Today we’re moving down the road a bit, 62 miles to Montrose, CO where we hope to hike around the Curecanti National Recreational Area and visit the Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP. After the time spent in the Freightliner Service Center, is our RV ready for travel? Nope. We had the cooling alarm and light 4 times before we had gone 20 miles. How come we can drive it 10 miles with Tom from Freightliner who has his computer plugged in to our engine and have absolutely no trouble? But, when we are ready to travel, we have problems? Isn’t that the way it always happens?
At this point, rather than driving back to Freightliner, we decided to continue on to Montrose where we had a reservation and then hit Freightliner in 5 days on the way back to Interstate 70 which we planned to take into Utah. And, after those 4 instances, we traveled without problems. I really think that our RV really does not like change and fights us. When it sees that we are going to change, it prevents our slide from closing and then, when we finally do get on the road, it prevents the engine from cooling. An RV with a mind of its own. I’m sure we do not have the only one.
We got to Montrose, set up and headed on over to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP. What an interesting facet of geology, miles of gently rolling hills on either side with this 2600’ deep gash in the middle separating them. It is called black because it is so deep and so narrow that sunlight barely penetrates, even at midday. The walls are a deep grey with very little to ameliorate the somber tone.
Geologist Wallace Hansen put it this way: ‘Some are longer, some are deeper, some are narrower, and a few have walls as steep. But no other canyon in North America combines the depth, narrowness, sheerness and somber countenance of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.’ But it was the waters of the Gunnison River which formed this deep, steep gash in the earth. And, the Gunnison flows extremely fast through this canyon. In just the 48 miles of its length, it loses more elevation than the entire Mississippi River does in its 1500-mile path from Minnesota to the Gulf. In one 2-mile stretch it drops 480’.
Yet this rushing torrent is extremely patient. Using only water, it spent 2 million years carving two parallel 2600’ high walls out of gneiss and shist, two extremely hard rocks. It carved so fine and so deep that only 1100’ separate the two sides and at times it is deeper than it is wide. It carves 1” out of this rock every century and the width of a hair every year.
We saw a movie at the Visitor Center on the south side that told about a group of explorers, commissioned to survey the river who chose to ride down the river in wooden boats. One boat splintered in the rocky channel, the boat with all their supplies. Another expedition consisted of 2 men who floated down the river in a rubber raft. At one point they came to a bubbling churning, foaming rapids. One of them said, ‘What the heck,’ dived in and disappeared around the corner. The other stood on the bank for a few minutes then did the same thing. When he emerged, he found his companion next to him on the bank. I’m not sure about the ‘what the heck’ but I’m sure that I do not have the same ice water flowing in my veins that these 2 did.
We drove around Rim Drive which follows the south rim with many short trails to overlooks. Here are some pictures I took from them. The Gunnison is that thin ribbon of green at the bottom.
Here is Painted Wall.
I’m sure this is not where I’d stand.
Deep, dark, mysterious. All these describe the canyon. And, except for a few minutes of sunshine, we saw it on a rainy, cloudy day which only added to the somber, grey nature.
Finally, as we were heading back to our campsite, we saw the sun peeking through some of the lingering clouds.
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