There is enough water flowing in the canyon that it could power the entire city (a dam was never built), and being on a fault, ground water seeps down to the hot magma and returns in a series of hot springs. The hot springs water from the canyon itself is piped into hot springs spas that make Ouray a popular tourist spot today.
The canyon is one of 2 places that the endangered black swift (200 nesting pairs) can be found. They nest behind waterfalls, and we were lucky enough to actually see a nest on the canyon wall with a hatchling (squint and you can make it out). The other location? Behind a waterfall we also saw on our boat trip in the Black Canyon.
On our way north we once again drove through some amazing country. Barren and arid. Starkly beautiful. Here is a view of Flaming Gorge National Monument. The reservoir is the result of damming of the Green River (just like Lake Powell further downstream), and just watching the scenery made the time in the car fly by.
After a stop at Dinosaur National Monument, it was onward to Pinedale where we were to meet our group...and the Llamas.
In my final trip blog you will join us on the second highlight of our trip - llama packing into the Titcomb Basin in the Wind River Range.
It's the Dick & Kathy show again. When are you guys going to start taking it easy? Like us, sort of. We are currently on our way to Enterprise, Oregon (small town east of the Wallowa's) to hop into a Cessna and fly into the Minam River Ranch high in the mountains. Only other way to get there is hiking - which our son & daughter-in-law are doing at the moment. They'll meet u there. Best of all, they're paying the bills.
ReplyDeleteWalt
You might be wearing out your joints. Just kidding.
ReplyDeleteMakes me want to take a drive!!
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