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Hello and Goodbye Black Canyon

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It’s been almost two weeks since we last had an opportunity to post a blog update. This is a result of a combination of a busy schedule and a lack of wifi. Our last post had us finishing up our time in Canyonlands. Our next stop was Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado. We’ve covered a lot of ground since then, so let’s catch up.

We left Canyonlands on Saturday, June 29th on our way to Black Canyon, a little over four hours away. Our original plan called for two nights at the campground in the park. The weather forecast for the area was not good, with rain and thunderstorms predicted.

The sky was black with low heavy clouds and threatening when we arrived at our camp site shortly after noon. Instead of setting up our tent, we decided to eat lunch first and see what the weather was going to do, as opposed to setting up our tent in the soon to fall rain. The campsite was not the best. It was quite small, although it did have a generous tent pad on which we could set up. The campground had vault toilets, and water available about a quarter of a mile from our site. We’ve had better.

When we finished lunch, we drove to the visitor center to get maps and information on the best things to do during our stay. Beth learned that there really wasn’t much to do here in terms of hiking. There is a trail to the bottom of the canyon, but in order to do it, you have to attend a safety class first since it is strenuous and can be dangerous. Other than that trail, the park does have a few shorter trails, but it is not a hiker’s paradise by any means.

We exited the visitors’ center and walked to the canyon overlook right behind it. What a site we saw. The Black Canyon is definitely black and it is definitely a canyon, a very impressive and deep canyon. The average depth of it is 2,000 feet from the rim to the Gunnison river at the bottom, and it’s deepest point approaches 3,000 feet. We were amazed at how far it is from the overlook to the river from our vantage point high above. It really is a beautiful site to behold. We spent about 15 minutes admiring the view and taking pictures before deciding to head back to our campsite to decide our next move. 

While at the visitors’ center, we learned that the road leading out of the park and toward our next destination was closed because of a bridge repair project underway. We had two choices for getting out, both requiring detours. Detour one would add about 5 hours to our trip to Great Sand Dunes, but it was on paved highways. Detour two would add about 2 hours, but it was on a dirt/ gravel County road and it was only open at certain times of the day for outbound traffic. What to do?

As we sat at our picnic table at the campsite, we discussed our options. The clouds were getting darker, and rain seemed imminent. It was about 3:15 in the afternoon. The 2 hour detour option was opening at 4:30, and we had an hour ride to get to it. Given the weather forecast, and the lack of hiking trails or other means of filling a day and a half in the park, especially in inclement weather, we made a snap decision to abandon our campsite and head out in a hurry in an attempt to make the detour and continue on to Great Sand Dunes.

I am not sure we’ve made a quicker decision on our travel plans during our entire trip, but it really seemed like the right one. Our reasoning seemed sound. If we stayed, and it rained (and it did rain after we left), we would be trapped inside our 10×14 foot tent for an extended period of time. Also the dirt detour roud would become a muddy mess. By leaving, we could get a jump on our next leg to Great Sand Dunes, and that seemed like a much better use of our time. Besides, we had seen the main attraction in the park, the amazing canyon, and we stamped our National Parks Passport, mission accomplished.

Saying goodbye to Black Canyon, we left the park and headed for the county road detour. What a detour it was. For a grueling 15 to 20 miles, we crawled along a dirt road behind a long line of traffic at about 10 to 15 miles per hour. The condition of the road was such that we really couldn’t go much faster. After what seemed like hours, we finally emerged from the dust and rejoined the main road so we could continue on to Great Sand Dunes. In the rear view mirror, we could see what looked like rain from the direction of Black Canyon, which confirmed that we had made the right decision in leaving. Neither of us was disappointed, nor did we second guess ourselves. It was time to head to the dunes, the Great Sand Dunes, that is.

The only problem with our decision was we had nowhere lined up to stay for the next two nights, as we had planned on being in Black Canyon. Given the weather, we decided to spend the night in a hotel in the town of Gunnison, Colorado, about 2 hours from Great Sand Dunes. Besides, we needed a shower anyway, so it seemed like a no-brainer as they say.

After a good night’s sleep in a real bed, we showered Sunday morning before attending a worship service at the Community Church of Gunnison. The people there were very friendly and after the service, we spoke with one of them to get directions on the best way to get to the dunes to avoid having to cross any high mountain passes. Armed with that information, we departed Gunnison and headed to Great Sand Dunes. We were hoping to be able to get into our campsite a day early since we had no place lined up to stay Sunday night. Our final stop on that Sunday will be covered in our next post. Stay tuned.