Sunday, July 18, 1999
We drove to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison today, about 50 miles from Lake City. It’s an U.S. park, so it’s nicely done. Its discovery, exploration and development provide an interesting history. They tried but could never build a railroad all of the way through the canyon. We drove up a large mesa and stopped at a number of overlooks. The Gunnison River first carved out the soft volcanic ash and then the hard and ancient prehistoric rock but at a slow rate.
The canyon walls are very steep
and the sound of the river can be barely heard. But, the hikers by the river
find the roar of the river to be deafening, at least in certain areas. The
canyon is very deep. Two Empire State Buildings stacked one on top of the other
would fit within the canyon. It’s a harsh environment and many of the trees
are stunted.
We returned to Lake City by the way of the town of Gunnison. They have a Walmart as does Montrose, but it is much smaller. The Blue Mesa reservoir is on the way and is huge. I saw no swimmers; I guess it’s not warm enough. The landscape is desert-like, and there are many mesas. Seeing the blue water of the reservoir and sandy hills reminded me of pictures I had seen of Utah and Arizona. We saw a lot of animals today including a fox.
This is our last weekend at
Lake City. In fact, we should be home by next weekend. It’s a cool and rainy
night. Edith is again reading “The Firm” and I am half-watching a story
about the Mafia on NBC.