From Montrose, we drove to The Black Canyon of the Gunnison, another National Park.
From the NPS website :-
“Big enough to be overwhelming, still intimate enough to feel the pulse of time, Black Canyon of the Gunnison exposes you to some of the steepest cliffs, oldest rock, and craggiest spires in North America. With two million years to work, the Gunnison River, along with the forces of weathering, has sculpted this vertical wilderness of rock, water, and sky.”

It’s a remarkable place, deep, steep and narrow gorges carved out by the river over millennia.

The Gunnison River

Long view

Wendell Berry’s words

Warning!

The Gunnison River

Western Whiptail – Aspidoscelis tigris?

Striated Painted Wall cliff

Lightning struck tree

Dramatic gorge

Gambel Oak in foreground, Canyon beyond

Gamble Oak