Black Canyon Of Gunnison

Since I wrote about my last year’s Colorado trip in previous two posts – Great Sand Dunes National Park and Respite from Heat , I decided to share remaining places we covered. Today I am going to share about another national park in Colorado – Black Canyon Of Gunnison National Park, which was actually first point of attraction of our trip.

The reason of naming it black canyon is mainly due to less percentage of sun-light available to the place throughout the day (only 33 mins). We never visited any canyon before, so it was an amazing experience.

There are two paths to cover this canyon – South Rim and North Rim. While roads on North Rim don’t have a good reputation, South Rim road conditions are better. Both offers spectacular views, so it’s on you which part you want to come through. We chose South Rim based on the suggestions available on web, means entry from Montrose side.

We drove from Omaha to Denver on the first day of trip, reached in evening and spent night at Microtel Inn & Suites By Wyndham. Next day, early morning we started for Montrose. We had booked a hotel there too but planned to go there after visiting Black Canyon. We reached park at around 12 PM, after 5-6 hours of drive, full of Scenic views.

Park vehicle entrance fee is around 25 bucks, you will be provided a map of the park listing all scenic points and routes. There are several hikes each corresponding to a viewing point. Make sure to bring plenty of water as we don’t see much arrangements there, same applies to food. There is not much to eat inside the Visitor Center, but plenty of information about the canyon, it’s geography, rocks, wildlife and history. Unfortunately we didn’t saw much wildlife in the park except few beautiful birds and eagles, even though it boasts to have rich wildlife consisting of black bear, pronghorn, coyote, muskrat, cougar, deer, bobcat etc.

Parking was not a big problem out there, which may be due to limited tourists. Even if you stop at every viewpoint, you can cover the whole park in half a day, provided that you don’t spend too much time at any particular point. We covered most of the points, did hiking and needless to say, it was very scenic and spectacular. I feel very small in such places, where nature totally dominates us. Washrooms were not too frequent so we had to keep looking for them.

Park is also famous for rock-climbing but only for those with expertise, since canyon is too narrow, steep and deep. Camping is also encouraged but since we had tight schedule, we decided to head towards our hotel – Stay Wise Inn in Montrose. Last hike we did was very long and tiring but reaching at top gave us required boost, due to amazing views. Here are some pictures and videos of the place :-

It was an amazing experience, never seen before. Only regret was, we forgot to collect a souvenir from the visitor center. I guess we have to visit again to collect one and experience the beauty.

Btw, out of 3 places of Colorado, we discussed, which one pleased you most ? Leave your comments.

PEACE !