Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
Black Canyon
Coordinates: 38 ° 33 '18 "  N , 107 ° 41' 12.4"  W.
Location:	Colorado , United States
Next city:	Montrose (Colorado)
Surface:	124.56 km²
Founding:	March 2, 1933
Visitors:	308,962 (2018)

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is located in western Colorado . It protects the central part of the gorge of the Gunnison River , a tributary of the Colorado River , which is exceptionally steep due to the hard rock. Upstream joins the Curecanti National Recreation Area , a National Recreation Area (recreation area of ​​national importance), in which the river is dammed up to a reservoir with heavy recreational use.

The two edges of the gorge are not connected to each other in the reserve, most visitors only use the southern edge. There are two park entrances. The south entrance is 23 km east of Montrose . It can be reached via US Highway 50 and Colorado Highway 347. The north entrance is 17 km south of Crawford via Colorado Highway 92 and the North Rim Road . The latter is unpaved and closed in winter. The Gunnison River itself can be reached via the East Portal Road, which branches off from the 347 within the national park. East Portal Road is extremely steep with gradients of up to 16 percent and many hairpin bends. It is closed in winter. Vehicles over 6.70 m in length are not permitted here. The park was placed under protection as a national monument in 1933 and upgraded to a national park in 1999. It is administered by the National Park Service .

Geography and geology

The Black Canyon is a deep canyon through which the Gunnison River flows. It is so narrow that very little sunlight reaches the bottom, which makes the walls appear dark to black and thus gave the canyon its name. At the Chasm Overlook lookout point, it reaches a depth of 555 m with only 345 m between the edges of the gorge. In the canyon, the Gunnison River has an average gradient of 1.8 percent. In the 3200 m long section between “Pulpit Rock” and “Chasm View”, however, the gradient is 5 percent. From the edge of the canyon, the roar of the gray-green water of the Gunnison River rushing through the gorge can be clearly heard. The river digs in about three centimeters per century.

The canyon that is visible today was formed in the last 2 million years when the Gunnison River carved its way through a layer of sandstone from the Jura and hit the surface of a block of roughly 2 billion-year-old Precambrian rock that was formed during the Laramian mountain formation about 70 years ago Had been raised millions of years ago . It consists of gneiss with pegmatite dikes running through it , which shows a pronounced planar directional structure ( foliation ). The resilience of the rock, which has been under enormous pressure over long geological periods, explains the almost exclusively vertical erosion .

biology

Birds

The Great Horned Owl Bubo virginianus, also called American Eagle Owl (Great Horned Owl), chasing rabbits and other rodents on the canyon rim at night. The mountain hut warbler Sialia currucoides (Mountain Bluebird) nests in the trees on the edge of the canyon. It is diurnal and lives on insects. The blue jay Cyanocitta stelleri (Steller's Jay) lives on the canyon rim or in the upper regions of the side canyons. Its main diet consists of seeds, nuts and insects, but it also does not spurn the remains of a picnic. The peregrine falcon Falco peregrinus (Peregrine Falcon) nests on ledges of the canyon wall and hunts its prey - smaller birds - in flight. The white-breasted swift Aeronautes saxatalis (White-throated Swift) nests high up in the canyon walls. It usually feeds its young early in the morning or in the evening when its prey - flying insects - is most active. The Canyon Wren Catherpes mexicanus (Canyon Wren) nests like the peregrine falcon on rocky outcrops. He lives on spiders and other insects that he finds in the crevices of the rock. The gray water dipper Cinclus mexicanus (American Dipper or Water Ouzel) is both a water bird and a songbird. She prefers to build her nest at river level on moss behind waterfalls and hunts underwater for insects, larvae, fish eggs and small fish by submerging up to 60 times per minute. Broad-tailed hummingbird Selasphorus platycercus (Broad-tailed Hummingbird), golden warbler Dendroica petechia (Yellow Warbler), violet tern Tachycineta thalassina (Violet-green Swallow) and sandpipers (Sandpipers) complete the bird diversity.

Great horned owls, blue-tailed jays, and gray-water blackbirds inhabit the canyon year-round, while mountain hut warblers, peregrine falcons, white-breasted swifts, and canyon wren are migratory birds.

