We did a three mile hike down into the 900 foot deep Curecanti Creek canyon. Curecanti Creek flows into the Gunninson River which started carving the
Black Canyon 3 million years ago. It was a wonderful hike through a pine forest down to a cool rushing creek.
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| Gunnison River |
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| Curecanti Creek is down at the bottom |
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| Christie and Arleen heading down |
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| Beautiful day for a hike |
The Gunnison River as well as the side canyons like Curecanti Creek have carved down through 500 million year old rock. Back in the Precambrian period this area was covered by an ocean. The ocean dried up and its sedimentary deposits were covered by another 5 miles of material. At this depth the extreme heat and pressure changed the sedimentary rock into metamorphic gneiss and schist. Over the last 3 million years this area has been up lifted and the 5 miles of overburden eroded away to reveal the Black Canyon of today
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| Metamorphic gneiss and schist |
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Remember, what you walk down
you have to hike up. |
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| Finally a beautiful cool stream |
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