Uncompahgre River RV Park - Olathe, CO

Uncompahgre River RV Park - Olathe, CO 

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is located in western Colorado. The park contains 12 miles of the 48-mile long Black Canyon of the Gunnison River. The national park itself contains the deepest and most dramatic section of the canyon, but the canyon continues upstream into Curecanti National Recreation Area and downstream into Guhence. The steepness of the river inside the canyon makes it difficult for sunlight to penetrate its depths. The canyon walls are often shrouded in shadows making the rocky walls appear black, hence the name Black Canyon. Author Duane Vandenbusche states, "Several canyons of the American West are longer and some are deeper, but none combines the depth, sheerness, narrowness, darkness, and dread of the Black Canyon."

The Gunnison River drops an average of 34 feet per mile (for a total of 1,632 feet) through the entire canyon, making it the 5th steepest mountain descent in North America. By comparison, the Colorado River drops an average of 7.5 feet per mile through the Grand Canyon. The greatest descent of the Gunnison River occurs within the park at Chasm View dropping 240 feet per mile.  At its narrowest point the canyon is only 40 feet wide at the river.

The extreme steepness and depth of the Black Canyon formed as the result of several geologic processes acting together. The Gunnison River is primarily responsible for carving the canyon, though several other geologic events had to occur in order to form the canyon as it is seen today.

We only had to visit 20+ National Parks before we started taking pictures at the entrance.

This is Tomichi Point in the  Black Canyon. It is the steepest of the south rim's inner canyon routes. We took a hike from this trailhead down into the canyon. 

The south rim's visitor center is located at Gunnison Point. Hiking trails lead to several overlooks and a loop trail below the canyon rim. 

Lisa and Karma debated getting a Wilderness Permit to do some serious hiking. Since Karma was not wearing his tactical backpack to carry his water, long back country hikes were out for today. Lisa was terribly disappointed, but being the caring person she is, Karma's best interests had to be priority.

Views from Wagner Point, the highest point in the park, is at 8,328 feet.

The Sunset View overlook is a favorite visitor site to view the magnificent Rocky Mountain sunsets.

We saw these views as we hiked from The Dragon Point Overlook.  The Gunnison River continues to carve out the canyon. Apparently, we missed the "no dogs allowed on trail" sign. Luckily, no one confronted us about it. 

I just realized we bought postcards of this iconic Juniper tree. I love how these junipers get so gnarled and grow in impossible places. The junipers are a very common site in these mountains. They remind me of an old, weathered man with many stories to tell.

The Painted Wall is a stunning 2,250 foot vertical canyon. It is the tallest cliff in Colorado and the third tallest in the lower 48 states.  For comparison, the Empire State Building stands at 1,250 feet.

These huge boulders sit on top of each other with a view of the Painted Wall in the background. These are not merely rocks, they are the size of most middle class American homes.

We have been fortunate enough to experience so many places in our travels already.  You hear about it and see cute signs and stickers that say " The Beach is Calling" or mountains/rivers..... there are a lot of options.  We believe that most people find their peace and tranquility in the first place they visit as they enter adulthood. Then they spend most of their lives trying to recapture that feeling.  Mark always felt his inner peace was found at the beach.  Since our travels started, we have found our inner peace in many locations.  We are blessed with a magnificent country with an untold number of things to see and do.  Most take it for granted. Most never see or experience even a tiny fraction of what it has to offer. Our goal is to not be a member of that group. We hope to see and experience as much of it as we can, while we can.

And so our journey continues.....