Black Canyon of the Gunnison

A planned stop – or at least one added to the plan once we realized we were coming back into Colorado – and another National Park that Kerri had not visited but I had; Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. We had to cross the continental divide again, for something like the twelfth time this summer, an after 4+ hours of driving we arrived to our reserved campsite in the National Park. Yes, we planned ahead for this one and had a site waiting for us as we knew we would be pulling in late on a Saturday.

After only basic setup of camp (staying only a single night) we immediately took off to auto tour the park. It doesn’t take long to tour as the road on South side of the park is only a few miles long with a couple pullouts to view the canyon.

  We explored the areas we wanted, including the famous Painted Wall View. It is here that I brought my Son back in 2010, my Mother back in 2012, and now Kerri in 2016. It is a magical place, with a 2100+ foot cliff and the river in plain view below… the sound riding the breeze up to us at 2 seconds delay due to the distance it has to travel. My third time seeing this cliff, and I have not tired of it.

Afterward, we rolled right past camp and headed down the 2000 foot drop to the East Portal area. My first time seeing the park from the bottom, along the river. We strolled the trail as best we could and enjoyed the solitude of the off-the-beaten-path part of the park. A small campground was down here, bringing urges to setup the tent and stay a night.