OTHER Trip Report 11/14/2008

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Black Canyon of the Gunnison - 8600
Date Posted	11/14/2008
Date Climbed	08/03/2008
Author	stlouishiker

Reverse 14er Training
Too squeeze in a little more training for climbs of Elbert and Bierstadt later in the week, we hiked down the the bottom of the Black Canyon Canyon of the Gunnison. This canyon is around 2,000 ft. deep but it contains Colorado's tallest vertical cliff; the Painted Wall 2,700 ft. high. All routes into the canyon are super-strenous according to the National Park Service. The easiest route which we descended was 1 mile long dropping 2,000 ft. in that one mile. The route is located in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison Wilderness Area, which is one of the most rugged wilderness areas in the country. Permits were required even for day-use. We woke up from our Montrose hotel at 7:00, made ourselves some waffles and drove 15 miles up to the National Park. Once we got there at 8:30 we filled out the complex permit forms. We took one permit with us and the ranger kept the other. The nice ranger gave us a long talk, "You need to be prepared for all weather and it is be 10 degrees warmer at the base of the canyon. The river runs around 38 degrees, please no swimming. If one of you gets hurt be prepared for self rescue. SAR will come looking for you after 24 hours. Be prepared for the steep trail by wearing hiking boots. You may want gloves for the chain. Pack out all our litter. Bring a gallon of water per person per day or at least have 3x as much water for coming back up than you had for going down. On the steepest section there is an iron chain. You belay yourself down backwards over steep rock for 100 vertical ft. Oh, and the last thing is the most important. Have fun, but be safe." Here was our first view of the canyon. Here is the visitor center perched on top of the cliff. Here is an image that shows our route into the canyon, the red is the trail and the black part is the chain's location. We started our hike around 9:00. The first 1/3 of a mile went down 400 ft. on the gentle Oak Flat Nature Trail. After several swich-backs, we came to our turn off. There was a small wooden sign saying Entering wilderness permit required beyond this point. No dogs or fire. We turned off onto our unmaintained route and immeditatly entered a confusing maze of trails that all went down steeply. We moved down through this part pretty quick. About a minute after we left the Oak Flat Trail we met another group of hikers. These were three college kids who had backpacked down for one night. One of them had a guitar case strapped around his neck. I asked him how much he played on it. He said, "I was so tired from hiking down here I played one song and fell asleep. Big Mistake dude, this is pretty heavy to carry around your neck." The night before I took a picture of the bottom of the canyon and noticed a little white speck in it, I later found out it was the guys who were camping down there. About 10 minutes after meeting them we reached the top of the famous chain. Nate went down first and I followed, after me came my dad. The first part was the steepest, a near vertical 10 ft. high wall of crumbling rock. The gully's steepness relented considerably, but the rock became much looser. After going down about 40 ft. the chain dropped steeply down a loose gully to the right. Here is Nate heading down the first part. This is the view from 1/3 down the chain. Here I am dropping down into the rubble filled gully. After the chain ended it was onto the scree. The ranger warned us about how loose and steep it was. She also told us about the importance of yelling rock. Good Advice. The gully we were in was only about 8 ft. wide and loaded with loose rocks. The bad thing about this gully was the fact that there were little 3 ft. dirt walls on both sides that funneled all falling rock down. There was one spot where I climbed down a boulder, around a corner, and squeezed by a bush that almost blocked the gully. Suddenly, my brother started yelling, " Rock, Rock, Rock!" I heard a rock coming down but couldn't it see due to the bush. Then this watermelon sized rock smashed through the bush and lands about a foot to my left. Soon after this the gully became much wider and the angle relented. The scree went seemed to go on forever. Every so often the gully steepened and narrowed, but it soon would get wider again. The river gradually got louder as we descended but it sure didn't look any closer. Eventually after 45 minutes were reached the bottom of the canyon. It was a spectacular place with the Gunnison River roaring in Class 4 rapids nearby and the soaring 2,000 ft. high canyon walls in all directions. Along with the three backpacking campsites, there is even a decent composting toilet. After 45 minutes of exploring along the river and resting we started our tiring trek up to the rim. Here are some pics from the bottom and coming up. This was a cool rock where you could stand in the middle of the river. The sheer walls of the canyon were amazing. This rock was a little tricky to get around going up the chain. Here is a view down the route from a cliff near the rim. Coming up took just as long as coming down into the canyon, but going up was way harder. After our hike we drove to the Painted Wall Overlook were we viewed the 2,700 cliff. The Painted Wall Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is a great stop on the way to the San Juans and has great scenery. You can see the San Juans far on the southern horizen. The West Elks aren‘t far from the north rim. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Reverse 14er Training

