Contact Information
Curecanti National Recreation Area
102 Elk Creek
Gunnison, CO 81230
970-641-2337
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 our newest national park - 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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