Wild Country: Our National Parks

 

Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed. We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, as part of the geography of hope. 

Wallace Stegner, The Sound of Mountain Water

The quote above was on a sign at the last overlook we visited at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. 

HOPE ... it's something that we could all use in today's world. We are increasingly bombarded with disagreement - whether it's on the Senate floor ... or in our local communities ... or on the inevitable Facebook, Instagram or X scroll.

Even before the government shutdown, it's been a tough year for the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. The South Rim Fire started on July 10, 2025, due to dry lightning in the canyon leading to the park's closure and visitor evacuations. While the fire was significantly contained as of mid-August, the South Rim and East Portal campgrounds and parts of the South Rim road remained closed to allow for recovery and ensure visitor safety from hazards like flash flooding and falling trees. It burned 4,000 acres. 

The South Rim Visitors Center reopened on August 18.

But, after the government shutdown in early October, the doors were again locked at the visitors centers and there was this sign:

During this lapse in appropriations, national parks will remain as accessible as possible. We are doing our best to take care of your parks at this time, but some amenities and services may not be available.  

Thankfully, the National Park Department didn't barricade the roads or the overlooks. So we were able to see another of our nation's parks during our Colorado trip.

Still, the evidence of the wildfires was apparent - even at our very first stop. 

 

It's a little hard to tell from the photo, but if you look closely, you might see a little green peeking through the charred earth as the earth begins to rebound and recover. It reminded me of pasture fires here in Kansas. The old growth is burned off so that new green grass sprouts. 

So, HOPE ... even in less-than-ideal conditions. The craggy rock formations were also a reminder of harsh conditions. 

 

Black Canyon of the Gunnison lies on the eastern edge of the Colorado Plateau,  a region spanning Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. 

 

It's a region well known for its natural features, plateaus, buttes, deep canyons and colorful rock layers. It is also adjacent to the Southern Rocky Mountains.

 

Black Canyon is the result of multiple episodes of uplift and erosion and the carving power of the Gunnison River. The canyon displays a wide variety of rock types - including igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary. 

 

Black Canyon exposes nearly two billion year old Precambrian "basement rocks." Deposition, uplift and erosion are the key factors that created the canyon seen today. Black Canyon's greatest depth is 2,722 feet. The narrowest width is 40 feet at the river. 

We were amused by this sign at a trailhead. 

We weren't tempted to try it anyway, but note the last line:

Remember: Hiking down is optional; hiking back up is mandatory.  

Another of the overlook markers talked about being "perched on the edge of the untrammeled." 

We were glad not to do any extensive "trammeling." It looked pretty treacherous to us.

 

We are perched on the edge of the untrammeled - a place where human impact is limited. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison Wilderness is just below you. Small towns, limited industry and open skies have left the total view untouched. The works of our own hands are few. Here Earth is alive. Yet we can still harm lands without and outside designated Wilderness. Most of this view is unprotected. Still, we can be part of his living world. Wilderness is preserved as much in our hearts as on the land itself. 

We saw "wilderness" of a different kind at another national park - the Great Sand Dunes National Park. We were very surprised to find the Visitors Center and campgrounds open there, with park rangers available. We're not sure why those rangers were at work during the government shutdown, but we were thankful for their presence. We appreciated the opportunity to see the visitors center there, along with an an informative film about the dunes. 

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve protects the tallest dunes in North America. 

 

 

 The park contains ecosystems ranging from mountains to grasslands to wetlands to forest to tundra. 

During a wetter time thousands of years ago, ancient lakes covered much of the valley floor. Streams carried eroded sediments from the San Juan Mountains and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains into these lakes. Over time, a thick layer of sand was deposited at the bottom of these lakes.

 

Through natural climate change, the lakes have largely diminished, leaving a vast sheet of sand on the valley floor. Predominate winds from the southwest funnel sand into a low curve of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Storm winds push sand back, forming the tall dune field.  

The Great Sand Dunes National Preserve covers approximately 44,661 acres. 

Advice from Great Sand Dunes:

Be ready for adventure.

Cherish wild spaces.

Embrace winds of change.

Spend time outdoors.

Keep a sense of wonder.

Don't get carried away.

Stay loose.  

 

Postcard from the visitors' center

 

Plans Off a Cliff? Mesa Verde

  

Best laid plans: They don't always come to fruition. 

