Skip to main content

Day 38: Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Tuesday, Oct 11, 2022 

Drove today from Great Sand Dunes to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. It has been fun to drive to a new park each day, spending time exploring and to do some hiking.  Woke up early after sleeping in the car overnight. It was very cold outside, but inside the car it stayed warm, thanks to the "camp mode". The car was also fully charged from the 240V outlet in my RV spot. 

The drive was very scenic, going alongside a river deep in a rocky canyon for some time. The fall colors in Colorado were also in full display. I was enjoying the scenery so much, I didn't even think about turning the music on.

I stopped at the Sherpa Cafe in Gunnison for lunch and enjoyed the Veggie Thupka there.  It was hot, spicy, lots of vegetables and noodles - just the right meal to get ready for an afternoon of hiking.

I reached the visitor center at Black Canyon around 2pm and got some recommendations for hikes in the afternoon. I also got a wilderness permit for the hike down the canyon till the river, next morning.

 
The Black Canyon is very narrow, with steep cliffs that soar about 2000 ft above the river. The rock formations and the different colors of the rocks and the fall colors of the vegetation made it a beautiful sight.

I am surprised it is not as well known and gets as many visitors as the Grand Canyon. I drove along the South Rim road, stopping at almost all the vista points and doing the short hikes needed to get to the lookouts at most of them.

I stayed there till sunset. The short hikes put together added up to over 6 miles and I was exhausted with all this hiking in the bright sun. 


Ended the day with a short drive to my AirBnb in Montrose, stopping on the way at the Tesla supercharger and for some grocery shopping. The AirBnb was an older cottage, close to downtown. I made some dal in my Instant Pot after reaching there. The host was a professional chef, who has been running a business in the Telluride area for 30 + years. Had a great conversation with her over dinner and a glass of wine. 

The raw numbers for the day:

  • 220 miles driving, 17000 steps walking
  • 1 Tesla supercharger stop, 240V charging previous night at RV park
  • 1 state - Colorado

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kashmir Great Lakes Trek, 2024

Kashmir Great Lakes Trek (KGL) has been on my bucket list for many years. It is known as the most beautiful trek in India, definitely one of the most popular. After lots of research and prep work, finally did the trek from July 29 - August 4 this year, along with four of my hiking buddies from the Bay Area. It was a dream come true - spectacular hiking with wonderful friends! The trailhead for the KGL trek is near Sonmarg. We carried only small daypacks during the 7-day trek. All supplies and luggage are carried by mules/horses. We had a support staff of 6 (guides, cook, etc.) for our private group of 5 hikers. Under overcast skies and the fog rolling in, we hiked past these shepherd huts at 9000 ft. These huts are used only in the summer months by the Kashmiri Gujjars (gypsies). A few hours into the hiking on the first day, we had a heavy downpour and the raingear came out. The locals were happy to see the first decent rainfall after a dry spell of 2 months. An auspicious start to our...
Post a Comment
Read more

Valley of Flowers Trek, 2024

Valley of Flowers is a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2002, which has made it immensely popular. The best time to visit is during the monsoon season in July and August, when the peak flower bloom happens. I did this trek from Aug 6 - 11, 2024 with Trek the Himalayas  (TTH).  This was the second trek of my intense three weeks in the Himalayas and immediately followed the Kashmir Great Lakes trek .  During the trek it rained almost every day, but that did not dampen the beautiful experience. In addition to hiking in the Valley of Flowers, got to explore Rishikesh, Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib Gurdwara during this trip. Day 0:  August 5, 2024 .  The starting point for the trek is Rishikesh. Took a morning flight from Srinagar to Delhi and after a brief stop, a second flight from Delhi to Dehradun. The prepaid taxi from the airport to Rishikesh worked out well. Driving through the Rajaji National Forest was a bonus during the quick 30-minute ride.  Reached Ho...
Post a Comment
Read more

USA48 Road Trip: The Whole Story

  The whole story of my road trip across USA in a Tesla, captured in a series of blog posts below. My six-week adventure was from Sept 4, 2022 to Oct 15, 2022.  The links to the blog posts below are in chronological order. Best viewed on a larger screen  of a computer, not on a phone. Click on the photographs in the blog posts to see larger images.   Road trip across USA - Why? What? (July 10, 2022) Road trip in a Tesla - will it work? (Aug 11, 2022)  Day -2: Road Trip Delayed (Aug 27, 2022)  Day 0: Starting Road Trip Tomorrow (Sept 3, 2022)  Day 1: The Adventure Begins (Sept 4, 2022)   Day 2: A drive through Oregon (Sept 5, 2022) Day 3: Mount Rainier National Park (Sept 6, 2022)   Day 4: Reminiscing in Seattle (Sept 7, 2022) Day 5: KOA Cabin in Glacier National Park (Sept 8, 2022) Day 6: Hiking galore in Glacier National Park (Sept 9, 2022) Day 7: Drive from Glacier to Yellowstone (Sept 10, 2022)  Day 8: Yellowstone and G...
Post a Comment
Read more