Sunday, September 24. Black Canyon Junction to Highpoint. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. 17 miles, 2,491 elevation gained. 11 GBE 🍻
Today's ride was a short one, but plenty of UP! After leaving camp at Dry Gulch CG in the Curecanti National Recreation Area, we stopped at the Black Canyon Junction and US Hwy 50 got on our bikes to ride up to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.
Immediately the road begins the climb-about 2,000 feet of gain in 5 miles to the park entrance. With only a couple exceptions, the road climbs very steadily at 7% to 8% grades. While not as high in elevation as Hoosier Pass, the 8,000'+ elevation made for some thin air, and the climb was fairly strenuous.
Once in the park, we continued the rolling hills of the South Rim Drive, and stopped at the various viewpoints and overlooks along the way of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. It's an impressive gorge, and it was interesting to see places that I have heard about over the years in rock climbing literature; the Painted Wall in particular. The ascent by Bill Forrest took 8 days and at the time was considered the most difficult climb in Colorado. We saw a couple of parties climbing on the wall this day.
After making it to road's end at High Point, we turned around and met Janet, Jo, and Bob in the Sprinter making their way along Rim Drive. We loaded the bikes and continued with them to High Point, where we made the 1 1/2 mile hike to Warner Point and back. Along the way there were excellent views of both the Gunnison Gorge, and the town of Montrose, the Uncompaghre Valley, and the San Juan Mountains. We also saw juniper and pinyon pine trees that are 750-850 years old.
After our hike, we drove back to Sunset Point, where we parked the van and made dinner and watched the sunset and interesting clouds in the sky. We drove back to our camp in the dark, and settled in for a clear, calm, but cold night.
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