Black Canyon of the Gunnison

After a few days with nothing remotely resembling cell phone service, we can finally upload some photos.  I drove across Iowa and Nebraska, arriving in Denver Saturday night. 

I would write more about those two states, but anyone who has driven Interstate 80 knows there isn’t much to report.   Saturday night we went to a Cloud Cult show at the Bluebird Theater, which was fantastic.  Sunday morning we left straight for CostCo, where we bought a month’s worth of food and packed the car to look something like this. 

Our first stop would be Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.  Getting there required crossing the mountains and the Continental Divide before arriving at the park 6 hours later.  We learned the first night that planning for 80 degrees by day and 30 degrees by night can be a challenge, as we both woke up at 3 AM to Coyote howls and freezing in our tent.   

Black Canyon is so named because the canyons are so deep and so steep, that sunlight only reaches the bottom a few hours a day.  The rock is so hard and the river is so steep, that the sides do not erode easily under regular rainfall, making the steep walls.  Most hikes and views are from the top, because getting to the bottom involves a 4 hour hike and 2,000’ drop.   

We also took a scenic drive to the bottom of the gorge, which mostly comprised of 16% grades and switchbacks riding in first gear.  Here the river is dammed to provide water to the plains through a tunnel bored directly through the mountains around 1900.  

 

I’m writing this as we drive towards Canyonlands National Park.  We took a “shortcut” through the Uncompahgre National Forest which tested the limits of my poor Mazda’s off-road  abilities for 30 miles.   Dirt roads, ruts, and the occasional cattle herd made it entertaining.   

We should be at Canyonlands within an hour and just pulled over to take a snapshot of the first natural arch we encountered.  Stay tuned for the next time we get some service for more updates!