| As the day goes on, we end up stripping off all our leathers as we head further west and south into Montrose where that afternoon it hit the 90’s. We grab a quick lunch and head back east towards the Black Canyon. This is one of my favorite places to visit in Colorado. This canyon was formed by the Gunnison River cutting through volcanic rock for over two million years. The gorge is over 2,000 ft deep while only 1,500 ft across in some places. The most spectacular though are the light colored veins that cross the sheer black walls of the canyon. These veins were formed as hot magma forced its way into cracks and solidified slowly, allowing large pinkish crystals to form. There are many stops along the south rim, but you definitely want to stop at the Painted Wall where these veins are really outstanding. | |
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| We’ve got plenty of daylight left, so we decide to take the paved road down to the bottom of the canyon. We all pretty much freaked when we saw the 16% downgrade sign, I distinctly remember Chris saying “Holy Shit!”, but we continued on. I’ll let the pictures do the talking here; it was a pretty exciting ride. Note, the 5th one down is of us starting back up the canyon – be sure to check out the switchbacks in the top center of this photo (my sister Teri is on the bike in front of us wearing a white tee-shirt). This should give you an idea of the steepness of this road and the tightness of the curves as we head back up the canyon. | |
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