Three years ago, we visited Mesa Verde during our retirement trip. As I wrote then, Randy has a fascination with Mesa Verde, likely fueled by his second grade teacher, Laurabel Simpson. Even though it's been nearly 60 years, Randy still remembers Mrs. Simpson telling his class about her trip to Mesa Verde. 

When we were there in 2022, he didn't get a chance to get a closer look at the cliff dwellings. So, for this trip, he had booked a guided tour. However, the government shutdown also shut down his chance. 

Nestled in the heart of Southwest Colorado, Mesa Verde National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its ancient cliff dwellings, archaeological treasures and high-desert landscapes. Home to the Ancestral Puebloans for more than 700 years, the park offers a mix of cultural history and scenic beauty.  Established in 1906, Mesa Verde National Park was the first U.S. national park created to preserve cultural heritage. It protects nearly 5,000 archaeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings built by the Ancestral Puebloan people between 600 and 1300 CE. Unfortunately, those cliff dwellings were off limits during the government shutdown.

 

Randy was disappointed that he wouldn't get the up close and personal look. But we were thankful we were still able to stay at the Far View Lodge located inside Mesa Verde National Park. It's not run by the government; rather, it's operated by an independent company.  

 

Their restaurant was also open, though we were nearing the end of the season for both the lodging and the food service. 

The Far View Lodge offered a sunset and sunrise view of Mesa Verde from our balcony. We got there soon enough to enjoy the view.

Far View Lodge is the only lodging within Mesa Verde National Park and sits on a high shoulder offering panoramic views and wildlife watching, according to their publicity materials. However, we didn't see any wildlife. The lodge has 150 rooms.

 

I read my book and drank coffee on the balcony while we waited for sunset, snuggling up in the blanket during a chilly afternoon. There was no television service at the hotel, but who needs that when you have a view, a book and a balcony?

 

 

 

I probably see more spectacular sunrises and sunsets from my Kansas farm home. But it's not every day that you get to see those two bookends to a day at a National Park. 

 

 

This was taken outside the restaurant while we waited for our table.

 Randy had made reservations in advance at the Metate Room. 

 

We knew it would likely be our most expensive meal on the trip, but it was delicious. 

 

We had the blue corn tortillas and prickly pear margaritas for our appetizer. 

 

I chose the Three Sisters Soup, a harvest soup made with corn, squash, and beans, a Native American staple. I wanted something native to the area. 

My entree was the salmon.

Randy chose the trout, which, I admit, was a more authentic Colorado choice. Both were delicious.

Did we need dessert after that? No, but we ordered churros filled with apple filling and accompanied by ice cream anyway.

 

 

I set the alarm so that we could witness sunrise the next day. 

As we arrived and as we left, we took time to stop at several of the overlooks. 

A traveler in 1892 described a trail on the ridge as the Crinkly Edge Trail. In 1911, the trail became the Knife Edge Road, a new section of the main park road. Two years later, the park built a bypass through Morefield and Prater Canyons. When the first automobile trip was made in 1914, vehicles used the bypass and the Knife Edge Road was soon closed. 

We made the trek on Park Point Trail. The sign said it was a "steep, but short trail." It didn't seem so short. But we made it to Park Point, the highest point in Mesa Verde at 8,572 feet. On a clear day, four states are supposed to be visible from the point - Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. There was also a fire tower there, which is usually staffed during the summer season to watch out for fires. 

The broad Mancos Valley separates Mesa Verde from the mountains to the northeast. These ranges, part of the Rocky Mountains, were uplifted beginning approximately 65 million years ago. Time and water removed rock and sediment between the valley and the nearby mountains. This isolated Mesa Verde and created the steep cliffs and the valley. 

Will Randy ever get his cliff dwellings tour? We'll just have to see. Still, we enjoyed our overnight stay in Mesa Verde. 

Well, It Was Mammoth

 

Mammoth Cave was ... well, Mammoth. But it was probably our least favorite stop on our trip.  And that was a surprise.

Randy, especially, was excited to add a check mark to another National Park after our trip last fall that included six national parks in Colorado, Utah and Arizona. I think both of us were expecting beautiful formations like those found in Carlsbad Caverns, which we visited B.C. (Before Children). Randy also took Jill & Brent to the Caverns when they were on a trip to visit relatives in New Mexico.

