Park 5: Black Canyon of the Gunnison Nat'l Park, CO:  We drove from Alamaso, CO to Black Canyon via two-lane "country" roads crossing farmland, mesas, and mountains. Along the way on CO-114, we slowed to pass Bob Skelding and his horse drawn wagon. Who?  Find out, as we did, by checking out his website: http://www.wagonteamster.com/.  Most interesting!

We crossed the Continental Divide at Cochetopa Pass at an elevation of 10,135 feet and soon turned onto US-50 - a right turn would take us to Annapolis, a left would take us to LA - we turned west toward Black Canyon.

Black Canyon was carved out of the mountain rock by over 2 million years of water from the Gunnison River and the natural weather forces of Mother Nature. Again, no 2-D picture will do this park justice because of its sheer vertical development of the canyon walls, up to 2700 feet, and their closeness, at one point only 1100 feet. Two Empire State Buildings would fit on top of each other on the canyon floor and not reach the canyon rim! We drove the 7 mile south rim for spectacular views, and at the end of the drive hiked 1.4 miles along the rim to Warner Point at an elevation of 8,302 feet, with magnificent views of the canyon and river in front of us and the green farmland of the Uncompahgre Valley behind us.

Before leaving the National Park, we drove down the East Portal road to the canyon floor and the location of the 6-mile water diversion tunnel that was dug between 1904 and 1909 to provide water from the Gunnison to the then arid Uncompahgre Valley. Quite an engineering feat! We departed the canyon leaving a half dozen fly fishermen casting their lines.  On to Utah!

Odometer: 3,512 miles.

WagonTeamster on CO-114

Painted Wall - 2,250 ft

Warner Point