Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park - part 1

On Monday, we visited Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. 

On our way to the park, we re-traced some of our drive from Fruita to Gunnison, going along the side of the Blue Mesa Reservoir....

... and some of the ranch lands in the area.

Inside the park -- we had read that there may be issues with finding parking at some of the overlooks -- so we stopped at the first overlook, Tomichi Point as there was a parking place available!

Here we first started seeing the canyon.

Obligatory selfie

Sure enough, there was no parking at the next stop, which was the Visitor's Center (and it had the most parking places of any of the stops, but not enough for the number of visitors on this particular day).

We continued on to Pulpit Rock Overlook where we saw this mound of yellow flowers with butterflies (or moths?) on it -- see the video to see the flying things: https://youtu.be/lD324zSgr1k

From this viewpoint, we could see (and hear) the Gunnison River down below.

The cliff face on the north side is very steep, and the south side more sloped...

Steep north face

The reason for the difference in the slopes

We drove on to Cross Fissures View...

Interesting views of the north face from this view

I have read that it is called "black canyon" because the bottom of the canyon gets so little sunlight each day -- in some places about 33 minutes a day at the maximum.

You can also visit the North Rim -- you may be able to see the gravel road into the north side in the middle of this picture on the other side of the canyon -- but it is a couple of hours drive from the south rim to the north rim as there are no direct roads.

"Chasm View"

Information board at Painted Wall View

Another information board at Painted Wall View

Painted wall

Information at Sunset View

Sunset View (looking west out the end of the canyon)

Another visitor offered to take our picture at Sunset View.

We drove to the end of South Rim Road (High Point), but again, even though there were more parking spaces than at other stops, they were all taken. We decided that we had enjoyed enough of the rim views, and headed to another part of the park, East Portal. More about that in another post!

Note: I wrote this post on Wednesday after we had visited the park on Monday, July 7. On early Thursday morning, July 10, according to reports, a dry lightning storm moved through the area of the National Park and ignited a fire that has burned over 3500 acres and is 0% contained as of July 13. 

I posted this picture of a map board in the post above from our visit on Monday...

 

 

 

 

...this photo appeared on the park's Facebook page on Friday. I am pretty sure it is of the same signboard; the platform out over the canyon appears to be gone.

 

The area that I posted above where the flowers with the butterflies was located also appears to be in the burned area. All along the South Rim Road it appears to be burned, though many of the overlooks may have been preserved. The visitor center (which we were unable to visit due to lack of parking) has been preserved to this point.

The information about the wildfire with daily updates can be found here: https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/cobcp-south-rim 

We are grateful that we went when we did, but it is sad that this area which we enjoyed so recently may not be available for others to enjoy for quite some time. It reminds us of visiting Jasper (about this time of year last year) and it burning within just a couple of days after we left. We are praying that the firefighters will be kept safe and that they will have success containing the fire. 

Trying out recommended activities around Gunnison

We met a nice local couple at the balloon ascension on Saturday morning -- they suggested a couple of local things to us... 

The Saturday Farmer's Market

Not anywhere near as large as Fruita, but a nice selection of items (still not very many veggies for sale).

They also recommended Sundays at Six, a concert in the park on Sunday at 6pm (duh!) -- 

The group on the Sunday evening we went was The Ditchwalkers 

From the concert info (https://www.gunnisonartscenter.org/sundays---6-concert-series):

Rooted in American old-time and bluegrass traditions, Matt & Madeline Shugert with Lizzy Plotkin deliver spirited instrumentals and rich three-part harmonies that celebrate the beauty and intimacy of acoustic string-band music.

We enjoyed the music, and we enjoyed people watching! It seemed that most folks came to the concert like going to a coffeehouse -- the music was playing, but they were conversing with friends, kids were running around having a grand old time, and it was generally just a place for socializing. A *lot* of people (especially families) rode their bicycles to the park.

One thing that we have noticed is that there are very few heavy people here around Gunnison. It seems to be a very active community and people are very fit. 

The couple that we met at the balloon ascension have lived here about 7 years, having moved here from Connecticut to be near family. She shared that a lot of people end up needing to move to lower elevation as they reach their 80s due to the elevation; she asked if we had noticed people with oxygen bottles (we had) and noted that is due to the thin air.

We have noticed that our walks are significantly more challenging here than when we are at lower elevations, not just because we are usually walking uphill, but also because of the thinner air. Sometimes it just seems nearly impossible to get a full breath. I guess if we lived here we would get accustomed to it!

Balloon Rally in Gunnison

When we were at the hamburger event in the campground on the Fourth, some folks we talked with told us about the balloon rally in Gunnison. We had seen some information about it, so decided to go on Saturday, July 5. The balloon ascension starts at about sunrise, so we headed into Gunnison before 7am.

When we got there, some balloons were already aloft, but others were still filling on the ground... if you'd like to see more about what we saw, please check out our video:  https://youtu.be/UArup-kADvs

 

Fourth of July in Gunnison, CO

The town of Gunnison was having a number of activities on the Fourth of July (and also days preceding and following). We decided to go into town for some of the afternoon/evening events in Jorgensen Park.

There were food vendors, and we got chicken empanadas and, what we think may have been Papas Rellenas (fried stuffed potatoes). Most of the vendors appeared to be Mexican or South American families who were serving up items that they might cook at home.

