Black Canyon

After posting yesterday we went to a great sandwich place in Gunnison called Firebrand. De-lish. Then I bought some used clipless bike pedals for Danine’s bike, which is not with us on this trip, but they were just right and only $20 bucks, so I almost had to do it.



This morning we got up and got going. It was a pleasure backtracking to Black Canyon of the Gunnison because the road is so lovely. It follows along Colorado’s biggest lake, Blue Mesa Reservoir, which is the dammed Gunnison River. And what a river it is.

Here are some fun facts right out of the park brochure. The Gunnison drops farther in elevation in just 48 miles of the canyon than the Mississippi River does in its enitre length. At Chasm View it is 1100 feet from South Rim to North Rim, and 1800 feet down. Although the Grand Canyon is twice as deep, the Colorado has had three times longer to cut it out of much softer stone than the Gunnison has had to cut through granite-like rock.



You should see the National Geographic topographical trail map for the park. The contour lines along the canyon are stacked up so close it’s just a thick band of brown ink. The sheer, craggy walls are hard to fathom — literally. The canyon is deep enough to fit two Empire State Buildings one of top of the other. We tried to picture this at Dragon Point, but we couldn’t.


That’s Painted Wall. Can you see the dragons?

This is a rugged park. However, the ranger who told us on the phone that our trailer would have trouble fitting in the campground was being pretty conservative. We scoped three or four sites that would have worked nicely. No biggie, though.

There is no water on the rim. It’s trucked in from Montrose, CO. If you want to climb down to the river and have a drink, you are welcome to, but there ain’t no mule ride to the bottom. Mules aren’t suicidal. We are though, and drove down the paved, winding 16% grade to the river. At the bottom we were close to the Gunnison diversion tunnel. This built about a hundred years ago — when many great engineering wonders were built. It’s a six-mile tunnel from the river, through the canyon wall, and to the otherwise dry fields near Montrose. The water still provides irrigation for the farms in the area.



Sorry for the jumpy post. We are leaving tomorrow morning for one of our most challenging and beautiful drives along US 50. We’ll be crossing the Continental Divide at Monarch Pass (11,000+ feet) and heading towards Colorado Springs for a couple nights.


A young pinyon pine cone. Pine nuts are one of nature’s most perfect foods.