cope
Our next day trip was one I’ve done multiple times but never tire of. From south of Grand Junction, we drove into and up Unaweep Canyon to the small hamlet of Gateway. From Gateway, we drove John Brown Canyon Road west out of town and out of Colorado into Utah and the La Sal Mountains. My other sister drove while her husband, my grandson and I rubbernecked the whole way. We did a loop drive and came back by way of Castle Valley and, eventually, I-70 back to GJ.
Unaweep Canyon is fairly unique in that there is a watershed halfway through it. A watershed is a topographic boundary at which water flows into one drainage basin on one side and a different drainage basin on the other. Think the Continental Divide. The canyon itself is very dramatic with high vertical walls and hundreds of feet of sediment filling the valley floor. The origin of the canyon is not settled though the most accepted interpretation is that it was carved as an ancient pathway of the Gunnison River.
On The Road – cope – Grand Junction and Beyond, Part IIIPost + Comments (17)