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Cold Shivers Point arch in the making on near side. Looking northeast. At Cold Shivers Point you are overlooking Columbus Canyon, one of the smaller canyons in the monument. The dark grey rocks at the bottom of the canyon are extremly old and hard Precambrian metamorphic rocks—rocks altered by intense heat and pressure deep in the earth. These rocks are very resistant to erosion. As the Colorado River continues to cut through the soft Mancos Shale in the Grand Valley, the difference in elevation between the top of the Precambriam rocks and the river valley will increase, and several of the monument’s canyons will be left behind as hanging valleys above the Grand Valley. Image taken July 3, 2011. Image is 28% size of original.
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last updated: December 21, 2011