Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison is a beautiful and dramatic park where the Gunnison River rushes through the narrow canyon gorge. The steep walls shadow sunlight and the canyon walls appear dark, even black, hence the name. The park itself contains 12 miles of thee 48-mile Gunnison River Canyon. This section is exceptionally deep and narrow.

Rock climbing is one of the premier recreational activities  as climbers relish scaling the gorgeous rock walls that tower above the wild Gunnison River.  The river offers excellent trout fishing and challenging kayaking for advanced paddlers.

There are three drives you can take--the North Rim, the South Rim, and then down into the Canyon and to the River below.  We took the South Rim Road which is a 7-mile drive from Tomichi Point to High Point, and has 12 overlooks.  Most of the overlooks are reached by walking a short trail, and the very good news is that you can take your dogs on all of the trails, but on only three of the hiking trails!  Needless to say, Sadie was a very happy hiker that day!

The drive to Montrose, where we camped at the KOA in town, provided spectacular fall color viewing.

 

 

Our drive took us over Monarch Pass which was also another crossing of the Continental Divide for us!  I've actually lost count on how many times we have crossed the Continental Divide.  Up until our travels after retirement, I don't think I had crossed the CD (except in an airplane).  Monarch Pass is 11,312 feet above sea level and, as you can see from the photo below, it was a little bit blustery with light rain and cool temps.

Here we are at the entrance to the National Park.

Our first stop was Tomichi Point which is right at the Visitor's Center. This stop gave us our first view of this magnificent canyon.  It was in the morning so the sun was in front of us.  There really was a small window of time (probably around noonish) that you could get photos from this overlook without the wash-out from the sun.  Since it was our first stop, we didn't get back here until the afternoon and by that time it was a "black-out" because the sun was not reflecting in the canyon at all.

 

The light colored bands in the rock were formed many, many years ago when molten rock was squeezed into fissures in the dark rock.  As the hot fluid slowly cooled and hardened, minerals formed into crystals.  If you look closely, you may recognize flecks of mica, feldspar, quartz, and perhaps even garnet.  These bands of lighter colored igneous rock--called pegmatite dikes--are more resistant to erosion than the dark gneisses (sounds like "nice-es") into which they intrude.  Consequently, the pegmatite weathers more slowly than the gneiss.  The vertical position of the dikes here combined with their resistance to weathering, has produced the fin-like appearance of parts of the canyon walls.  You can see pegmatite at nearly every overlook.

 

I zoomed all the way into the bottom of the canyon where the Gunnison River runs through it.

 

 

Here we are at the overlook.  By the way, the t-shirt I'm wearing is one of my "Home is Where You Park It" t-shirts (I have two in different colors!).

 

Our next stop on the scenic drive was Gunnison Point. This was one of the trails that Sadie was allowed on.  Although the trail went all the way to the campground (located before the Visitor's Center), we only walked to the Visitor's Center (Tomichi Point) and back.  

Here are some of the fabulous views of the canyon from this hike.  Don't you  just love the rock formations?

 

 

 

 

 

Swift water of the Gunnison River and abrasion from the sediment it carries are the chief cutting tools in the deepening of Black Canyon, but there are other forces important to the carving of the canyon.  Moisture entering joints and fractures promotes weathering. As the fractures slowly widen, large rock masses are gradually weakened to the point where they slide or tumble to the canyon floor.

This carving process has been slowed by the construction of dams upstream. These dams hold back most of the sediment and most of the peak spring runoff, both of which are necessary for the river to deepen its bed effectively and carry off material eroded from the canyon walls.

 

 

 

Our next stop on the scenic drive was Pulpit Overlook.  From this stop we got a really good glimpse of the Gunnison River and it was only a 1/4 mile hike to the overlook.

 

 

In my next blog I'll continue our scenic drive to finish off our one-day trip to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.  Stay tuned!

Psalms 19:9-11

The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether.  They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.