Attractions

Satellite image of the park

The main attraction of the park is the road along the southern rim of the canyon. There is also a campsite and many paved and unpaved hiking trails. There is a dirt trail from the canyon rim down to the river, the descent takes about 4 hours and the ascent about 6 hours.

history

The Black Canyon has been an obstacle to humans for ages. Settling the gorge was never possible. Only on the canyon rim did archaeologists find traces of early human life.

Even the Ute , the largest Indian tribe that has lived here for centuries, never penetrated the deeper regions of the canyon.

The first Europeans to explore western Colorado were Spaniards. The expedition of Juan Rivera in 1765 and the famous expedition of Franciscan Fathers Domínguez and Escalante in 1776 took them to the Black Canyon region, but they all considered it impassable.

Like them, many other explorers fared. On his expedition in September 1853, Captain John Gunnison crossed the North Fork of the river, which was later named after him, but then decided to avoid the Black Canyon and moved further west to the Uncompahgre River . The first written report came from the Hayden expedition that followed his route in 1873/74. When they looked down into the canyon at Morrow Point, they flatly declared it impassable.

In 1882 the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad was looking for a way for their rail line to go west. Their representative General Palmer commissioned the surveyor Byron Bryant to explore the possibility of a route through the Black Canyon to Delta.

On December 12, 1882, Bryant began the difficult work with a small group of surveyors. Every morning they climbed down into the canyon, measured the icy gorge in the short hours of daylight and climbed up again in the evening. In less than half a month, half of the men gave up, but Bryant and the hard core of his troop carried on. After 68 days they reached the end of the canyon. Bryant convinced Palmer that a railroad line through the canyon was not economically viable. Thereupon Palmer decided to leave the Black Canyon with the railway line at Cimarron.

Towards the end of the 19th century, farmers in the neighboring Uncompahgre Valley were looking for a way to divert water from the Gunnison River to irrigate their fields. For this purpose, they wanted to drill a tunnel from Black Canyon through Vernal Mesa . In 1900, John Pelton of Montrose, William Torrence of the Montrose Electric Light and Power Company, and a small group of volunteers set out on an expedition from Cimarron in wooden and canvas boats. The planned 5-day trip turned into a month-long odyssey. At an impassable narrow point, called "The Narrows", where the canyon is 12 m wide and 518 m deep, they gave up and left the Black Canyon at the nearest side canyon. They called the place of failure "Falls of Sorrow".

A year later, Fellows, a hydraulic engineer who worked for the government, made a second attempt with Torrence. They started on August 12th from Cimarron with a rubber mattress as a raft, a Kodak roll film camera and lighter luggage than the previous expedition. Wilbur Dillon provided them with everything they needed from the canyon rim. The first supply point was at the East Portal on today's eastern border of the National Park. They made better progress as the river now carried less water in midsummer. They rowed, swam, or avoided the rapids on their way through the canyon. After 8 days they met Dillon again, who had descended the Red Rock Canyon to supply them with new provisions. Here they could have ended their trip, but they decided to go on for another day. When they emerged from the canyon the next day, they had covered 33 miles in 9 days and crossed the river 76 times. They brought with them the knowledge that building a tunnel was possible. Fellow explored the canyon in more detail over the next 2 years with a group of surveyors and in 1905 construction began on the Gunnison Diverson Tunnel, which was completed in 1909 and which continues to supply water to the Uncompahgre Valley to this day.

In 1916, Ellsworth Kolb attempted to travel down the Black Canyon. He had to interrupt his expedition three times because he and other members of his crew suffered injuries, they lost their boats and most of their equipment in the rapids more than once, or the weather made it impossible to continue their journey. But he did not give up, and he finally managed, albeit intermittently, to navigate the entire Black Canyon from Cimarron to Delta.

Through the Fellows and Kolb's publications about their expeditions, Montrose residents began to take an interest in Black Canyon in the late 1920s. They realized what a jewel they had there on their doorstep and campaigned for the Black Canyon to be recognized as a national monument. The Montrose Lions Club built a road to the canyon's south rim that was inaugurated on Labor Day 1930. On March 2, 1933, President Herbert Hoover declared the Black Canyon of the Gunnison a National Monument. The Black Canyon became more famous over the years and on October 21, 1999, President Bill Clinton declared it a national park.

Web links

Commons : Black-Canyon-of-the-Gunnison-National Park  - Collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

• National Park Service: Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park (official site; English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ National Park Service: - The Geologic Story (accessed April 26, 2009)