The Two RV Gypsies: Full-Time RVers
learned about Needle Rock
43475 Needle Rock Road
Crawford, CO
August 25, 2012

Below: A quick photo taken as the two RV Gypsies were leaving Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Below: The two RV Gypsies noticed a formation in the distance that commanded their attention.

Below: Karen Duquette took photos of the formation through the front window of their truck. They decided that they wanted to find the road that takes them to the formation and learn more about it. After all, that's what being an RV Gypsy is all about - the freedom to deviate from any course onto another.

(Unless of course, they are in their RV and not their tow truck. Because many times the RV can not fit someplace while towing the truck, and of course, it can not just turn around easily either.)

Below: As they got closer, the formation looked entirely different, both in color and shape.

Below: Thanks to signs, the two RV Gypsies learned that this formation is called Needle Rock, an intrusive plug of monzonite porphyry cropping out 3.5 miles east-northeast of the Town of Crawford in Delta County, Colorado. With an elevation of 7,797 feet, the towering rock spire stands 800 feet tall above the floor of the Smith Fork of the Gunnison River valley. The massive rock feature originated in the Oligocene geological epoch when magma intruded between existing sedimentary rocks as the crown of a buried laccolith or possibly the underlying conduit of a laccolith. Subsequent erosion has exposed the prominent rock formation seen in the natural area today.

The Needle Rock Natural Area is managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

Leaving Needle Rock, Lee Duquette stopped the truck, opened his window, and "MOOED" at the cows. (There was not any cars or traffic in the area) The cows stood still and stared at him, and Karen Duquette laughed her head off. Maybe it is best if we do not say why the last photo was taken, but it was specifically for Karen's friend DeeDee Pierce.

Below: Wildlife along the trip

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