Central Ohio NatureA Little to The West – Black Canyon of The Gunnison
We were heading west to the mountains and deserts of Colorado and Utah. Our new to us Lance 1995 travel trailer and GMC Yukon tow vehicle were acquired primarily, or so we thought, to explore and photograph the natural wonders of Florida for two months each winter. But now in the high plains of eastern Colorado where interstate 70 finds little reason to alter it’s course we were to encounter the first bit of “exciting” western scenery. In a place where the all encompassing sky and the land meet at an uninterrupted horizon, a wall of black clouds as far a the eye could see presented a seemingly impenetrable barrier between us and the small half ghost town of Siebert which was to be the day’s destination. Crawling along into the “wall”, with heavy rain and some hail pounding the car and fragile plastic vents and other pieces on the trailer’s roof, we passed cars stopped by the side of the road and even one or two that had found the ditch. Then almost as quickly as it began it was over, fortunately having sounded much worse than it turned out to be.
As we left Siebert the next morning what appeared to be relatively new grain elevators attested to the fact that someone in the town, who’s center is now comprised largely of abandoned sun bleached weathered storefronts, must be making some money. About seven hours later, after crossing the continental divide at Monarch Pass, a task that severely tested our until now very competent tow vehicle, we arrived in Montrose, Colorado about six miles from the entrance to The Black Canyon of The Gunnison NP.
Since no one in our party was in shape for extended hikes into the interior of the park or a 2000 foot near vertical descent into the canyon our exploring would be done by driving to trailheads and doing less ambitious day hikes to points of interest. Even so the trails ranged from easy to moderate in difficulty with the 8000 feet elevation contributing to the difficulty for us usually near sea level hikers.
Below are some pictures that we felt in a very limited way captured the essence of the park. To really do such a place justice would take many more years than we have.
.
The canyon rim:
In places flowing 2000 feet below the canyon rim the distant roar of the cascading river is all that betrays it’s presence.
The two sides of the canyon are often much different due the accumulation of snow on the shaded side and subsequent growth of trees and erosion.
Most but not all overlooks have guardrails.
Along the rim trees struggle for existence in the hot dry climate. Some pinyon pines in the park are over 2000 years old.
The Werner Point trail, probably our favorite, offered many outstanding views.
In the early afternoon before one side of the canyon is completely shaded the Painted Rock Overlook offers a dramatic view.
.
Along the river:
Outside the park boundary, and close to Cimarron, the Mesa Creek trail offers a great way to experience the Gunnison River.
Along the trail.
East Portal is within the park at river level. This small lake, created by a diversion dam, allows a reliable water supply to flow through the mountains via the Gunnison Tunnel to Montrose, CO and surrounding area.
At one time providing transportation when other options weren’t available this restored Denver and Rio Grande narrow gauge locomotive and cars sit on display near Cimarron. The railroad ran regularly through the upper Black Canyon of the Gunnison until 1940.
.
There were an interesting variety of critters as well as wild flowers along the park trails. While we saw birds they were much more dispersed than what we are used to in central Ohio.
A Townsend’s Solitaire perches along the trail.
A Mule Deer fawn is curious as we pass by.
Probably the most striking reptile seen while hiking in the park was this Collared Lazard, (Donna).
Another view, (Donna).
A type western aster was often seen along shady parts of the tail.
While visiting an arboretum in Montrose we saw this beautiful Sphinx Moth.
Along the trail this entertaining and noisy Clark’s Nutcracker made it’s presence known.
This not found in Ohio fly caught my wife’s attention.
A number of very interesting butterflies eluded the camera lens but not this Little Wood Satyr, (Donna).
Eastern Fence Lazard, (Donna).
A Orange Meadowhawk poses, arboretum in Montrose.
Western Tiger Swallowtail, arboretum in Montrose.
Great Spangled Fritillary, (Donna).
Western Branded Skippers, (Donna).
As we eat lunch a Scrub Jay waited, (Donna).
.
As we left western Colorado and headed for Arches NP we couldn’t help but wish for just a few more days to explore the canyon and surrounding area but have the suspicion that no matter how long our stay we would always want just a few days more. Thanks for stopping by.
Central Ohio Nature 
Wow
On Wednesday, August 28, 2019, Central Ohio Nature wrote:
> centralohionature posted: ” We were heading west to the mountains and > deserts of Colorado and Utah. Our new to us Lance 1995 travel trailer and > GMC Yukon tow vehicle were acquired primarily, or so we thought, to explore > and photograph the natural wonders of Florida for two months ” >
Thanks Sandra, oops to a couple of text screwups in the original post!
What a great place! Wonderful pictures. Would love to go there.
If you love rocks you would love this place. It has inspired me to increase my knowledge of geology!
The collared lizard was almost as beautiful as the views.
Agree!
Beautiful captures, love that colorful lizard!
Thanks Donna!
Hi, Just returned from Utah and one of my targets while there was Pinyon Jay. I was drawn to your post because it mentioned Pinyon Jay. In looking at your great photos I found a couple were mislabeled. The bird you have identified as a Scrub Jay appears to be a Townsend’s Solitaire. Note the complete eyering and the thrush-like bill.
The Pinyon Jay is actually a Scrub Jay. Note the gray breast with a bluish collar coming down onto the upper flanks, the white line above the eye and the very long tail. Pinyon would be pretty much all blue on the underparts, would lack the white above the eye and the tail of Pinyon is much shorter than all other jays.
Still, great photos and you did way better on reptiles than I did. We had some very cold weather and I was surprised that I saw any lizards at all!
Loved the skippers;-))
I think the aster might be Glaucous Aster. It reminded me of Smooth-blue Aster which we have in the east. But, I’m a bird guy, not a plant guy;-))
Thanks Denis, I’ll double check and make the necessary corrections. Try as we may, at times it’s still easy to misidentify birds, especially if they’re not normally seen on our home turf.