I can't believe I never even heard of this place until we bought our National Geographic book on National Parks. This is not to be missed! While the Grand Canyon wows you with it's sheer size, depth, width and total area - the Black Canyon of the Gunnison is deep (between 1100 and 2700 feet), and it's only about 48 miles long. Only 14 of those 48 miles are in the National Park. The rest of it is divided between the Curecanti National Recreation Area (where the boat tour originates and ends) and the Gunnison Gorge Conservation Area (which we did not see.) The drama here comes from it's width. It is extremely narrow - 40 feet at it's narrowest. It is called the Black Canyon because there are places within it that only get about 30 minutes of sunlight per day. (Want to learn more?
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Our first day there we drove the South Rim. We thought the views were absolutely stunning.
The next day we took a boat trip about seven miles into the canyon. A bit of a challenge to get to it - 232 steps and then a mile or so hike - but well worth the effort. (Getting back up the 232 steps was the worst part!)
We didn't think we'd have time to drive the North Rim, but a friend indicated to us that it was not to be missed. Wow! Was he ever right!
Even the drives to the canyon through the Curecanti Recreation area had stunning scenery.
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