THE BLACK CANYON
Christy, Myron, Saucony, and
I all piled into the Xterra and headed out of Grand Junction. We were running late, but I still wanted to
visit the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Most park visitors head for the more accessible south rim. I had something else in mind. The less-developed north rim features a
winding dirt road that looked like a promising mountain biking destination. Since we had hauled our mountain bikes
2/3rds of the way across the country, I thought it might be nice to actually
use them. While we rode, we’d turn the
car, and the dog, over to Myron. It
would be a fairly short ride, and we were confident he’d be able to find plenty
to do.
It wasn’t long before our
plans were derailed. First, we had
considerable difficulty finding the turn for the road to the north rim. We thought the turn was in the town of
Crawford. We missed it, so we turned
around and headed back to town.
Somehow, through dumb luck and trial and error, we managed to follow a
series of roads to the park. Later, we
discovered that the well-marked junction is a couple of miles beyond Crawford.
Even before reaching the
park, we knew our mountain biking plans were in jeopardy. A wall of ominous black clouds was
approaching from the west. By the time
we reached the north rim road, a storm was imminent. Riding a metal bike along the edge of an open plateau in a
thunderstorm sounded like a bad idea, so we decided to stay in the car. We headed down the north rim road, and
managed to visit a couple of overlooks before the storm hit. The driving rain, hail, and brutal winds
chased us to the ranger station, where we killed a bit of time. Fortunately, the storm passed quickly. However, the wet and muddy road, as well as
the late hour, convinced us to skip the mountain biking. Instead, we visited the campground, and
hiked the nature trail there. The
nature trail is one of the few in the park that allows pets.
The nature trail took us to
a couple overlooks of the canyon. The
canyon itself is quite impressive.
Although quite narrow, the cliffs present a sheer drop of over ½
mile. We enjoyed the views of the river
racing through the gorge far below.
Across from us, the sheer cliffs that form the south rim rose towards a
rapidly clearing sky.
After our walk, we drove the
North Rim Road again and stopped at the overlooks we’d missed earlier. I enjoyed the overlooks, and I made some
futile attempts at photography despite the horrific lighting. Most of these photos were disappointing, but
I managed a few that were salvageable.
Before long, it was time to
resume the journey. We returned to
Crawford and then rejoined route 92 through the Curecanti Recreation Area. This scenic drive featured some nice views
of the Gunnison River Gorge and Blue Mesa Reservoir. We crossed the river, and I suggested a shortcut to Lake
City. The map shows a dirt road
connecting directly to route 149. If
the road was good, it would save us a half-hour or more. If it wasn’t, Myron and Christy would kill
me.
At first I was a little
nervous. The road wasn’t in very good
shape. As we bounced along, we debated
turning around and returning to the highway.
Luckily though, the road improved, and before long we were sailing
through the high desert. Some time
later we joined route 149, having saved quite a few miles and minutes. Is there anything more satisfying than a
well-executed shortcut?
We drove into Lake City,
where we found some shops, a few restaurants, and lots of rental cabins. There didn’t appear to be any vacancy in
town. This made me a bit nervous. I thought Lake City was so remote, it
wouldn’t have heavy visitation.
Apparently I was wrong. We could
only hope that we’d find a campsite.
We drove up the road past
Lake San Cristobal towards Cinnamon Pass.
The first campground, on the lake, didn’t look very appealing. A few miles later, we reached a forest
service campground at Williams Creek.
There were only a couple of vacant sites, but we were lucky enough to
find an attractive one. However, as we
drove through the campground, we noticed that most of the other campers had
ATV’s. Uh, oh. Was this a good idea? Briefly I envisioned people riding through
the campground on those things at all hours.
On the other hand, nobody was actually riding through the campground
then, and it was only early evening.
Plus, we weren’t sure if we’d find a vacant site at the next campground
up the road.
We set up camp and had a
leisurely dinner. It was good to be
there, as we planned on spending four nights.
It was nice to know that we wouldn’t have to pack up for awhile. I slept well that night, as I was looking
forward to my first hike in the San Juans the next day.
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