Mt. Garfield - Last Flash

Toru Sugita

Mount Garfield is found just to the north and east of Grand Junction Colorado. It is the eastern most major peak in the Bookcliff Mountains, the Bookcliffs are an older range of mountains that run mostly east to west.

It rises to an elevation just above the six thousand foot level. In respect to the local topography it is two thousand feet higher than the floor of the Grand Valley. It is five thousand feet lower than the top of the Grand Mesa which attains a height of eleven thousand feet above sea level.

The Grand Valley is the location of the confluence of the Colorado River and the Gunnison Rivers and contains the towns of Palisade, Clifton, Grand Junction and Fruita. The Bookcliffs got their name in 1853 when Captain John Gunnison lead an expedition through the Grand Valley. Gunnison’s recorder, Lieutenant E.G. Beckwith who noticed the unusual formation of the mountain range, said the mountain resembled “books on a shelf.”

Sugita captures the mountain at sunset as it glows orange in the fading light.