Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park exposed me and Mike to some of the steepest cliffs, and oldest rock that we've seen so far. With two million years to work, the Gunnison River, along with the forces of weathering, has sculpted this vertical wilderness of rock, water, and sky.
This is truly an amazing canyon with breathtaking views and great trails. The scenic drives with overlooks are gorgeous!
The Black Canyon of the Gunnison is just unbelievable. Standing on the edge of the rim and marveling at the staggering cliffs and ancient rock faces was humbling.
Perched on the South Rim of the Black Canyon, this campground is surrounded by scrub oak forests and sits atop ancient hard rocks. Deer, grouse, bears, and bobcats are known to frequent the area but luckily we didn't see any.
We did the scenic route where you drive a little then get out and walk to spots and it was so worth it! There is a National Park Service map that showed us where to go!
The rock of Black Canyon started when rivers carried sediment to a sea where it was deposited. Volcanoes also blasted ash into the sea.
The newly formed rock of these deposits was gradually buried deep below Earth's surface. Great pressure and heat transformed them to metamorphic rock and this changed to form basement rock occurred 1.8 billion years ago.
While still buried deep in the Earth, magma squeezed into schist and gneiss, 1.4 to 1.7 billion years ago. As it cooled, minerals grew and formed the igneous rocks that bring vibrant color accents to the canyon walls.
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