Congratulations! You’ve found a geocache that is one of a series from the Grand County Water Tour!
Parking for this cache is at the end of a dirt road off of Trough Road. Beware of prickly bushes.
DID YOU KNOW???
The river to the left is called the Blue and the one to the right the Colorado. The Blue River is a tributary (a stream that flows into a larger stream or other body of water) to the Colorado River. On the far side of the Colorado you will see a small creek joining the Colorado; this is the Muddy Creek.
If you look ahead (you are looking west), you will see the Gore Canyon. If you look to the left of the Canyon (now you are looking south) you will see a high valley that cuts in the same direction as the Gore Canyon. This valley, which is made up of very hard Precambrian gneiss and schist rocks, was originally cut by the Blue River millions of years ago.
Gneiss and schist are metamorphic rocks that were created when sedimentary materials such as siltstone, sandstone and shale were subjected to millions of years of intense heat and pressure. Gneiss is characterized by light and dark banding while schist is more finely grained, often containing sparkly pieces of mica.
As the Gore Range rose over millions of years the Blue River lost its cutting ability because it lacked the flows of the Colorado. Eventually the Blue River abandoned the old high valley and relocated to its current place to join the Colorado east of the canyon (where you are standing). Today the Blue River at the confluence is largely comprised of water exiting the Green Mountain Reservoir which was the first reservoir built by the Colorado Big-Thompson Project.
The above information was compiled from the following sources: France, Dr.Colin. "Metamorphic Rocks - Slate, Schist and Gneiss." Rocks. gcsescience.com, n.d. Web. 15 Jan 2013. . .
"Gore Canyon, Colorado." Durango Bill's Paleogeography (Historical Geology) Research. KompoZer. Web. 15 Jan 2013. http://www.durangobill.com/Gore.html
Thanks to the Bureau of Land Management – Kremmling Field Office for allowing placement of this cache!
Confluence of Blue and Colorado River
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