Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is one of those parks that are a bit off the beaten path, maybe not geographically, as it is right off US 50 not far from Montrose, CO, but certainly in terms of crowds. That is one of its charms. It is not a large park, preserving a mere 12 miles of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, out of its total length of 48 miles (but they are the most spectacular miles).
Not that it was crowded on Labor Day weekend, with the South Rim campground only about two-thirds full, it totally emptied out on Labor Day. By Tuesday, even the campground hosts had gone. There was no one in at least one loop, C Loop, of the campground and probably a half-dozen sites taken here in B Loop, the electrified one.
For some reason, we were pretty beat on Labor Day, so we decided to take it easy and drive the scenic road along the South Rim after lunch, stopping at each of the overlooks. That didn't mean that we did no walking. The parking for each overlook was increasingly distant from the canyon the further we went along the road. The last overlook, Warner Point, was about a mile from the its parking lot. We probably took a nice, if interrupted, five-mile walk over the day.
The canyon itself is impressive at this end. It is mostly granite and goes nearly straight down in most places with lots of fractured spires and sheer walls going down about 2,000 feet to the river. It is not as big a river as the Colorado in Grand Canyon, but you can see the water rushing through many rapids. It is tough to tell from 2,000 feet away, but it doesn't seem very deep, which makes sense since about 80 percent of its flow has been diverted before it enters the park. But it's still impressive.
At Chasm View, one of the overlooks, the canyon is nearly twice as deep as it is wide. People at the similar overlook on the North Rim, could easily be seen and the North Rim wall at that point seems to go straight down to the river. There was a ranger at Chasm View and we'd just missed the 2 PM ranger talk on raptors in the canyon. However, she was willing to pretty much give it all again. She had talked about Peregrine Falcons and Golden Eagles, who are almost at opposite ends of the raptor size range. Both birds nest in the canyon. The eagles have a nest somewhere near the visitor center this summer. We haven't seen either of the birds in the park, although I saw a Golden Eagle soaring while waiting for the boat tour the other day. The only large birds we've seen over the canyon are Turkey Vultures and Crows.
The scenic drive ends at the parking lot near Warner Point. We took the walk out to the point which goes through a area of Piñon Pines and Gambel Oaks. While the pine cones were in evidence, they were still green and very sticky. According to the trail guide, it takes 26 months between the emergence of the cones and the complete growth of the pine nuts. The nuts are quite nutritious and very tasty. A pound of pine nuts has the same number of calories as a pound of chocolate (a tough choice for pigging out).
The walk out to Warner Point leads to the end of the deep canyon and you are on a point where you can see the Black Canyon to the east and north, as well as the worn volcanic-looking mountains to the north, the Gunnison Gorge with its lower and wider canyons to the northwest and the bright green irrigated fields to the southwest with the town of Montrose in the distance.
Today, Tuesday, was another easy day, the best kind in my opinion. We got a fairly early start to hike all of the trails on the South Rim, except the one down to the river—a total of four miles. It was hot walking in the afternoon sun yesterday, so a morning hike was our preference. The Rim Rock Trail runs from the campground, along the rim of the canyon, to the visitor center. Seeing the canyon in morning light brought out its sharp angles even more.
In addition, there were still a few birds out, so it became a bird walk as well. This suits me just fine as it slows Ellen down to an ambling pace, one I'm more suited to. We didn't see too many on the Rim Rock, a couple of chickadees and nuthatches, and a pair of Clark's Nutcrackers flying over.
At the visitor center, the Rim Rock Trail ends and the Oak Flat Trail begins. This trail is a two-mile loop that drops 400 feet below the rim of the canyon, and it provides a different perspective. Unlike our other hikes this trip, we saw no other hikers until we were almost back up to the rim, when we met a couple from Quebec starting down in the other direction. All we saw on the trail, aside from canyon views, were a couple of mule deer, who were grazing right along the trail. They moved off to let us pass.
The point at which we saw the deer is where the trail splits, one part continuing down to the river. It was a little tempting, but we didn't have the required backcountry permit (nor the knees). Actually, the river access trail is about a mile long and drops about a half-mile; I don't think we had climbing a mile of 50 percent grade in us today.
The top of the Oak Flat Trail intersected with the Uplands Trail, which is a mile walk through fairly flat, dry, terrain running away from the canyon and back to the campground. It was the hottest and driest part of our walk, with only Gambel Oaks, dried out serviceberry bushes and the occasional cactus to keep us company. We saw no one else out on the trail. We got back in plenty of time for lunch and showers in Speedy's rather tight, middle of the aisle, shower stall. A quiet afternoon reading under the awning ensued until about 5:30 PM when a group of about a half-dozen RVs set up camp all around us. So much for the peaceful and empty campground.
Photos from Black Canyon
No comments:
Post a Comment