國家地理:黑峽谷國家公園

The warm glow of the summer morning settles on the slopes of western Colorado. But as the sun climbs higher, deep shadows shield the landscape that remains dark and forbidding. It is among the nation's deepest, steepest and narrowest canyons. You may hear varying explanations for how the Black Canyon of the Gunnison got its name. "Well, there are two theories on that. I think the one that's most popular is that it is so deep and narrow that the sunshine only reaches most of the canyon a short time each day."
As one of America's newest national parks, Black Canyon struggles for the recognition enjoyed by that other canyon park of the Southwest. "Grand Canyon of course is so fabulous and everybody goes there and knows all about it. But you come here and it's so deep and so narrow, and it's just, just awe-inspiring."
Much of the Black Canyon is wilderness, but almost from the moment white settlers arrived in the area; plans were hatched to make this "a canyon of commerce". "By 1880 you saw the Denver and Rio Grand Railroad (and) starting to look at the canyon as a possible way to bring the railroad from the Front Range of Colorado, Denver and Colorado Springs, on a route through to Salt Lake and then perhaps on to San Francisco."
The railroad made its way through 15 miles of the Black Canyon, but today it's mostly under Morrow Point reservoir. "We've got real technical class three whitewater in here." Not far from Black Canyon, Bill Dvorak has been guiding rafting and fishing trips in the Gunnison Gorge Conservation Area since 1982. "Yeah, I really like bringing people into these kinds of places and showing them what it's like when we do preserve these places and how, you know, just how spectacular and how beautiful it is."
Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area is adjacent to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. At its heart is a wilderness area that is especially popular for rafting and fishing. "You're humbled as a human. Let's put it that way. You go through that and you're a very little piece of something very big and very old and very dramatic."
For millions of years, the Gunnison River has been carving this canyon at work across eons of isolation. Even now it's easy to imagine that you are the first to peer over the rim into the dark soul of the Black Canyon. "Because we don't have so many people, there is, you know, millions of people a year coming to visit the canyon, people do have that opportunity to have a personal relationship with this place."
夏日清晨溫暖的陽光灑在西部科羅拉多的山坡上。但是，當太陽逐漸攀升，巨大的陰影籠罩了原本就一片黑暗可怕的風景。這是國家最深邃，最陡峭，最狹長的山谷。關(guān)于黑峽谷為什么叫這個名字，你可能聽說過不同的解釋。“關(guān)于山谷的名字，有兩個理論。我認為最流行的一個是，因為峽谷很深，很狹窄，每天太陽只有很短的時間能夠照耀到山谷的大部分。”
作為美國最新的自然公園，黑峽谷努力想和西南部其他峽谷公園一樣得到認可。“大峽谷當然非常奇妙，大家都會去那里參觀，都非常了解。但是你來到這里的時候，黑峽谷這么深，這么狹窄，讓人們心生敬畏。”
黑峽谷的大部分都是荒野。但是從白人到達這個地區(qū)定居的時候起，就計劃將這里變成商業(yè)性的峽谷。“1880年的時候，丹佛瑞格蘭德鐵路公司曾經(jīng)將黑峽谷視為一條途徑，將鐵路從科羅拉多的Front Range連接到丹佛和科羅拉多泉，取道鹽湖，最后到達洛杉磯。”
該鐵路當時有15英里的路段經(jīng)過黑峽谷，但是現(xiàn)在大部分淹沒在莫羅波因特水庫以下。“我們在這里舉辦了幾個技術(shù)性的漂流訓練班。”在距離黑峽谷不遠的地方，Bill Dvorak從1982年起就在甘尼森峽谷保護區(qū)擔任漂流和垂釣旅行的導游。“我很高興帶人們到這種地方，讓他們看一下，當初我們努力保護這片土地，現(xiàn)在它變的多么漂亮。”
甘尼森國家保護區(qū)與甘尼森黑峽谷國家公園相鄰。在它的腹地是一片荒野，特別適合漂流和垂釣。“人真的是很卑微的生物。我們可以這么說。當你漫步在原野之中，你會感到自己是一個非常巨大，非常古老的東西的一小部分而已。”
幾百萬年來，甘尼森河靜靜地流過孤獨的黑峽谷。即使是現(xiàn)在，你也可以想象，你是第一個走入黑峽谷黑暗的靈魂深處的人。“因為我們沒有那么多人手，而每年有數(shù)百萬人來大峽谷參觀，游客往往都有機會和自然獨處。”