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Gateway & The Dolores River CanyonJul 12, 2009
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Sandstone above Granite
The Palisade
Gateway Getaway
I got in a nice long run this morning on a course that I ran a year ago that heads north out of Fruita then comes back into town with a great view of The Monument to the south. At about 9:30 the Porfirio's came to the See Ya and we hopped into their Mercury Mountaineer for a Sunday drive.
We headed back through part of Grand Junction, south on 50, and then turned onto route 141 for a tour of the local geology. Sue had borrowed one of David's books on Colorado geology and kept us informed about the rock formations as we drove through the Unaweep Canyon. David and Donna already knew much of the information as well.
Most of this part of Colorado and the adjoining Utah territory is made up of sandstone. One of the more interesting features we saw as we drove through the Uncompahgre Plateau was that the sandstone was on display, but we could also see large sections of granite at lower levels of the cliffs.
An interesting aside as we drove were the many dead trees that Donna identified as Tamerisk trees that had been imported from Japan and were now considered pest trees because they drink too much water from the rivers. I later learned that the trees were dying due to the recent importation of the Tamerisk beetle from Japan. Hopefully, the beetles won't develop and appetite for other trees!
About 30 miles into our drive on 141 we arrived at the very small community of Gateway. A few years ago there was only a gas station here. Today it is the home of the Gateway Canyon Resort and the Gateway Colorado Auto Museum. Both structures are the work of John Hendricks, the founder of The Discovery Channel. We had lunch at the Resort's restaurant where we had a great view of a giant rock outcropping known as The Pinnacle.
Just past the resort was the turnoff to John Brown Canyon. That's right! I said, "John Brown Canyon!" We took the turn and found ourselves on a dirt road that descended through a narrow sandstone canyon and then ascended to a point atop the series of canyons that cut through this landscape. We arrived at a fork in the road where a sign indicated that the road would lead us to Moab. We followed it for a short time, but decided that it would be prudent to turn around and head back to Gateway (lavatory stop!)
Departing Gateway again we headed south on 141 along the Dolores River through the Dolores River Canyon. Like the dirt road, this road rose up from the floor of the canyon to a high point above the canyon. This time we were treated to a magnificent viewpoint overlooking the river. We spent considerable time admiring this geology along with the man-made remnants of a flume that had once carried 24 million gallons of water a day for a failed mining operation.
We headed back along 141 where we had one more great view of The Palisade, made one more rest room stop at the resort, and then a Dairy Queen stop in Grand Junction, before driving back to the See Ya where we chatted and looked at the photos we had taken until 9:00 p.m.
It was a very good day!
Tomorrow we head for Charlie's for a few repairs.
