Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.

What an ominous sounding name for such a spectacular place. The park gets its name because parts of the canyon are so narrow and deep that the rocks look black. The Gunnison River runs through the canyon for 50 miles and is between 2700 feet and 1750 feet below the rim. This national park is one of our nations newest. The park was created in 1999 by President Bill Clinton. It had been a national monument since 1933.

Haven’t ever heard of this park? It’s located in western Colorado. To get to the park head east on Highway 50 from Montrose 11 miles; and then 6 miles north on Colorado Highway 347.

The park has an interesting history. In 1900 William Torrence led a crew to explore the possibility of creating a tunnel to divert Gunnison River water for farming. He failed to completely survey the river due to numerous difficulties faced in trying to navigate the river in wooden boats. The following year, Torrence with A. Lincoln Fellows, an employee of the Bureau of land Reclamation, again attempted to survey the Gunnison river. They used air mattresses attached to rafts. They were successful in locating an appropriate place to build a tunnel. The tunnel was completed in 1909 and still provides water to farms around the Montrose area.

We visited the park on October 1, 2006. The day started with sunshine, but turned cloudy by afternoon. It was still warm enough to enjoy the park without jackets. We entered the park through the South Rim entrance – which is the most popular place to enter. Within ½ a mile of the entrance is the Rim campground. What a difference from visiting Yellowstone the beginning of September! I’m not sure if it’s always this quiet, but for a Sunday afternoon it sure was quiet. My guess is that it’s busier in the summer, but probably nothing like visiting some of our other more famous national parks.

From the South Rim entrance there are two drives that can be taken. Immediately after entering the park, take a right turn on the East Portal road. This road descends to the canyon floor. Since it was fall, we had brilliant fall scenery. Oranges and yellows were very predominant. Fly fishermen were out trying their luck in the river.

The other drive available from the South Rim entrance is the South Rim drive. Along this drive about 1 mile past the entrance station is the visitor center. Stop here for a 25 minute movie about the park and a nice viewpoint right off the deck. The south rim drive runs for 7 miles and has about 10 viewpoints. Some of the viewpoints have short walks and others up to 1 ½ miles roundtrip. It’s pretty easy to do both the East Portal drive and the South rim drive in about 5 hours.

The South Rim drive has some amazing viewpoints. From the Pulpit Rock viewpoint to the Painted Wall we saw some beautiful views of the canyon. Stop at each one to get a different look at the canyon. And don’t miss the walk to Walker Point at the end of the road. It’s 1.4 miles roundtrip, but gives some wonderful views of the valley and the canyon.

After visiting the canyon we moved to Montrose, Colorado for two days. We're now headed south towards Mesa Verde National park. More on that in the next blog.