Hi. Need answer fast!
I’m now in Grand Junction and will leave this morning to drive to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. I only have a couple of hours to spend there before I must leave. If you’ve been or researched this park, where do you recommend that I go and see?
My initial plan is to drive to the South Rim Visitor Center, and walk out to Gunnison Point. And then I’ll take it from there.
I searched thread titles and did not find any on this beautiful national park. Several with Gunnison in the thread title but none about the NP.
Thanks in advance!
Also, I’ve read a little about the man, John Williams Gunnison, and this is what I was able to find.
John Williams Gunnison of New Hampshire was an early 1800s explorer of the American west. In 1837 he graduated from USMA, West Point NY, and became an artillery officer (artillery!). He explored and surveyed the Great Lakes region, and then later the Great Salt Lake region. He surveyed a route for the railroad through Cochetopa Pass in the Rocky Mountains of south-central Colorado. His survey team encountered the Black Canyon, carved by the Gunnison River, which became a National Park in 1999 (Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park). In 1853 near what is today Hinckley, UT, Gunnison was killed by a band of Pahvants, a band of the Utes, at grid location ▲ 39.27936, -112.77881 along the Gunnison Bend (of the river) and near the end of Gunnison Bend Massacre Road.
I have driven (and ridden) past that road on US-50 without knowing it was Gunnison’s massacre site. I won’t do that again.
Don’t drive down. We did it once, 20 years ago, and it was a nerve-wracking road. I would not want to feel any time pressure.
I’ve been there. The only thing to really do with just a couple hours (beside the view from the visitor center) is the South Rim Road. Beautiful views at the turnouts.
Note: “Black” Canyon is not a reference to the rock color but rather the fact that the canyon walls are almost always in shade.
I spent a few hours there once and at the end of the day, drove to the bottom. Even though there was still some color in the sky above us, when we both got out, I couldn’t see across the car to my buddy, it was so dark. IIRC correctly it is twice as deep as wide, so (relatively) very little light gets to the bottom.
I do remember the car working pretty hard even going down without going too fast, so the point above about the intense driving is apt, but I was 23 and in a rental. I’d have been screwed had the car died down there
The main visitor area and scenic drive is nice but I think the best views are on the North Rim should you have the time and inclination to head out there. As noted, the drive down into the canyon is pretty hairy, but if your car is in good shape it’s absolutely worth it.
I would think the fall colors should be in full swing – Colorado 92 is a spectacular route if you happen to be headed to Gunnison. If so, the Pioneer Museum is really terrific and the Trader’s Rendezvous has one of the most amazing collections of taxidermied animals you’ll ever see.
The Museum of the Mountain West outside of Montrose is also with a stop if you’re in the area.
Haven’t been there since I was a kid but I still remember it as being an impressively deep and steep canyon.
Go onto the bridge. The view from the bridge is incredible. (My dad would say: “if by incredible, you mean the sphincter of your butt won’t unclench until you’re hours away from it, yeah”. He doesn’t like heights)
Thank you all for the good information. We only had 2 hours to spend so we quickly visited some places along the south rim: Cedar Point, Chasm View, Pulpit Rock, Gunnison Point, and Tomichi Point. We also stopped in at the visitor center.
The Black Canyon is dramatic, and beautiful. One sign in the visitors center had this:
“The Black Canyon of the Gunnison has the greatest combination of depth, steepness, and narrowness of any canyon in North America.”
It certainly is dramatically deep, steep, and narrow!