Over the July Fourth weekend, my sister Amy, brother-in-law Dan, and
niece Madeline, came for a visit. We joined the hordes of other tourists and went out to do tourist things. On day one we visited the Black Canyon of the
Gunnison.
Nancy and I had only visited the Black Canyon once, and that was years ago in late November so only the first viewpoint was open. It was also dark and cold. The other day, on the third of July, the entire canyon was visible in all it's glory, deep and dark with the green
Gunnison River flowing nicely though the bottom of the canyon. The waters of the river cut through the uplift many centuries ago, exposing the geology of the rocks. You can see in the photo above, many igneous
intrusions running through the darker foundation rock forming amazing patterns.
At this point in the canyon, the sign said you could put the Empire State Building in the bottom of the canyon and the top the structure would be...........where? Where would you guess? The answer is, halfway up the canyon wall. We were able to make out some people in the bottom of the canyon fishing, and they were tiny specks. It's not the deepest canyon, nor the narrowest, nor the craggiest, nor the twistiest nor the canyon with the steepest walls. But it's a fantastic combination of all; deep, dark, narrow, steep and winding and like no other canyon in the U.S.
I encourage you to click on Nancy's photos to enlarge them for the full effect.
Over the July Fourth weekend, my sister Amy, brother-in-law Dan, and niece Madeline, came for a visit. We joined the hordes of other tourists and went out to do tourist things. On day one we visited the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.
Nancy and I had only visited the Black Canyon once, and that was years ago in late November so only the first viewpoint was open. It was also dark and cold. The other day, on the third of July, the entire canyon was visible in all it's glory, deep and dark with the green Gunnison River flowing nicely though the bottom of the canyon. The waters of the river cut through the uplift many centuries ago, exposing the geology of the rocks. You can see in the photo above, many igneous intrusions running through the darker foundation rock forming amazing patterns.
At this point in the canyon, the sign said you could put the Empire State Building in the bottom of the canyon and the top the structure would be...........where? Where would you guess? The answer is, halfway up the canyon wall. We were able to make out some people in the bottom of the canyon fishing, and they were tiny specks. It's not the deepest canyon, nor the narrowest, nor the craggiest, nor the twistiest nor the canyon with the steepest walls. But it's a fantastic combination of all; deep, dark, narrow, steep and winding and like no other canyon in the U.S.
I encourage you to click on Nancy's photos to enlarge them for the full effect.
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