Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is located in western Colorado, and there are two primary entrances: the south rim entrance located 15 miles east of Montrose, and the north rim entrance located 11 miles south of Crawford. Since the north entrance closes during the winter months, we decided to keep Montrose as our base while exploring this park. We had driven down from Estes Park the previous evening, having faced a blizzard on 1-70 W, and were glad to see a bright sunny day with clear blue skies when we woke up!

It is only a 20 minutes’ drive from the town and we were soon inside the park, and couldn’t wait to witness the deepest and most dramatic section of the canyons carved out by the Gunnison river. The canyon’s name owes itself to the fact that parts of the gorge only receive 33 minutes of sunlight a day, according to Images of America: The Black Canyon of the Gunnison. In the book, 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.”

This park is quite underrated in my opinion and has a lot to offer. The first point on entering the park is the Tomichi point and offers some dramatic views of the canyon. Just a little bit ahead, is the visitor center, which features exhibits on the canyon and is located at the Gunnison Point. There are also a few trails starting from here, that will allow you to get up and close to the edge of the canyon and get some amazing views. The guarded viewpoints along the trail, though on solid ground, do seem to be precariously balanced at the edge of the canyon!

The south rim road is the main artery inside the park, however during the winters, parts of it are prone to shut down due to weather conditions. We were extremely fortunate to be here on a beautiful day and have the road open for its entire length, all the way to High Point. The drive is only 7 miles from Tomichi Point to High Point and has 12 overlooks. Most are reached by walking a short trail. To enjoy the view from all the outlooks, one should account for 2-3 hours. Those with limited time should consider stopping at Gunnison Point, Chasm View, Painted Wall and Sunset View. We had pretty much the whole day at our disposal, so we ended up doing all the overlooks at a leisurely pace and were also able to squeeze in a couple of hikes, along with taking a lunch break back in Montrose!

The initial few overlooks after leaving the visitor center (Pulpit Rock, Cross Fissures, Rock Point and Devils Lookout) have similar views, though we did have enjoy walking the short trails covered with fresh powdered snow and leaving behind our footprints. The next two outlooks (Chasm View and Painted Wall View) are very close to each other and are at the northernmost end of the park road. Here the scenery changes and I would recommend stopping here and taking the 0.2-mile trail to obtain a spectacular view of the Painted Wall on the north side of the canyon.

From here, the road curves back south and crosses the Cedar Point, Dragon Point and Sunset View to reach its end at the High point. Here we did the Warner Point trail (1.5 miles one way), which offers some intimate views of the canyon. Most of the trail is shaded, and the smell of mahogany, juniper and pinyon pine add to the unique desert feel. Along the way there are plenty of places to stop to take in the sweeping views of the West Elk Mountains, the San Juan range, and the Uncompahgre Valley. At the end of your trip, you’ll reach Warner Point, which offers spectacular views into the deepest portion of the canyon.

After completing this hike, we made out final stop of the day at the Sunset View and reached there just in time to see the sun go down behind the canyon walls. It was a spectacular sight!

This was the last National Park we visited as part of our road trip from Los Angeles to Colorado. While we were still 850 miles away from home in LA, we had 2 days to cover that distance. Apart from being stuck in a traffic jam near Vegas for almost 2 hours, the trip back home was pretty uneventful. Winter road trips can sometimes get a little tricky, due to weather and road conditions that are beyond our control. Having completed this trip, we realized how fortunate we were to have been able to do almost everything we had initially set out to do, and are very grateful for the amazing shots we captured through the 10 days!