Sunday, June 13, 2021

What an amazing day!  After getting our camper ready for travel, we left the Oasis Good Sam Campground in Gunnison, Colorado and headed along a fantastic view-filled road in the mountains.  We were driving to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Colorado – declared a national park in 1999 by an Act of Congress (it had been a national monument since 1933).

Upon entering the park, we immediately went to the campground to look for a first-come, first-serve site.  There were plenty and we chose a back-in site off the road.  After paying for the site (all of $8.00 for seniors) we headed for the Visitors Center to learn more about the park and (of course) buy souvenirs. 

Near the Visitors Center there was a 2-mile loop trail – the Oak Flat Trail – which we took.  Although the park brochure rated it as difficult, moderately challenging would be more appropriately descriptive.  It was steep (dropping 400 feet), but the views of the canyon were way beyond beautiful.  Cliffs, rock towers, a rapid river at the bottom (the Gunnison River), trees, flowers, and plants galore.  After our 1-1/2 hour walk, down the trail and back up, we drove down the road to a different lookout point for additional views of the park. 

Then, back to the campground.  Unlike when we first picked our site, it was now quite filled.

Monday, June 14, 2021

We enjoyed the park so much we decided to stay another night.  Today it was very hot (in the mid-90s F and above), so we stuck to exploring lookout points.  It was not a matter of simply parking and looking out the window; at every stop there was a walk of anywhere from 300 to 1,350 yards.  After five or six of these, we ended up with quite a hike. 

Each view of the canyon was better than the previous one.  A highlight was the Painted Wall, the tallest sheer cliff in Colorado at 2,250 feet.

An interesting comment was made by a couple we met, that this was better than the Grand Canyon.  It got us to thinking – the Grand Canyon is grander, much larger, wider, and steeper, but it is also more developed: bigger roads, hotels, stores (that’s not necessarily bad), many more tourists.  It is often hazy with pollution flown in from the west coast. 

The roads at Black Canyon are narrow and twisty.  There is only one small Visitors Center/Gift Shop, and where the Grand Canyon pipes up drinking water from the Colorado River, Black Canyon has to truck it in.  In the campground there is no dump station and only drinking water for water bottles. 

Black Canyon of the Gunnison, like the Grand Canyon, was created by a river flowing through it (the Colorado for the Grand Canyon, Gunnison for Black Canyon). But it is much narrower than the Grand Canyon; at its narrowest point it is 1/4 mile across. The gradient is very steep here; the canyon drops an average of 95 feet per mile.  The walls range in depth from 2,700 to 1,750 feet. At its highest point, it is 8,000 feet above sea level (Efrat, where we live, is about 3,150 feet above sea level – 960 meters).  The steepness of the canyon makes it difficult for sunlight to penetrate into its depths; as a result, the rocky walls appear black.

Both canyons are indescribably beautiful.  But Black Canyon has an intimacy about it.  You see the steep walls up close.  You look down into the chasm, and although there is no way your camera can see so far down, it is right below you.  The Gunnison River looks closer than any view of the Colorado from the Grand Canyon rim.

The narrow opening, sheer walls, and stunning depths of the park are what makes Black Canyon of the Gunnison so spectacular.

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

We left Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and out of whim started heading south on the San Juan Skyway Scenic byway, Highway 145, that passes through 236 miles of the San Juan Mountains.  We often use superlatives to describe the beauty of the areas that we are in, and we are sure it gets tiring to read, but what else can we do?  The views we saw as we drove (we did about half of the Skyway) were indescribably beautiful.  Mountains, lakes, pastures, valleys, so much to see. 

Now add to that the fact that we just happened to be driving through the middle of a bike festival, passing thousands of riders pedaling down the highway, only added to the picture.  The riders came and went in many directions, as there must have been multiple groups starting from different entry points.

We stopped for the night at another KOA (Campgrounds of America) campground in Cortez, Colorado.  As a bonus, we were treated to a delightful sunset.  A nice way to end the day.