World United States Colorado Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Our Electronic Gypsy Journal Gypsy Journal - 12/1/05 - 12/31/06

Montrose, Colorado Aug 3, 2006

8/3 - 8/7

Only 40 miles on US50 brought us to Montrose, Colorado. Montrose marks the start of the west side of the Rocky Mountains. We parked our house at the South Rim campground of Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.

The Black Canyon is divided into three sections: Upper, Middle and Lower. Gunnison National Park includes the Middle section of the Black Canyon and it is an impressive place. The canyon is very narrow. On the top the distance between the north and south rims is between a half and a quarter of a mile, the drop is between 1500 and 2000 feet and the bottom of the canyon is only 40 feet wide at its narrowest. What that translates to is very steep walls and a very deep canyon.

While we were at the park we visited every overlook, took almost every trail (not including the ones where you hike to the bottom) and really enjoyed this beautiful country.

We also drove to the upper section of the canyon and took a great boat ride through about six miles of the canyon. To get to this boat ride we walked down 232 steps followed by a 0.5 mile walk (yes, we got to walk up those 232 steps on the way back). The trip was lead by a National Park naturalist and was very interesting.

While Ken was relaxing (from his 464 steps) outside of our house a deer was eating the leaves from the tree Ken was using for shade. Pretty neat having a deer eat dinner about five feet from your chair.