Dreamscapes Travel & Lifestyle

level, where the air is noticeably thinner, tall trees disappear and scrub oaks and pinyon-junipers become wizened and stunted. The blacktop ends at one of Col- orado's lesser-known national parks, the remote Black Canyon of the Gunnison. As Mesa Verde was a textbook of human activity, Black Canyon of the Gunnison is a primer of the Earth's crust where nearly two billion years of geology are sliced open by the power of the river. Black Canyon was formed when the basement rock rose and tilted in the dra- matic geological Gunnison Uplift, then was blanketed by softer ash from erupting vol- canoes. Over the past two million years, the Gunnison River has cut through the softer volcanic layer, then slowed to a crawl through the hard gneiss base, some of the oldest, hardest rock on the continent. Even today, the water chisels away. Geologists estimate each year the river carves away the equivalent of the width of a human hair. This power of erosion created the park's namesake deep, wild canyons. In the early morning, I tramped along the spectacular Rim Rock Nature Trail, stop- ping to gaze more than 1.5 kilometres into the narrow, steep-sided canyons of black rock. I shared the sunrise with canyon wrens who dipped and whirled along the canyon walls, and a red-tailed hawk who gracefully soared with an eye out for his (unsuspecting) breakfast. At night, Black Canyon shined on, even as it was enveloped by inky darkness. Far from urban light pollution, the park is a des- ignated International Dark Sky Park. Twinkling constellations stippled a pitch- black canvas, right to the horizon. Before dawn, a thin sliver of new moon rose, the canyon wrens began their musical cascade of notes and the river flowed on. THE HIGH DESERT Just outside the town of Grand Junction, much closer to civilization, I stood on a fault line and pondered the natural artwork created by the gods of earthly forces. Inter- state travellers often zip by the entrance to Colorado National Monument, oblivious to the full menu of geological forces—earth- quakes, tectonic uplifts, erosion—that created a mesmerizing landscape of deep canyons and soaring red sandstone cliffs. The park's twisty Rim Rock drive snakes 40 kilometres from start to finish. This is high desert—areas of elevation with little rainfall, enough to classify them as arid landscapes. It shows in the stands of prickly pear cactus, pinyon and rabbitbrush—vari- eties that survive on precious inches of precipitation a year. Along the scenic drive are pull-offs at trailheads and lookouts. At the Redlands outlook the steeply-tilted sedimentary rocks are a clue that a fault line is nearby. I laced up my hikers and walked the Canyon Rim Trail to the Book Cliffs View, soaking up the vista of the Grand Valley, the Colorado River and the sheer east-west ridge of the Book Cliffs in the distance. I was stopped in my tracks again by the sight of several rock climbers atop the free- standing tower of Independence Rock. I waved from my place of relative safety. They waved back; far apart, yet I could feel the connection of the forces of nature that created this beauty. DS SPRING 2017 DREAMSCAPES 33 For more information on these and other national parks, visit colorado.com and nps.gov. T R A V E L P L A N N E R OPPOSITE: Listed among the grand landscapes of the American West, Colorado National Monument features monoliths within a vast plateau and canyon panorama. LEFT: Black Canyon of the Gunnison exposes visitors to some of the steepest cliffs, oldest rock and craggiest spires in North America. BOTTOM: Colorado's Mesa Verde National Park protects some of the best preserved Ancestral Puebloan archaeological sites in the U.S.

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