozen when we visited (except near the intake towers). The lake's level is low due to the several years of reduced moisture in Colorado. This is part of the Colorado River storage system for dividing the water between the various western states.

The powerplant (below) is at the very east end of the Black Canyon. Like Morrow Point Reservoir, this is in the Curecanti National Recreation Area and is 390' high. It only generates about half the power as Morrow Point; it was built primarily to store water.