Black Canyon of the Gunnison
The Black Canyon of the Gunnison’s unique and spectacular landscape was formed slowly by the action of water and rock scouring down through hard Proterozoic crystalline rock. No other canyon in North America combines the narrow opening, sheer walls, and startling depths offered by the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.
Sheer black walls of schist and gneiss plummet as much as 2,700 feet along the 53-mile stretch of narrow gorge known as the Black Canyon. The 14 miles that lie within the park are like a raw cut in the Earth’s crust, exposing geologic viscera and illuminating millions of years of history. On the canyon floor, the Gunnison River rips through the gorge as it did 30 million years ago, when it began carving a chasm into the hard black rock of the Gunnison Uplift.
The Black Canyon of the Gunnison is one of our newest national parks - its status changed from monument to park on October 21, 1999. The park service commemorated the event by adding 10,000 acres of wilderness to help protect the striking beauty and wildlife habitat of this river corridor.
Hikers can experience the canyon from a variety of perspectives by hiking along the North Rim, the South Rim, and on inner-canyon routes that descend deep into the chasm. Grab your binoculars to snoop on park denizens like the yellow-bellied marmot, a jolly rodent that likes to sunbathe on rocky ledges and outcrops. If you want to catch a glimpse of the Peregrine Falcon, you’d better be quick on the draw - it’s the fastest bird in the world.
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