Sunday June 1, 2014

 

Non-Travel Day

 

Another beautiful morning! Our first stop today was the “Black Canyon of
the Gunnison National Park”, a short distance west on US 50 and then north on CO
Rt . 347. This is like no other canyon in the U.S. with its sheer cliff walls, its narrow opening, sometimes only 1,500 feet across and the depth of the canyon which can reach more than 2,000 feet. The canyon walls are made up of volcanic materials, mostly black in color, and with the erosion of the softer rock the remaining harder rock has been formed into dramatic sculptures. Sunlight reaches the canyon walls only briefly each day, hence the name “Black Canyon.   After viewing the film at the visitor’s center we proceeded along the rim road, stopping at many of the overlooks, several requiring short hikes to reach the viewing point at the rim of the canyon. All of the views were spectacular, and breathtaking. We also drove down a park service road to the bottom of the canyon at the east end, to get an up close
and personal view of the river and of the dam up river of the canyon. The drive alone was an experience, with the road sometimes at a 16% grade; of course there were many restrictions on what vehicles were allowed on this road. After leaving the Black Canyon NP we headed west on US 50 to the “Curecanti National Recreation Area” this is a recreational area that includes 3 large lakes, one of which is the largest in CO. Over the past several days we saw several boats being trailered over the road, that were larger than you would expect to see in the mountains, now we know where they were used. The lakes were huge and are large enough to allow the use of boats in the 30 foot range, along with sailboats of all sizes. Today was definitely a wonderful day.