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At dusk, the Colorado River traces a narrow course through Glen Canyon, |
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They are America's canyons, found in almost every state and not always even called canyons.
Some canyons, for that matter, are so little known and rarely visited they are yet unnamed.
When we think of canyons, immense declivities such as Arizona's Grand Canyon immediately come to mind, but there are literally thousands of others, just within the state of Arizona alone.
I have a fondness for snooping out these lesser canyons, whatever state they are in, and exploring them.
Oh, and anyone who thinks all the great canyons lie west of the Mississippi or in the Southwest--think again.
Just a few months ago, for instance, on a quick trip to Southwest Virginia, I stood on an overlook peering into the depths of the great gorge at Breaks Interstate Park, on the Kentucky-Virginia state line. It may not be a canyon in name, but a canyon it is for sure. Impressive, too.
I can bring this idea even closer to home: A few weeks ago near Baltimore, I took pictures of the canyon just downstream from the U.S. 40 bridge in Patapsco Valley State Park. It is heavily forested, as most eastern canyons are, but it is an impressive gash in the earth.
To prove this point that there are nearby canyons to explore, I was looking through my photo negatives and found some shots of White Oak Canyon in Shenandoah National Park. This is an open, straightforward canyon and it is heavily traveled (especially on weekends) but its beauty is enduring, and it is always worth going up for another hike. Done it in spring or summer? Try it in midwinter, and have the place to yourself with the addition of frozen waterfalls to boot!
There is one particularly dramatic type of canyon found only in the Southwest (as far as I am aware), known as the slot canyon. These are often quite narrow (hence the name) and spectacularly colored places carved into natural sculpture by erosion of comparatively soft rock by water and winds. I have had the chance to get into only a few of these canyons, which are subject to highly dangerous flooding from late summer storms.
Slot canyons do seem to be confined mostly to Utah and Arizona, with perhaps a few in New Mexico and even Nevada.
The dedicated seeker-after-canyons probably spends time up close and familiar with the USGS topographic map, or so-called "quad map." If you spend lots of time exploring unfamiliar terrain and comparing it to the appropriate topo map, you develop an eye for where the hidden canyons lie. As a rule, look for where the map's contour lines from two adjacent hills or mountains lie bunched up close together. That's usually a good tip-off to dig out the hiking boots and water bottle.
One of my favorite intimate canyons lies in an out-of-the-way corner of Big Bend National Park, way down by the Texas border with Mexico. Big Bend, so called for the twisting course followed by the Rio Grande marking its southern boundary, has a great variety of terrain, including mountains, high and low desert, deep canyons cut by the river and various combinations of these features.
One night a few years ago, a friend and I had camped at the end of a rocky road in the park. In the morning, I found a trail leading uphill through desert scrub into the mouth of a canyon perhaps a quarter-mile wide. I followed the trail as it gradually ascended and narrowed up into a cleft in a high mountain. The cactus were blooming in many colors and shapes, as were some of the agave (century plant) and the beautiful Spanish dagger. As the hills closed in and the canyon continued to narrow, it became forested--first only scattered trees, then a denser thicket of alligator juniper, Gambel's oak and others I couldn't identify.
Abruptly, the trail rose steeply and came to an end. Fifty feet below that point, I found huge scrapings on the side of a tree where a cougar had sharpened its claws. Peering almost vertically up, through the trees, I could see far up the side of a cliff where there was a long dark stain from the rushing pour-off of water during sudden summer storms. I could imagine this place where I stood becoming a raging torrent. I was glad it was only March, a dry season in Big Bend.
I have dozens of other favorites, including Boynton Canyon and the West Fork of Oak Creek, both heavily traveled trails near Sedona, Ariz., and lots of others that have no names.
It isn't necessary to have an official, marked trail to find a canyon to explore. On public lands, if there are no prohibitions against off-trail walking, it's always possible to find new canyons to explore. Have at it! Just bring a little common safety sense to the task. I am assuming here that you are not a rank beginner, a tenderfoot on the trail. In that case, you want to go out with others who have a bit of experience. But most of what they can teach is just common sense.
PAUL SULLIVAN, a former reporter with The Free Lance-Star, is a freelance writer living in Spotsylvania County. Contact him by mail at The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia St., Fredericksburg, Va. 22401; or by e-mail at
Email: PBSullivan2@cs.com.
