Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park: Humble Thyself

The single most important word to describe Black Canyon of the Gunnison is severe. The national park, which consists of a narrow gorge with steep painted walls and a 2,700-foot drop into the Gunnison River, is characterized by the chilly evenings and burning days of the high altitude desert. After successfully hiking 10 miles in the Rockies at a higher elevation, we were feeling strong and confident that we could handle a simple 2-mile hike down into the Black Canyon.

The Gunnison Route, which is one of the routes down the canyon, drops 1800 feet in one mile and also features an 80-foot chain where climbers have to lower themselves down the canyon. The trail was steep, but was shaded by the towering canyon walls, and we navigated our way to the chain section in about 45 minutes. The chain was a fun challenge and we made it down with only a few scrapes and frustrated groans. After this, the trail consisted of loose gravel and dirt, and we felt as though we were descending a mountain on banana peels with the bruises on our hineys to prove it. At 2 ½ hours into our descent, we heard the Gunnison River roaring like muffled thunder. However, we also noticed our precious shade was receding quickly and temperatures were rising. The trail was taking us much longer than we anticipated and we were facing the possibility of climbing out of the intimidating canyon in the beating sun. Reluctantly, even though we could now see the river, we decided to turn around. On the way back up, we scrambled on all fours, tossing up the loose dirt into the air. The dust cloud we created coated our bodies like cocoa powder, and our tempers were rising with the heat. After twenty minutes of tough scrambling, we realized we had lost the trail back to the canyon rim. We were dirty, tired, hot and lost. We searched for the trail unsuccessfully for 15 minutes. It was time to pray. Just then in the silence of the canyon, Samantha heard hikers about 100 yards to our west. The trail was covered by low-lying brush and we couldn’t see it. We called to the hikers, who waited for us to make our way back onto the trail. Sarah and Matt were ascending the Gunnison Trail and they offered to accompany us back to the rim. We learned that they had started their hike two hours before we did and were already climbing back up to avoid heat exhaustion from the sun. We made it to the top, sweaty, dirty, and humbled.