It may once have been known to the pioneers as "the place that God forgot", but the unforgiving landscape of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison left an impression on me. Unlike the Grand Canyon, its sister, the Black Canyon is a vertical 2,000 foot drop to the rushing Gunnison river. So why is it called the Black Canyon? What is the Gunnison?
(shoutout to my new friend Zeus for the crazy pics at Devil's Outlook!)
The Gunnison refers to the Gunnison Uplift, a massive layer of gneiss and schist (stone) was brought from the depths of the earth to the surface via seismic activity. Soon after, waters of the Gunnison River carved the canyon by slicing through the tough stone- one inch per century. The Black Canyon refers to these steep walls that sunlight cannot reach. Metamorphic stone squeezed pegmatite out of the canyon walls during this period, for this the canyon walls look like they are painted pink. The South Rim is blessed with 12 overlooks that catch different glimpses of the canyon.
My favorite hike at the south rim was the Warner Point trail, which took me to a panoramic outlook of the entire canyon. Here you can see the jagged canyon walls collide with one another, and hear the river roaring below. Fun Fact: the Black Canyon first came on the national radar when railroad tycoons were trying to build a railroad through the northern part of the canyon by picking at the canyon walls. Imagine 400 Italian and Irish immigrants built a 15 mile railroad in 1.5 years using a ton of effort and a bunch of nitroglycerine. That's nuts!
On my way back to the campsite, I could see rain clouds in the distance crashing into snow capped Rockies. The very mountain range I would soon enter myself...
Camping out at the South Rim Campground has its advantages. Every evening at 9 p.m. the park rangers have an awesome program setup for parkgoers talking about the Black Canyon and astronomy. What I didn't know was that this park was named an International Dark Sky Park, one of the few where you can see the Milky Way clearly. In fact, the saying goes "Half the park is after dark." Though there were slight drizzles at nights, I did manage to catch a glimpse of the Milky Way at 3 a.m., before falling asleep and awaking to a beautiful sunrise.
