The National Park That Never Sees the Sun
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ต.ค. 2024
- Phew, okay! It's been a minute! But I am indeed back with another video. This one is all about the geology of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. I was drawn to this park because of the famous statistic that some portions of the bottom of the canyon only ever see around 33 minutes of sunlight per day. Me being me, I wondered why that was. And very quickly during my research, I found that it's because of the steep walls of the canyon, which don't allow sunlight to penetrate to its depths unless the sun is basically right overhead. But also me being me, I wondered WHY those walls were that steep. And the result is this video. The reason it took so long is I got some fancy new animations made for this video, which took a long time to make, but they turned out FANTASTIC. Super happy with them as I think they really help illustrate a lot of the concepts I was going for. Shoutout to Alex for those, and I hope you enjoy!
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I have been to Black Canyon a couple of years ago when it was snowed over. I got to use snow shoes for the first time. Seeing the canyon in person and walking around the perimeter was incredible.
I bet that was quite the sight to see!
That was an awesome video!!! The Black Canyon of the Gunnison is on my bucket list now.
So glad you liked it and hope you make it out there one day!
Great video! Love the hard focus on the geology as it really gets across how special Black Canyon is. A rare combination of factors all had to come together to make it. Such a beautiful and unique place that you have to see in person to really appreciate! The supersized scale of the gneiss walls is unlike any place I have seen on earth, and gave me a newfound respect for the scale of metamophic processess that we are never able to observe with our own eyes.
Glad you liked it! There's always so many threads to pull at when I pick out a park story like this. It's sometimes hard to pick and choose what I actually want to include in the video! But, it always means I have the opportunity to come back and tell a different story from the same park and learn even more.
Fascinating video! Would love to know more about the adaptations of plants and vegetation down at the bottom of the canyon, given it only sees 30 minutes of sunlight each day. The ecology of the canyon would be so cool to hear about.
I agree! It's something I definitely thought about in production - might save it for a future video.
Fantastic video! Did you make those animations? Loved them!
I did not! I had them commissioned by a very talented animator named Alex. They turned out fantastic and I'm glad you liked them!
Thanks for all the amazing videos and awesome content!!
Thanks for watching!
Heck yeah Black Canyon of the Gunnison!!
First time being featured on the channel!
Black Canyon was a great finish to our hiking trip last year that started with the Grand Canyon. The hike to the bottom and back up wasn't too hard, was a lot shorter than the Grand Canyon! and the views were amazing. Needles, Arches, Zion and other parks in the area are amazing to hike in. Too many people know about them though. They are all a lot busier than when I visited back in the 1992 - too busy IMHO. But then the parks are working ways to deal with the crowds - lotteries and whatnot to limit visitors. I love how Zion now has a shuttle system - no more cars backed up on the road.
Love the new animations
So glad to hear it!
I visited the Black Canyon in 2014, and it is so beautiful! The canyon walls have some of the most unusual, and visually striking geological patterns in them, almost like looking at some dark grey gemstone 🤩🤩🤩. I've lived out West my whole life, visited most of the national parks out here, and spend my free time being a desert rat, seeking obscure and isolated pieces of geological wonders, and the Black Canyon is one of the most wonderful I've seen!
There's a whole video's worth of stuff about the canyon walls and why they look the way they do! Very cool park indeed with so many overlapping stories!
I visited the Canyon in 1968 and met the caretaker.
He lived a trailer home.
The view from the edge is amazing, but I didn't know about the sun issue.
kinda like the high rise area in New York City, eh?
Cheers,
Rik Spector
I think that's a great way to think about it!
Visited the black canyon in August and did the Gunnison route to the bottom. Was an amazing experience doing the rock scramble. I did see the sun at the bottom, but that is one of the wider sections of the canyon. If you’re in shape, I would highly recommend the Gunnison route. I would recommend the Curecanti Creek trail at the adjacent Curecanti National Recreation Area even more - one of the best hikes I’ve ever done.
The park and surrounding area also has a fascinating history related to exploration and irrigation with the east portal. The Gunnison river is the main reason the region is capable of the agriculture it produces today.
Getting down into the Canyon is definitely on my bucket list when I go visit this one. Didn't know about the Curecanti hike, but it's on the list now too! I did read about the exploration and irrigation history when researching this one and agree - very fascinating indeed.
I loved the Black Canyon. Went to the north rim and hike to exclamation point. Such a beautiful view from there.
I hear the North Rim is fantastic!
Went to BC last year for Memorial Day, combined with Curecanti NRA and Colorado NM. Such an amazing part of colorado
Southwest Colorado is an area I always hear so much about - I need to make it a priority to get out there and explore one of these days.
I can’t wait to go there!
Enjoy!
Was just there 2.5 weeks ago! Unique NP😁
Very nice!
I didn't hike down but i saw a cow that had wonderd into the park. So i sarcastically told my step brother this park has amazing wildlife which right on a cue a huge male Elk came out of the woods to shut me up.
Oh dang, that sounds amazing!
Fascinating
Agreed!
Seeing 33+ minutes of sun a day is more, a lot more, than never seeing the sun. A steaming pile of clickbait is not what one would expect from this channel.
You sound really happy and must have a life filled with joy!