A few years ago, our family visited the Black Canyon, carved by the Gunnison River. The walls are vertical, and the canyon is deep. Because it is so steep, most activates in the park are easy strolls to the edge of the canyon for breathtaking views. The popular Painted Wall is a 2300 ft vertical face of crystalline veined rock towering above the river. Trips into the canyon itself can be done along three routes (not trails) from the south rim, and three routes from the north rim. These all require a wilderness permit, which are limited to 15 people per day, per route. The rangers describe these routes as some of the toughest hiking in the national park system.
The last time we visited, our family attempted the 1.5 mile Gunnison Route to the bottom of the canyon. This route drops 1800 ft, and, at one point, hikers need to lower themselves down a 100 ft chain to avoid tumbling down the slope. Unfortunately, we started too late in the day to complete the trip. The heat and altitude, combined with the intensity of the climb made us turn around early. You can read more about that trip here.
Since we were defeated by the Gunnison route, I’ve always wanted to come back and complete the trail. This was our chance! Knowing what we were in for, we started training early. Over the school year, Eli and I embarked on the “Gunnison Program”, which involved a weekly combination of running and burpees. We were not going to be defeated again! We also brought gloves so we wouldn’t cut our hands on the rocks, and I invested in a good GPS. It is so easy to get lost on the canyon walls!
Permits for this hike are given out at 4:30 pm the preceding day at the south rim visitors center. We learned that hikers were lining up as early as 1:00 pm for a chance to get a permit! Not wanting to miss our opportunity, we lined up at 12:30 pm on the back deck of the visitor center. It wasn’t so bad waiting on the back deck. We met a lot of interesting people, and had great views of the canyon. We could hear thunder rolling down the canyon from passing thunderstorms. For our patience, we were rewarded with permits to head down the Gunnison Route the following morning.
We hit the trail at 7:00 am. The air was cool, but the rocks were slick from the overnight rain, which made for a slow, careful descent. We knew we had limited time. Afternoons were either blazing hot, or had intense thunderstorms. Either of these conditions would make a the return ascent hazardous. Because the trail was so slippery, we spent a lot of our time in a crouch position, sliding down the route on our boots. We lowered ourselves on the chain, and continued down the steep slope of scree rock that had broken off the canyon walls. It took us 2 hours to descend to the bottom of the canyon. We were rewarded with stunning views at the bottom of the canyon. The walls are so tall, and so close together that you feel like a tiny insect in the vast crevice. It wasn’t long before we noticed trout surfacing in a large pool in the river. This stretch of the river is considered “Gold Medal” trout fishing. In only 30 minutes, we landed 7 brown trout up to 16 in. We could have fished longer, but we knew we had a tough climb ahead of us.
The best investment we made was the GPS. It all looks the same going up, and staying on the route is more difficult than expected. We could see where many travelers made wrong turns, and likely wasted valuable time. For extra safety, we partnered with two other climbers so we could watch out for each other as we made the steep ascent. The afternoon heat was interrupted with passing storm clouds, but luckily we stayed dry. We made it back to the visitors center with a sense of redemption!
That afternoon, we were so wiped out that all we could manage was watching 5 chipmunks (Carl, Kevin, Louis, Carlos, Timmy) squabble over crumbs in our campsite. Carl and Kevin were the fat bullies of the bunch, and chased the other three away. We could tell that Carl and Kevin had a mutual respect for each other as they traded chipmunk chirps and growls while they ate. The lesson seemed to be that if you are big and loud, you get your way in chipmunk land. This simple chipmunk behavior reminded us that this also seems to apply to humans.
I love that you named the chipmunks!