CO 135 at Fisher Gulch, Almont, CO, 9/26/2011
While driving north from Gunnison to Crested Butte, Colorado I spotted this attractive bend in the Gunnison River by Fisher Gulch, just south of the small town of Almont. Here we are at an elevation of 8,000 feet above sea level and are looking upstream and northeast in the East River Basin of the Gunnison River Basin. The rounded peak at left reaches an elevation of 8,495 feet, and is part of the Southern Sawatch Range of the Rocky Mountains. I was very impressed by the variety of colors present in the flora here, which is especially colorful in autumn. The riparian habitats in this area are dominated by cottonwood trees, willows, Russian olives, tamarisk, wild rose, and skunkbush sumac. The lighting was a little tricky to meter over the wide angle seen here because the left shore was receiving side-lighting while the right shore was backlit, creating a nice glow in the leaves! These are the headwaters of the Gunnison River and we are just downstream from where the East River and the Taylor River merge to form it. The 164 mile long Gunnison River is the fifth largest tributary of the Colorado River and has a mean flow of 4,320 cubic feet per second. The river is named for U.S. Army Captain John W. Gunnison of the Topographic Engineers, who was ambushed and killed by Pahvant Utes while mapping a trail west in Utah Territory in 1857. These riparian lands provide valuable wildlife habitat. Forested wetlands in western Colorado are very scarce and support a disproportionately high percentage of wildlife in terms of number of species and number of individual animals. This habitat is rapidly being lost to sand, gravel, and recreation development, and floodplain alterations. The Gunnison River has long been a key factor in the economy of the Gunnison Basin. The river supports agricultural enterprises, municipal water supplies, and a growing recreation sector in the economy. While I was preparing my camera for this photograph, I watched a number of fishermen on rubber rafts float past me down the river!
