Box Canyon (Colorado)

Box Canyon is a box canyon in Ouray County, Colorado, United States.^[1]

Box Canyon Falls, September 2012

Description

A mining camp was established in the canyon that helped the city of Ouray establish itself as a permanent community.^[2] Box Canyon is home to Box Canyon Falls, a 285 feet (87 m) waterfall, with quartzite walls that extend almost 100 ft (30 m) past the falls.^[3] Access to the canyon is through a short, 500 feet (150 m) foot trail to the base of the falls or a steep trail leading to the top of the falls.^[4] A fee is required to use the trails to the canyon.^[4]

Geology

Box Canyon contains an Angular Unconformity. The Elbert Formation sits on the Uncompahgre Formation which represents a geologic age difference of approximately 1.3 billion years.^[5][6]

See also

Colorado portal

References

1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Box Canyon (Colorado)
2. "Ouray, Colorado, Box Canyon, Photo of the Day, Picture, Photography, Wallpapers - National Geographic". Archived from the original on 2008-12-29. Retrieved 2009-07-05.
3. "Ouray Colorado :: Box Canyon Waterfall & Park". Archived from the original on 2009-06-20. Retrieved 2009-07-05.
4. "Box Cañon Falls Park". Box Canyon Falls and Nature Center. Archived from the original on May 11, 2023. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
5. Burbank, Wilbur S.; Luedke, Robert G. (2008). Geology and Ore Deposits of the Uncompahgre (Ouray) Mining District, Southwestern Colorado (PDF). USGS. pp. 10–13.
6. Karlstrom, K.E.; Gonzales, D.A.; Heizler, M.; Zinnser, A. (2017). 40Ar/39Ar age constraints on the deposition and metamorphism of the Uncompahgre Group, southwestern Colorado (PDF). New Mexico Geological Society. p. 87.

External links

Media related to Box Canyon (Colorado) at Wikimedia Commons

38°01′06″N 107°40′44″W