With Black Canyon only twelve miles from home, I've visited there numerous times already this year. In fact, there have been two travelogues from there. I wanted Pam to see it first hand, but I'll try to avoid posting the same photos as before.
First of all, the sunrise that morning was very nice, and I took a photo through my office window. It's too bad the trees across the street block my view of the full sunrise, but the color over the mountains where Black Canyon is located was worth saving.
Rather than taking the easy way (highway) to the canyon, we chose to drive the dirt road through the "adobe badlands", a little farther but much more interesting, I think. In places, you can see trails up the buttes created by ATV and dirt bike riders.
The last few miles took us through ranchland, some of which have been in operation for more than 100 years.
It was early in the day when we reached the boundary of the park and some haze still shrouded the mountains surrounding the canyon.
In addition to the normal views of canyon walls, the Gunnison River flowing through the canyon, and lichens that could be thousands of years old, we enjoyed some good views of the West Elk Mountains that helped shape the Gunnison's path millions of years ago.
Thanks to Pam's sharp eyes and long zoom lens, we also got some photos of three kayaks struggling to make their way through the canyon. They were at a point where huge boulders block the river. Unable to go back, the kayakers had to find a way to scramble over the boulders to continue on. One fellow came out of the kayak when he pushed off the boulder, but his pals came to the rescue.
We could see some monstrous rapids they had already traversed, but many
more Class 4 and 5 rapids await them. I cannot imagine making that
journey.
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