As luck will have it, I’ve been so busy of late I haven’t had time to do anything. (Thanks for the kind words, Yogi.) I finally got around to sorting through the last of the images from the recent western trip Susan and I completed in October. One of our planned stops was the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in western Colorado. This national park is not as well known, nor heavily visited, as others in the National Park System line up, however, it is not to be missed. We were there on a gorgeous fall day and spent our time exploring the entire length of this dynamic spot, watching the sun and shadows create pictures with every turn.
About half the area (16,000 acres) are designated as wilderness, and virtually in accessible. The canyon gets its name from the fact that parts of the river receive only (on average) 33 minutes of sunlight per day. Talk about a short growing season. At its steepest point, the canyon is only about 40 feet wide at the river.
I tend not to choose a favorite spot when surround by places like the Black Canyon, so I’ll show a couple images from a spot that was as close to breathtaking as these things can get. It’s called the Painted Wall, considered the tallest wall in the canyon at 2,250 feet (yeah, about a half mile). The rocks here are about 500 million years old (give or take), mostly metamorphic and igneous. The Painted Wall has intrusions of pegmatite that look as if a giant splashed paint on a black canvas.
Not to be missed.
Witt’s End 
Gorgeous! Majestic!
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