This page features photos of Blue Mesa Reservoir, along the Gunnison River in Colorado’s Curecanti National Recreation Area.
Created by 390-foot Blue Mesa Dam, the reservoir is the largest lake located entirely within Colorado. The reservoir’s total capacity is 940,700 acre-feet and covers 9,180 acres at maximum elevation, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.
The reservoir was at about one-third of capacity when these photos were captured. The haze visible in these images was smoke from the Gold Mountain Fire near Ouray.
Construction on Blue Mesa Dam began in 1962 under the Colorado River Storage Project, a massive federal effort to dam and develop the waters of the Upper Colorado River Basin. Blue Mesa Dam, which impounds one of the Colorado River’s major tributaries, stores water for downstream use, aids in flood control and generates hydroelectric power.
Our free multimedia library has other images of the reservoir:
| Date | July 1, 2026 |
| Location | Blue Mesa Reservoir, Colorado (map) |
| Credit | Mitch Tobin/The Water Desk |
| Rights | Free to reuse under Creative Commons license. |
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