# Black Canyon of the Gunnison — a gorge so deep and narrow its rims almost touch, with Colorado's highest cliff

Canonical: https://sockmonkey.com/places/black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park (this is a plain-text copy of that page)
Source: https://sockmonkey.com/places/black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park
Publisher: SockMonkey.com (https://sockmonkey.com)
Part of: The Field Guide - https://sockmonkey.com/places/
Cite as: SockMonkey.com - sockmonkey.com
Last reviewed: 13 November 2026

Part of The US National Parks

- **Where:** Western slope of the Rockies, west-central Colorado
- **Coordinates:** 38.55° N, 107.69° W (South Rim Visitor Center)
- **Deepest:** 2,722 ft, just north, of Warner Point
- **Narrowest:** 40 ft at the river, at the Narrows
- **Painted Wall:** 2,250 ft from river to rim, the highest cliff in Colorado
- **In the park:** 14 of the canyon’s, 48 miles
- **Chasm View:** Rims 1,100 ft apart, the river 1,820 ft below
- **Rock:** Precambrian, nearly two billion, years old, one of the best examples in the world
- **South Rim:** Paved drive, 12 overlooks, visitor centre open all year
- **Protected:** National monument 1933, national park 1999
- **Dark sky:** International Dark Sky Park, since 2015
- **Advisory:** United States, (no State Department level)

## The short answer

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park protects a particularly steep, deep and narrow stretch of a gorge cut by the Gunnison River on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains, about 14 miles north-east of Montrose, Colorado. At its deepest, just north of Warner Point, the canyon is 2,722 feet deep. The canyon divides the park in two: a busier South Rim, with a paved drive and a visitor centre open all year, and a quieter North Rim reached by gravel road.

## Why it's worth knowing

Deep, steep and narrow. At Chasm View the river drops 240 feet in a single mile, the steepest fall anywhere along the canyon. The Painted Wall would stand over the Empire State Building with plenty of cliff to spare. Only the canyon rims, never the inner canyon, show any sign that people ever lived here.

How a river got trapped. About 60 million years ago a small block of land rose and lifted 1.8-billion-year-old metamorphic rock high into the air. About 30 million years ago volcanoes erupted on either side and buried it. Then, as early as two million years ago, the Gunnison River came through in force, stripped away the soft volcanic rock and hit the hard rock beneath. Trapped in its own canyon, it had no choice but to keep cutting down, at about an inch every hundred years.

A night sky to match. Black Canyon became an International Dark Sky Park in 2015. Darkness is measured on a scale where higher is darker: parks need an average of 21.2 to qualify, Black Canyon’s readings have averaged 21.5, and a big city like Denver reads about 18. By day the canyon is home to 59 kinds of mammal and 174 of bird, and parts of the walls close to climbers each spring and summer while raptors nest.

## The field notes

### A tunnel through the wall

Farmers in the Uncompahgre Valley, to the west, needed water, and the Gunnison had plenty, at the bottom of a canyon. From 1905 to 1909 workers drove a tunnel 5.8 miles long from East Portal, through the cliffs and under the ground, to the valley side. It was hard, dangerous work in toxic gases, heat and seeping water, and twenty-six workers were killed. The crews digging from each end met in the middle in July 1909, and on 23 September President William Taft pressed a button at West Portal and the water flowed. The tunnel still carries irrigation water to the valley’s farms, usually from April to October.

### Air mattresses down the river

The canyon had never been explored when, in 1900, a party set out to scout a tunnel site in wooden boats. Near the stretch now called the Narrows they gave up and climbed out to the rim. The next year the hydrologist Abraham Lincoln Fellows and William Torrence, who had been on the first trip, tried again, nine days in the canyon with rubber air mattresses and waterproof bags. Their surveys, and later ones, showed the tunnel could be built.

### A town at the bottom

A road was blasted down the cliffs to East Portal in 1904, with grades as steep as 32 per cent, and three 11,600-pound boilers for the power plant were lowered down it. By 1906 a town stood on the lower slopes: tents at first, then cabins, a dining hall, bunkhouses for men working three shifts around the clock, a hospital, post office, library, billiard hall and school. It never held more than 250 people, and when the tunnel was done most of it was taken down.

### Older neighbours

The known sites around the canyon suggest people have used it for 9,000 years. Five federally recognized tribes and one tribal community have cultural ties to the land in and around the park. They are the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, the White Mesa Ute Community, Jemez Pueblo and the Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma.

**A relic from Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park**

A pink stripe of pegmatite on the Painted Wall. The bands that streak the wall are granite with enormous crystals of quartz, feldspar and mica, some up to 6 feet long. They began as molten rock so rich in water that it squeezed into cracks in the older rock like toothpaste from a tube, and cooled slowly enough to grow giants; potassium feldspar turned them pink. Pegmatite wears away more slowly than the dark gneiss and schist around it, so the stripes stand out boldly on the cliff.

