The Black Canyon of the Gunnison

It's amazing, isn't it? I mean this is the early afternoon of the first day out of Cortez. Lots to take pictures of. Northwest out of Ridgeway and headed for Montrose. I've been to Montrose before. Fourth of July, 1976 we were headed back to California. Spent the night in Gunnison, watched bicentennial fireworks at local college, and headed for Montrose the next morning. On the way we took a side trip to see the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. I decided to include the Black Canyon on this trip "for old times sake".

The elevation of Montrose is about 5800'. This picture was taken several miles east northeast of town, looking east from CO 347, which climbs to the National Park atop Vernal Mesa [about 8200']. The northern edge of the mesa coincides with the southern edge of the Black Canyon. The northern edge of the canyon is formed by the Mesa Inclinado - have you got that? It's the clouds I'm excited about. I'm hoping this build-up means a cloudy day tomorrow when I get to Utah.

This shot was taken at Pulpit Rock overlook - looking north I think. I was pleased when I got here, sure that this was where I had taken several pictures in '76 - and that I actually recognised it after 34 years. It's hard to see, but the river is visible in two places waaaaay down there.

You can see it here a bit easier. The river's about 2000' below the edge of the canyon. I can't be more specific because, while the mesa's reasonably flat, the river drops on average 96'/mi over its forty-eight mile run through the National Park. It drops more in that forty-eight miles than the Mississippi does over its entire 1500 mi run from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. In one two mile stretch, it drops 480'. Before dams were built upstream, the Gunnison used to dump 12,000 cu ft/sec through the canyon at flood stage. [That's 2.75 million horsepower. . .] Impressive!

This is the view of the overlook from the porch of the visitor's center. It didn't look either that far or that much lower than the visitor's center when I headed out there - and believe me, I evaluate that sort of thing. By the time I'd started back though, I'd remembered one should never climb any farther down than he's willing to climb up. I kept that in mind the rest of the trip.

This is one view from the offending overlook. It's nice and sharp because, at the time, my breathing was more or less normal. Climbing back to the visitor's center took a lot out of me, but I guess it was worth it - it didn't kill me.

By this time I was completely turned around; you'll have to guess what direction we're looking and, while you're at it, what mountains those are in the distance. I can't help you. I'm fairly sure I'm still on the south side of the canyon, so that'd be Mesa Inclinado across the way, and it's a pretty good view.

Ah, there's the river again, headed west northwest out of the park on its way to Grand Junction, where it joins the Colorado. Note the clouds aren't nearly as interesting out there as I'd hoped. . .

Of course, the South Rim Road just ends at High Point so you have to backtrack to get out. That's why I found myself back on CO 347 shooting those mountains to the east again. In case you're wondering this picture and the first in this post were taken an hour and fifty-four minutes apart. These clouds notwithstanding, I'm thinking it's going to be clear in Utah tomorrow. . . RATS!