I left Grand Junction eager to check out Colorado’s National Parks. First on my list was Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP. I didn’t know anything about it, but a couple people I had met in Utah had spoken really highly of it. The centerpiece and namesake of the park is the incredibly steep and narrow Black Canyon - so called because supposedly parts of it only get one hour of light a day. At one point, the canyon narrows to only 40 feet wide! For a long time, the settlers and Native Americans deemed the canyon impenetrable. Nowadays, however, there are some unmaintained scrambling and technical routes down to the bottom for the adventurous, plus a narrow winding road.
The Painted Wall at Dawn
While there wasn’t a ton of hiking & and exploring to do while I was there, I did meet several passionate photographers who stayed out to capture sunset and moonlight photos. On my second night in the park, I stayed up all night and got sunset, moonlight, and sunrise photos of the canyon.
