Road Trip: Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Dark and ominous skies loomed above us as we drove into Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. We were there late in the day and just barely made it to the Visitor Center to get our park passport stamped and to get a few souvenirs before it closed. Then we walked to an overlook, which provided our first view into the canyon.

The view was incredible. The overlook sits on the edge of the narrow and deep canyon, high above the Gunnison River.







The ominous clouds began to drop a few lightning bolts, and the winds began to pick up.



We started driving to another overlook when it started pouring rain. We waited in the safety of the car for a bit as the worst of the storm passed overhead. Luckily the lightning had stopped, so we felt safe enough to venture out. But heavy rain was still falling, which put the weatherproofing on the new camera to the test as we went to take a few pictures of the canyon filled with mist and fog.



The main road in the park visits several overlooks on the canyon rim. Eric and I tried to see all of them, while trying to not get too drenched by the rain.





The Black Canyon gets its name because the canyon walls are so narrow and steep, that they are often hidden in shadow.





The canyon here is one of the steepest, deepest and narrowest canyons in the Rockies. At one point (which is aptly named "The Narrows"), the canyon is only 40 feet wide.



The canyon was created a few million years ago when the Gunnison River began carving its way through the volcanic and metamorphic rock here. One of the most prominent parts of the canyon is the Painted Wall, which is 2,250 feet tall and the tallest cliff in Colorado.



For a comparison, the Painted Wall is taller than the Eiffel Tower (1,063 feet), the Empire State Building (1,250 feet), and the One World Trade Center (1,776 feet). If the tallest building in the world (the Burj Khalifa - 2,717 feet) was built along the Gunnison River, only about 500 feet of its spire would stretch past the top of the Painted Wall.



The rain finally stopped right at sunset, when just a little bit of light hit the clouds above the Painted Wall.