Black Canyon - A Trail Too Far

Well, we finally found it: the trail that caused us to say "that's probably not the best idea." And, all thanks to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, the canyon with Park System's most extreme combination of depth, narrowness, and sheer drops. In fact, it's so deep, sheer, and narrow that the bottom only gets the teensiest little bit of sunlight each day. Hence the park's ominous name. 

Unlike the Grand Canyon, which is mind-boggling in its sheer size and width, a stumble in the Black Canyon is likely to lead to death at the bottom of a 1,000-foot drop, rather rather than a tumble, a sprained ankle, and a trip to the emergency room. We had read in advance about the Gunnison Trail, known as the "mildest" hike that will bring you from the rim to the Gunnison Rover. At just over a mile, it reportedly takes the average hiker 4-5 hours to make the round trip. One section is so steep that the Park Service installed a lengthy chain to lower yourself down. Knowing all this, we approached the Visitor Center with some trepidation on Saturday. 

We figured we'd speak to the ranger and get a better sense of what we might be getting ourselves into. Much to our surprise, the Ranger didn't attempt to warn us away. However, he did note that about half of the trail's takers in the last few days had turned back when they got to the split from the main trail. There had been a pretty good snow in the last few days, and the slopes were reportedly pretty treacherous. He did suggest that we would probably want micro-grippers on our shoes for the descent. With these warnings in mind, we headed down the much more accessible loop that lead to the Gunnison Trail. Why not check it out before making a decision?

Well, it took us about a half hour to cover the first quarter-mile of the trail ... and this was the EASY part! The snow had been compacted into solid ice by the hikers.  Believe me, these pictures do not, in any way, capture the steepness and slipperiness of this treacherous trail!

Sadly, it is next to impossible to capture this park in photos, at least for someone of my limited skills. The angles are simply too extreme and the dark canyon walls too uniform. It looks like a giant took an axe and plunged it into the earth. 

Anyhow, after that brief hike - and seeing a whole bunch of hearty-looking, outdoorsy young folks who were turning back from the Gunnison Trail - we decided that discretion would, in this case, be the better part of valor.

Instead, we went had a very pleasant picnic lunch.

And afterward, took a nice, little stroll on a trail to a beautiful view of the valley.

On Sunday, we ventured to the less-visited North Rim of the canyon, which was over 1.5 hours away from the South Rim and Montrose. This was a place where every road was dirt, and we saw maybe 10 people in the park all day.

We took an amazing hike out the aptly named "Exclamation Point." That left us wondering how many times THAT name has been used throughout the Park System!

Rachel, not normally a prankster, even got a good one over on Nate and I. She went a little way ahead of us, then hid behind a tree as we passed. When Nate and I finally reached the point, we were wondering aloud where Rachel was. Then, Nate said ... "there's Mom!" to a completely random stranger, who looked at us like we were crazy! Finally, Rachel showed herself, and we got even by pelting her with snowballs (of course)!

Views of the canyon were far better from the North Rim, and even more dramatic. On the South Rim, it always seemed the viewpoints were either at the top of a slope, or at least a little way from the edge. Here, you could look out over a railing and see nothing for a thousand feet below you.

While we were in the park we learned that we were just down the road from another Park Service unit called Curecanti National Recreation Area, so we decided to drive home that way and check it out. Sadly, it's the ugliest thing we'd ever seen associated with the National Park Service - basically a big, dammed reservoir surrounded by uninteresting brown hills. If you ever happen to be out this way, feel free to skip this one.