Black Canyon of the Gunnison

We have been in Olathe, CO for three days now.  The first two days were spent doing errands and making some repairs that happened when driving over rough roads.  Thankfully, Jim was able to fix everything so it all looks like nothing happened at all.  Olathe is a very small town about 10 miles from Montrose, the gateway to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.  Our drive from Vernal to Olathe was to say the least, nail bitting!  We traveled over highway CO 139 which while it is RV safe, it is less than comfortable.  First, it was rough and undulating.  The speed limit was posted as 65 miles per hour but Jim could only go about 50 without it feeling like our RV was coming apart at the seam!  About a third of the way along, a sign alerted us that the road was narrowing and there would be a steep grade.  Boy, truer words were never written! The road was indeed very narrow and there were no guard rails.  Lots and lots of switchbacks and S curves that would make anyone hold their breath.  It went what felt like straight up.  At one point, I just put my head in my lap and closed my eyes and prayed we would make it.  Now, we drive a RAM 3500, diesel and it is a good thing too cause that thing will pull a house, which it did since our RV is our house on the trip.  Once we cleared the pass and started back down the other side, it was a bit less scary but it is not a road I would care to travel ever again!  We left 139 behind and finished our trip on US 50, a much easier road to manage.  It was not long until we arrived at Olathe.  We are staying at a campground that is for 50+ folks which is quite nice.  Not only is it a quiet campground, everyone we have met is quite friendly and helpful too.

Today we loaded up and headed for Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument.  There was a sign at the park that really spoke to me.  “Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed.…  We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope."  I think these words are very true. We live in a beautiful country where all the national parks belong to US.  Each time I visit one of them, I feel richer for the experience and thankful that I live in the USA.

We drove through farm lands that leads to the canyon.  Fields of corn and pastures with beautiful horses and cattle.  Such an amazing place.  The road began to climb upward and we knew that we were entering the monument area.  A bit of history for your reading pleasure.  Explorer and engineer John Gunnison, seeking a Pacific railroad passage in the 1850s, judged Black Canyon impenetrable.  He was referring to the difficulty of getting from one side of the canyon to the other.  What he could not have known was that the river had worn down the canyon walls from a dome of extremely resistant crystalline rock.  A geological event now known as the Gunnison Uplift had raised the canyon’s rock from deep in Earth’s basement.  Two million years ago, the river’s course was determined by the location of high mountain ranges.  The river began cutting through the uplift’s core as it forced rocks, gravel and sediment along scraping the walls and chipping it away. Floodwaters gave the river increased power and it gained speed making a steep descent from the surrounding mountains.  Time was the Gunnison River’s unseen but equal partner.  Together, they carved through time and rock to form what we now call the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

Unlike the Grand Canyon, the Black Canyon is steep, deep and narrow.  The rim of the canyon drops 2,250 feet down shear granite walls to the river below.  At the bottom, it is a mere 40 feet wide at one point while at the top, the widest point is only 1,100 feet wide.  It is said that some places at the bottom of the canyon get as little as a few minutes of sunlight daily.  What an amazing place.

We spent time at the Visitor’s Center and then headed out to drive the rim road.  The canyon is a great place to be outdoors. There are lots of places to hike, to kayak or canoe and even to rock climb.  But make no mistake, it is not a place for the faint of heart.  Anyone attempting to climb or spend time on the water must be an expert.  The river is treacherous with class III and IV rapids and a climber must be very experienced and have the latest equipment before they can even obtain a permit to climb.  Beautiful but deadly.  Here are some pictures that will take you through the beauty and the beast.

We passed farms that were growing hay.  I cannot imaging how wonderful it would be to wake each day with the mountains in the distance.

While I would find it lonely to live here, I can still appreciate the wonders of nature all around.

Before we arrived at the Visitor’s Center, this overlook gave us our first look at the canyon.  Far below, the Gunnison River looks quite benign.  The black granite that gives the canyon it name, rises rugged and foreboding.  BTW, the Gunnison River is the only river in this area that is a free flowing river.  By that I mean, it has never been dammed or had it course changed by human intervention.

We met two young men at the overlook who were taking pictures using a drone.  It was a treat to watch him launch the drone and them bring it in for a landing.  He showed us some of the pictures it had taken deep in the canyon, wow is the only word that came to mind.

In this area, climbing these rugged walls would be impossible I think or at least, it would not be anything I would dream of doing even if I could climb.

Farther along the rim road, the perspective looking down in the canyon chances at every turn.

We hoped we would see a mountain goat or something but the foreboding granite was more rugged than even a goat could handle.

It is no wonder there is no bridge over the canyon.  It would be an engineering wonder for sure.  Not even one of the daredevils who do all the crazy things would tackle one of these.

These beasts are where climbers try their skill.  The faint of heart they are not! Given it is over 2,000 feet down, I hope they have all the safety equipment they need to complete the climb and go home safe and sound.

We did see some animals.  Here a Golden Eagle was sailing on the updrafts.  These eagles are both beautiful and deadly too.  I would not want to be on their dinner menu.

This little Ground Squirrel was totally at ease with our presence.  Whatever he was eating, he was not about to leave it even if fleeing might be the better choice.

At the last stop, the grandeur was the perfect picture.

Time to head back.  We left applauding Mother Nature for her work in creating this wonder.