But it wasn't like that at all. Honestly, I was more concerned about staying upright on the uneven walkways. Before we ever descended the 200 stairs to get to our tour of the cave's Cleaveland Avenue, the park ranger put the fear of God into us. He cautioned that it would take hours for any rescue crews to respond to a medical emergency or an injury from a fall. Yikes! Way to welcome your guests!

Mammoth Cave National Park includes more than 400 miles of surveyed passages. These days, you have to have reservations to tour the different portions of the cave. Randy chose Cleaveland Avenue, which was rated "moderate" in difficulty. 

I had trouble getting good photos since it was so dimly lit.  And, again, I was trying to stay upright, so I didn't add pulling the camera from my pocket too frequently. (That kind of sounds like my excuses when there were limited photos from gathering and working cattle, doesn't it?)

According to the park, "it shelters a long and complex underground labyrinth.  The mysteries of this amazing natural laboratory have inspired and sustained human discovery for thousands of years."

The caves are karst landscapes, in which water moves rapidly underground by dissolving rock. Mammoth Cave's karst landscape is part of the U.S.'s largest regions of cavernous rocks. Caves and springs commonly occur in karst regions like Kentucky, southern Missouri and Florida. The karst landscape is why the Sky Dome at the National Corvette Museum in nearby Bowling Green collapsed in 2014. (See my earlier blog HERE.)

Karst is key to Mammoth Cave's origin because rock must be readily dissolved by mildly acidic water for cave passageways to form. What Mammoth Cave has that some other karst caves lack is an insoluble sandstone "roof." Sandstone protects the rocks below it. 

Cleaveland Avenue, where we toured, is tube shaped. It was formed as water flowed softly at the water table. Often such tubes are filled with water as they are formed.

A slightly different angle.

Mammoth Cave was formed by water sinking into the ground and flowing through underground streams to the Green River. As the Green River eroded a deeper course, the underground streams abandoned old beds and dissolved new, lower cave passageways.

Mammoth Cave was discovered in 1802. In 1926, Congress passed an Act to accept lands donated to the government to form a brand new national park at Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. At the time, the Mammoth Cave region was full of farmland and homesteads and needed to be prepared for its future park service status. Construction and improvements took place on both the surface and in the cave itself. This included destroying undesirable structures and reducing fire hazards, and building trails, a park amphitheater, as well as many other park structures to support the park’s mission.

The walkways we used were built during the Depression by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). President Franklin Roosevelt created the CCC to put young men, aged 19 to 25, to work during the Depression. During the nine years CCC was in service, more than three million enrollees signed up to live and work in 4,500 camps that stretched across the U.S., including at Mammoth Cave. 

National Park Service photo of CCC workers at Mammoth Cave

For each day that a young man would work, he received $1 dollar. Within a month’s time, he earned $30, five of which he could keep, and the rest was sent to his family to help put food on the table and a keep a roof over their heads. This program addressed two distinct problems facing America; it provided employment for needy young men while also working to solve ecological challenges of conservation. They also planted many of the trees in the Mammoth Cave National Park. 

Four CCC camps were established in Mammoth Cave Park, with each of the camps housing 200 to 250 young men. The CCC often sent workers far from home to work on projects, yet several men from the local communities were part of the Mammoth Cave camps. 

Since those walkways were established some time ago, they are deteriorating and uneven.

Our park ranger asked the question, "Did this rock fall that way or was it placed by human hands?" He didn't really ever answer the question, but rather, told a joke.

 

 

 

Early visitors to the cave often couldn't resist leaving behind a sort of "I was here" mark by writing their names on the cave walls. That will get you arrested these days.

My favorite moment was when the park ranger turned off the lights and the lantern and sang. Obviously, you can't see a thing in this video, but just turn it up and listen:

Thankfully, he turned on the lantern again before we continued on our tour.

Gypsum may also grow outwards in shapes that resemble flowers, like this one:

Flowers, like crusts, form as the gypsum extrudes from the rock (like toothpaste from a tube). In a crust, all the crystal grow at about the same speed, but to form a flower, some of the crystals grow faster than others.

Our tour ended in the Snowball Room. At least, that's what they called it.

They are globular white gypsum balls that cover the ceiling. 

Thankfully, the elevator to the surface worked. All the way through the cave, I had prayed for that outcome. I was not relishing reversing our route and then walking up all 200 steps. 

More from our trip to come.