BLACK CANYON OF THE GUNNISON NATIONAL PARK
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Black Canyon of
the Gunnison in west-central Colorado |
I recently returned from a 15-day vacation to Colorado, Utah, and northern Arizona that included visits to nine national parks. One of the most intriguing stops on the trip turned out to be a visit to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, located in west-central Colorado. This is a relatively little known park, especially when compared to the more famous parks of the region like Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce, Zion, and the Grand Canyon.
As canyons go, the Grand Canyon was deeper and Capitol Gorge (at Capitol Reef National Park) was narrower, but I have never seen any canyon that combined the depth, steepness, and ruggedness of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Most rivers in the Southwestern U.S. cut through relatively soft sedimentary rock, producing canyons that tend to be fairly wide and colorful, with ledges and stepped cliffs. At the Black Canyon, the Gunnison River flows through hard, igneous rocks, which over time has produced sheer canyon walls reaching depths of more than 2,000 feet. Since the canyon is only 1,500 feet across in many places, sunlight illuminates the walls only briefly (thus the name "Black Canyon"). The entire canyon is 53 miles long, but only the lower 13 miles -- its deepest and most scenic section -- have been preserved as a national park. Three dams have been built along the eastern (upstream) section of the gorge, which forms part of the Curecanti National Recreation Area.
Visiting the Park
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park may be reached from either the north or the south, but most visitor services are along the south rim. The park is accessible from US50 east of Montrose, by way of CO347. Even though the distance from US50 to the visitor center is only 7 miles, the trip seems longer, as you climb through scrub-covered foothills to an elevation of 8500 feet near the canyon rim and your anticipation grows at seeing the gorge any minute. Your first view of the canyon is at Tomichi Point, and the main road continues along the canyon rim for 8 miles, offering about a dozen named viewpoints along the way. Be sure to stop at each one, as we did. For the first few miles past the visitor center, the cliffs are very steep and the canyon is at its narrowest (1150 feet across) at a spot called The Narrows. As you move towards the end of the road at High Point, the canyon becomes less steep, opening up into more of a V-shape.
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Looking down into
the canyon from an elevation of 8,000 feet above sea level |
The south rim offers a variety of trails, from easy hikes along the rim to strenuous inner-canyon trails, and the National Park Service offers interpretive programs during the summer months. Though we saw very little wildlife on our brief visit, the park and the surrounding wilderness area is home to marmots, black bears, coyotes and bobcats, and a variety of birds including swallows, swifts, eagles, hawks, vultures, and peregrine falcons.
There is also access to the park at the north rim via a five-mile unpaved road, with about half a dozen overlooks along the canyon edge and various trails including three that descend to the river. Because of the more difficult access and lack of facilities, few people visit the north rim, although I have been told that the views of the canyon are equally good as those from the south rim.
The park has basic campgrounds on both the south rim (102 sites) and the north rim (13 sites), available on a first-come first-served basis. For lodging or campgrounds outside the park, contact the Montrose Visitors and Convention Bureau at (970) 249-6360 or (800) 873-0244, or the Gunnison Country Chamber of Commerce at (970) 641-1501.
If you are coming to the park from Denver or anywhere along I-70 (as we did), be sure to take the West Elk Loop, which is one of the most spectacular of Colorado's state scenic byways. The 205-mile loop includes a number of geological, historical, and scenic, and recreational features. South from Carbondale, it circles the West Elk Wilderness, passes along the Blue Mesa Reservoir, Crawford and Paonia state recreation areas, White River and Gunnison national forests, and as you near I-50, offers spectacular views of Curecanti National Recreation Area.
For further information on the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park*, call 970- 641-2337 or contact the South Rim Visitor Center at (970) 249-1914.
*When I visited the park, it was actually named Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument. It was reclassified as a national park in November of 1999.
Other useful resources:
Maps of Black Canyon of the Gunnison - from the National Park Service.
