国家地理:黑峡谷国家公园

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."
夏日清晨温暖的阳光洒在西部科罗拉多的山坡上。但是，当太阳逐渐攀升，巨大的阴影笼罩了原本就一片黑暗可怕的风景。这是国家最深邃，最陡峭，最狭长的山谷。关于黑峡谷为什么叫这个名字，你可能听说过不同的解释。“关于山谷的名字，有两个理论。我认为最流行的一个是，因为峡谷很深，很狭窄，每天太阳只有很短的时间能够照耀到山谷的大部分。”
作为美国最新的自然公园，黑峡谷努力想和西南部其他峡谷公园一样得到认可。“大峡谷当然非常奇妙，大家都会去那里参观，都非常了解。但是你来到这里的时候，黑峡谷这么深，这么狭窄，让人们心生敬畏。”
黑峡谷的大部分都是荒野。但是从白人到达这个地区定居的时候起，就计划将这里变成商业性的峡谷。“1880年的时候，丹佛瑞格兰德铁路公司曾经将黑峡谷视为一条途径，将铁路从科罗拉多的Front Range连接到丹佛和科罗拉多泉，取道盐湖，最后到达洛杉矶。”
该铁路当时有15英里的路段经过黑峡谷，但是现在大部分淹没在莫罗波因特水库以下。“我们在这里举办了几个技术性的漂流训练班。”在距离黑峡谷不远的地方，Bill Dvorak从1982年起就在甘尼森峡谷保护区担任漂流和垂钓旅行的导游。“我很高兴带人们到这种地方，让他们看一下，当初我们努力保护这片土地，现在它变的多么漂亮。”
甘尼森国家保护区与甘尼森黑峡谷国家公园相邻。在它的腹地是一片荒野，特别适合漂流和垂钓。“人真的是很卑微的生物。我们可以这么说。当你漫步在原野之中，你会感到自己是一个非常巨大，非常古老的东西的一小部分而已。”
几百万年来，甘尼森河静静地流过孤独的黑峡谷。即使是现在，你也可以想象，你是第一个走入黑峡谷黑暗的灵魂深处的人。“因为我们没有那么多人手，而每年有数百万人来大峡谷参观，游客往往都有机会和自然独处。”