Water Carves Canyons
Flowing water is the reason you see a canyon in front of you. As the Rocky Mountains lifted, water was forced to flow to either the east or the west, creating creeks and rivers. Clear Creek has been eroding this canyon for hundreds of thousands of years, cutting the floor ever lower. The walls of the canyon grow wider as steep hillsides tumble into the creek, where they are washed away by water.
Caption
A canyon starts as a shallow stream that cuts through the bedrock for thousands of years. Over time, the cut gets deeper and the hillside next to it widens. Water cuts canyons like this all over Colorado and around the world. One of the most famous water-carved canyons is the Grand Canyon in Arizona
Marker can be reached from Lariat Loop Road.
Courtesy hmdb.org