## Getting there

How to get there. The South Rim is 7 miles north on Colorado Highway 347 from US Highway 50, east of Montrose: 14 miles north-east of Montrose, 63 miles north-west of Gunnison, 75 miles south-east of Grand Junction and 264 miles south-west of Denver. Buses and planes serve Montrose, Gunnison and Grand Junction; there is no public transport in the park. The North Rim is 11 miles south-west of Crawford, off Colorado Highway 92, and the last 7 miles are unpaved. There is no bridge across the canyon, so getting from one rim to the other takes 2 to 3 hours of driving. East Portal Road, the only road down to the river, leaves the South Rim and is steep, with limits on vehicle size. All the water on both rims is trucked in.

When to go. The South Rim Road is usually open to cars from late April to mid-November; in winter it stays open as far as the visitor centre at Gunnison Point. The North Rim road typically closes in mid-November and reopens in May. The rim sits at about 8,000 feet and the river at about 6,000. In winter, mapping apps may refuse to route to the South Rim Visitor Center, which stays open; the South Rim entrance station works as a destination instead.

What to arrange ahead. Every trip into the inner canyon, a designated wilderness, needs a permit. As of 13 November 2026, day and overnight trips on the South Rim wilderness routes between May 1 and October 31 must be reserved on Recreation.gov.

Safety. The State Department’s travel advisories cover other countries, so none applies here. The park’s current conditions page lists road, trail and route status, including closures since the 2025 South Rim Fire.

## Common questions

#### How deep is the Black Canyon of the Gunnison?

At its deepest, 2,722 feet. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison reaches that depth just north of Warner Point, and at the Narrows it is only 40 feet wide at the river.

#### What is the Painted Wall?

The highest cliff in Colorado. The Painted Wall in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park stands 2,250 feet from river to rim, striped with pink bands of pegmatite, a granite-like rock with huge crystals.

#### Can you drive from the South Rim to the North Rim?

Yes, but it takes a while. There is no bridge across the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, so the drive between the rims, on roads outside the park, takes 2 to 3 hours, and the North Rim road is closed to cars in winter.

#### How old are the rocks in the Black Canyon?

Nearly two billion years old. The Gunnison River has cut down through Precambrian rock in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, one of the best examples of such ancient basement rock in the world.

#### How did the Black Canyon form?

Slowly, and in a trap. In Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park the Gunnison River cut through soft volcanic rock into hard ancient rock and, unable to change course, kept cutting down at about an inch every hundred years.

#### Is Black Canyon of the Gunnison a dark sky park?

Yes, since 2015. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is an International Dark Sky Park, with sky readings that have averaged 21.5, much darker than a big city like Denver.

#### What is the Gunnison Tunnel?

A 5.8-mile irrigation tunnel through the canyon wall. Workers built it from East Portal in Black Canyon of the Gunnison between 1905 and 1909, and it still carries river water to the farms of the Uncompahgre Valley.

#### When is the South Rim open?

All year, with a shorter drive in winter. In Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park the South Rim Road is usually open from late April to mid-November, and in winter cars can still reach the visitor centre.

What to pack: the Road trips kit

## Related places

Archesalso in The US National Parks · about 160 km away
Canyonlands National Parkalso in The US National Parks · about 190 km away
The Grand Canyonalso in The US National Parks · about 480 km away
Mesa Verdealso in The US National Parks · about 170 km away
Capitol Reef National Parkalso in The US National Parks · about 310 km away

Notes on sources. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is in the United States, so no State Department advisory applies. The National Park Service’s pages for the park, read directly on 13 November 2026, supplied: the depth, widths, length, descent and the Painted Wall’s height and comparisons (canyon dimensions, updated 24 April 2025); the two million years, the inch a century and width of a hair, the uplift and volcanoes (geologic story, updated 5 May 2025; geology, updated 24 April 2025); “not the steepest, deepest or narrowest”, the two-billion-year-old basement rock and the 14 of 48 miles (geology); the pegmatite, its crystals, colour and toothpaste comparison (rocks and minerals, updated 24 April 2025); the dark-sky park and its readings (night skies, updated 5 August 2024); the animals (animals, updated 20 May 2025); the raptor climbing closures (current conditions, updated 12 November 2026); the 9,000 years and the rims (history and culture, updated 24 April 2025); the associated tribes (traditionally associated tribes, updated 5 December 2024); the Gunnison Tunnel, the 1900 and 1901 expeditions, East Portal and its town, the 26 workers killed and Taft’s dedication (East Portal and the Gunnison Tunnel, updated 6 May 2026); the distances, roads and no bridge (directions, updated 24 April 2025; basic information, updated 26 November 2025; South Rim, updated 28 December 2025; North Rim, updated 1 May 2025); the road seasons (operating hours, updated 13 November 2025); the elevations (weather, updated 24 April 2025); and the wilderness permits (inner canyon, updated 16 April 2026). The monument (2 March 1933) and the park (redesignated 1999) are from the park anniversaries page. The coordinates are the South Rim Visitor Center, from the park’s linked data. Checked 13 November 2026. Written and fact-checked by SockMonkey.com. Last reviewed 13 November 2026.