The north wall of Colorado’s Grand Valley is made of some very strange stuff. When the Gunnison Expedition (mentioned here, and here) passed through this valley in 1853, surveying a route for a railroad to Salt Lake City, one of John Gunnison’s men remarked that the cliffs there “looked like books on a shelf.” And they are named the Book Cliffs.
My first view of Mt. Garfield was on the road trip home from Salt Lake City in 2009, where I had obtained a very good deal on my new motorhome. Not understanding the implications of crossing the Rockies on Thanksgiving weekend, I had headed south through Utah to Interstate 70, and then through Colorado to points east.
My sweetheart was driving at the time. I saw this grotesque mountain up ahead that was the weirdest thing I had ever seen. We saw it again the next year while waiting in Grand Junction for the weather to clear in the Rockies.
So it was the first thing I wanted to photograph. I picked a bare hilltop not far from the RV park and set up for a shot across the city of Grand Junction to the opposite wall of the valley.
This mountain is made of Mancos shale, deposited from about 95 million to 80 million years ago, when the dinosaurs were roaming the land. It is mud and clay, deposited in the bottom of a large interior seaway - and it is still mud and clay. Nothing will grow in it, and when it gets wet it is sticky and accumulates in large globs on your boots. It also erodes quickly. The layer above it is the Mesa Verde group of formations, all of which are tougher and don’t erode as easily. So where the cap is still present, the thick layer of Mancos mudstone remains. Where the cap is gone, the mudstone has completely washed away. At the edge, however, is a thick layer of Mancos shale with deep gullys in it. Looks like books on a shelf.
It’s a decent photo, but it wasn’t what I wanted. So a few days later I wandered over to the north side of town towards evening, and got a different view:
I had gotten the shot that I wanted.
When I got my full-sized image of Book Cliffs, those ridges stood out like no photograph I have ever seen. The depth of field is so pronounced that it makes me want to reach out and touch them. I can imagine how much they must change as the sun strikes from differing angles throughout the day. I'm guessing that even on a clear moonlit night they must be very impressive. This is some really eye-grabbing stuff. My collection of your photos is now becoming a "must see" for everyone. When I can get the funds together, this image, as well as several others of yours, are going to get printed out by the print shop in town as they do top-drawer work and it will be fantastic to show off these great pictures in our house. Well done, Ken!