There was to be a concert later in the evening, so we headed over to set up our chairs... 

There was a steel drum band performing in the gazebo -- they may have been students from the local Western Colorado University.

They were having a good time and the audience enjoyed them too; here's a video of a part of one song: https://youtu.be/55eM9q8YqDY 

There was a nice crowd enjoying the entertainment.

There was also a "Pup 'n' SUP" race -- Stand-Up Paddleboards (though no one was standing up) with dogs (pups) along for the ride on the small pond in the park.

A little later, Bombargo took the stage -- a band from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (does it seem a little odd to have a Canadian band play for US Independence day?).

There was a good crowd enjoying their music too!

We were in the shade, and I had gotten cool and covered up with a jacket!

There were a number of people dancing up near the stage for some of the songs.

We decided that staying until fireworks (9:30pm) was not in the cards for us, but we enjoyed these activities in Gunnison!

Fourth of July at Blue Mesa Recreational Ranch

We decided to enjoy some activities here at the campground on the Fourth...

The campground workers cooked hot dogs and burgers...

... there was seating outside on the patio.

A good number of folks came out for the meal...

...you could get a hot dog or hamburger or cheeseburger (with all the fixin's), chips, watermelon, and drink for $5.

On our way back to Gracie, Carl took a picture of the hill/mountain that is near us... he keeps on saying that he thinks we could walk up it pretty easily...

We walked on the campground road over to the area closest to it -- there was a fence...

... undeterred, Carl headed up to the fence...

... turns out that the fence is knocked down right there, "Go ahead Carl, I'll just wait right here!" He decided that it might be better to wait for another day!

Looking down the campground road toward the reservoir

In the area where we are parked, there are cabins too. We are wondering if it could possibly be a location for a family reunion at some point!

We are enjoying this "latest acquisition" campground into the Thousand Trails system.

Thousand Trails Blue Mesa Recreational Ranch

We had booked our stay at Blue Mesa many months ago so we'd know that we had a place to stay for the Fourth of July holiday. Holidays can be tough to book in campgrounds, as many people make their plans way in advance (and we usually do *not*). Adding to that complexity is that our membership in Thousand Trails (TT) only allows us to hold one holiday reservation at a time, which is challenging since the summer has three holidays. If we were going to be in TT for Memorial Day, we would not be allowed to attempt to book a stay for the 4th until our Memorial Day stay started, which would be less than 60 days out, making it questionable on whether we could get a reservation. This year, we had planned to be in the Kodachrome State Park for Memorial Day (though we ended up at the Harvest Host farm in Spanish Fork), the 4th in Thousand Trails Blue Mesa, and Labor Day at Paul Wolff campground in Elgin, Illinois. 

Thousand Trails is now assigning campsites which many members are not happy about, but we have found it working for us so far, better than the "first come, first served" gamble that we used to experience. We never knew at the end of a driving day what we would find available at the campground. Many times we'd see small rigs parked in huge sites, and what was left for us was a tiny site that we would need to shoe-horn ourselves into. We would try to get to the campground as soon as possible after the allowed check-in time started so we'd have the best options. Sometimes we would move to a better site the next morning after folks checked out, but most of the time it wasn't worth the hassle after we'd gotten parked. Many people are indicating that they are not getting sites that they want with the assigned sites, but we aren't really particular, other than that we fit into the site, and that it preferably has 50A. I indicate that when we make our booking, and so far, we've gotten sites we like with the campground doing the assignment.

For this Thousand Trails campground, we had spoken with another TT member and they indicated that it is good to contact the campground and make sure that they know the size of your rig before arrival. Although it is in our profile, I did call, and the person with whom I spoke indicated that we had a "really good site!" That sounded promising!

Sure enough, Gracie is in a very nice pull-through site.

We took a walk through the campground...

In the family center, there are games -- pool, ping pong, foosball, as well as old style video games.

Sign at the highway for the campground

Another view of Gracie (on the right side of the picture) -- you can see the big hill right near us. The small building in the foreground is a cabana -- our site is indicated as a "cabana site" -- we have one of those next to Gracie too. It has a picnic table located inside it.

We walked up to the top of the campground -- it was more of an uphill than we were anticipating...

... but we got views down through the campground toward the Blue Mesa Reservoir.

Another view of the reservoir

A view toward the west from the "top" of the campground. There are cottages that can be rented along the top of the campground and I'm sure that they have nice views from their front porches.

Blue Mesa was only recently acquired by Thousand Trails (in 2020 or 2019?). This poster was used to announce the new acquisition in other campgrounds in the Thousand Trails system. Now they have a copy of it in the Welcome Center here at Blue Mesa.

A view of a small fishing pond (left) and Blue Mesa Reservoir (beyond, center) from the parking area in front of the Welcome Center.

We are enjoying the cooler weather and a longer stay (15 days total) here at Blue Mesa Recreational Ranch!

Amusement in the motorhome

One afternoon, when I went to use the "facilities" in Gracie, I found that Carl had left a "present" for me...

The things you can do with a tube from a paper towel roll and two rolls of toilet paper!

He said that the example that he had seen had it like this, but that you had to get down lower to get the full effect, so he preferred his alternative (the picture above) with the toilet paper rolls being upright.

I haven't asked what the source is of his creativity!