Too squeeze in a little more training for climbs of Elbert and Bierstadt later in the week, we hiked down the the bottom of the Black Canyon Canyon of the Gunnison. This canyon is around 2,000 ft. deep but it contains Colorado's tallest vertical cliff; the Painted Wall 2,700 ft. high. All routes into the canyon are super-strenous according to the National Park Service. The easiest route which we descended was 1 mile long dropping 2,000 ft. in that one mile. The route is located in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison Wilderness Area, which is one of the most rugged wilderness areas in the country. Permits were required even for day-use. We woke up from our Montrose hotel at 7:00, made ourselves some waffles and drove 15 miles up to the National Park. Once we got there at 8:30 we filled out the complex permit forms. We took one permit with us and the ranger kept the other. The nice ranger gave us a long talk, "You need to be prepared for all weather and it is be 10 degrees warmer at the base of the canyon. The river runs around 38 degrees, please no swimming. If one of you gets hurt be prepared for self rescue. SAR will come looking for you after 24 hours. Be prepared for the steep trail by wearing hiking boots. You may want gloves for the chain. Pack out all our litter. Bring a gallon of water per person per day or at least have 3x as much water for coming back up than you had for going down. On the steepest section there is an iron chain. You belay yourself down backwards over steep rock for 100 vertical ft. Oh, and the last thing is the most important. Have fun, but be safe."

Here was our first view of the canyon.

Here is the visitor center perched on top of the cliff.

Here is an image that shows our route into the canyon, the red is the trail and the black part is the chain's location.
We started our hike around 9:00. The first 1/3 of a mile went down 400 ft. on the gentle Oak Flat Nature Trail. After several swich-backs, we came to our turn off. There was a small wooden sign saying Entering wilderness permit required beyond this point. No dogs or fire. We turned off onto our unmaintained route and immeditatly entered a confusing maze of trails that all went down steeply. We moved down through this part pretty quick. About a minute after we left the Oak Flat Trail we met another group of hikers. These were three college kids who had backpacked down for one night. One of them had a guitar case strapped around his neck. I asked him how much he played on it. He said, "I was so tired from hiking down here I played one song and fell asleep. Big Mistake dude, this is pretty heavy to carry around your neck."

The night before I took a picture of the bottom of the canyon and noticed a little white speck in it, I later found out it was the guys who were camping down there.
About 10 minutes after meeting them we reached the top of the famous chain. Nate went down first and I followed, after me came my dad. The first part was the steepest, a near vertical 10 ft. high wall of crumbling rock. The gully's steepness relented considerably, but the rock became much looser. After going down about 40 ft. the chain dropped steeply down a loose gully to the right.

Here is Nate heading down the first part.

This is the view from 1/3 down the chain.

Here I am dropping down into the rubble filled gully.
After the chain ended it was onto the scree. The ranger warned us about how loose and steep it was. She also told us about the importance of yelling rock. Good Advice. The gully we were in was only about 8 ft. wide and loaded with loose rocks. The bad thing about this gully was the fact that there were little 3 ft. dirt walls on both sides that funneled all falling rock down. There was one spot where I climbed down a boulder, around a corner, and squeezed by a bush that almost blocked the gully. Suddenly, my brother started yelling, " Rock, Rock, Rock!" I heard a rock coming down but couldn't it see due to the bush. Then this watermelon sized rock smashed through the bush and lands about a foot to my left.

Soon after this the gully became much wider and the angle relented.
The scree went seemed to go on forever. Every so often the gully steepened and narrowed, but it soon would get wider again. The river gradually got louder as we descended but it sure didn't look any closer. Eventually after 45 minutes were reached the bottom of the canyon. It was a spectacular place with the Gunnison River roaring in Class 4 rapids nearby and the soaring 2,000 ft. high canyon walls in all directions. Along with the three backpacking campsites, there is even a decent composting toilet. After 45 minutes of exploring along the river and resting we started our tiring trek up to the rim. Here are some pics from the bottom and coming up.

This was a cool rock where you could stand in the middle of the river.

The sheer walls of the canyon were amazing.

This rock was a little tricky to get around going up the chain.

Here is a view down the route from a cliff near the rim.
Coming up took just as long as coming down into the canyon, but going up was way harder. After our hike we drove to the Painted Wall Overlook were we viewed the 2,700 cliff.

The Painted Wall
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is a great stop on the way to the San Juans and has great scenery.

You can see the San Juans far on the southern horizen.

The West Elks aren‘t far from the north rim.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

George Kaplan	Very cool photos! 11/15/2008 4:15am Thanks for the belated report. I have not yet heard about this area, but it looks like a really fun and scenic hike. I may have to check this place out next summer.
Yog	Black Canyon 11/17/2008 4:00pm I love that canyon! Never been to the bottom, I enjoyed your report!!!
stlouishiker	Thanks 11/27/2008 3:16pm George Kaplan: You should check the canyon out, it‘s awesome. Yog: I love it too, next head to the bottom for a whole new perspective.

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