jesseslife.com

There is a lot of stuff about the [tag]Black Canyon[/tag] of the [tag]Gunnison[/tag] National Park that is impossible. Impossible to believe that it is deeper than it is wide in some places. Impossible to believe that to get from the south rim to the north rim, a crow-flies distance of 1/4 mile, is a 70 mile drive. Impossible to fathom a road into the canyon with 16% grades (that’s steep). Sunlight only gets to the bottom of the canyon at midday. It’s also impossible to capture with photography.

But I gave it a go, and pretty much struck out. To get any sense of perspective, you need to shoot when the sun is low in order to get shadows on the wall. But the canyon is so steep that in the morning and evening, the bottom of the cayon is black and you can never get an idea of how deep it is. I suppose the best way is to drive down the steep East Portal Road and hike down the canyon and take some shots from the bottom. This I did not do as Harold is a little large to navigate the road.

But I did meet some very nice people from Laguna Niguel, California who live about 1/2 mile from my sister (funny!). K & M were driving east to meet their son at Cornell for his graduation, hitting as many scenic places as they could. They were using National Geographic’s Scenic Highway’s And Byways to work their way across the country, a plan I heartily endorsed. Good luck!

But I’m off to spend a night in a hotel in Grand Junction, mostly to scrape the layer of crud off me and have a good meal. Harold does have a shower, but to get reaally clean takes a little more room and water than I have on hand. Conditions at Rocky Mountain look like snow, so I’ll have to see if I’ll be backpacking. I’ll let you know.