Black Canyon of the Gunnison
A rough start to the day. My hotel room had coffee but no coffee maker so I opened a soda I had planned on bringing to the park today. I then hopped in the shower and when I got out the soda had bubbled out and soaked my shaving kit. The freezer in my hotel refrigerator was extremely ‘efficient’ and the coke had been half frozen. So, a little time cleaning up the contents of the kit and putting the bag in the laundry and then off to the park.
So, I get to the park around 8:00 and there wasn’t a person to be seen. I had half expected a line. There are two main options for things to do from the south side of the park – drive down into the canyon or drive along the rim. I opted for the former first. And wow, what a great start. It’s a slightly aggressive decent
Several fishermen arrived while I was in the canyon bottom and I had the chance to talk to one of them. He mentioned that this was the most productive fishery in the lower 48 states (rainbow trout and brown trout). He also mentioned off hand that this is the least visited national park in the lower 48 states.
The geology in the site is dominated by fine-grained gneiss and schist cut by granite and granitic pegmatite dikes.
After spending about 2 hours down in the canyon bottom I headed back up top and started stopping at some of the overlooks on the south rim. There are over a dozen overlooks on the south rim and I stopped at five of them. Below are some of the photos.
Oh, and I did manage to spot a couple of new bird species on the day – a Virginia’s Warbler and a Dusky Flycatcher.
After a long day at the park I headed east and landed in Gunnison, CO. After a very good and very filling meal at 5 B’s BBQ, I spent the evening doing a little self-care – shower, cutting nails, and doing laundry. Even Blue Lightening got a bath.