Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Carved over millennia by the relentless force of the Gunnison River, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in southwestern Colorado is a landscape of breathtaking drama. Its sheer cliffs of marbled rock are some of the steepest in North America, plunging more than 2,700 feet into a narrow chasm so deep and dark that sunlight rarely touches the canyon floor. The park’s name comes from this near-permanent shadow—the “Black Canyon”—where the river thunders barely seen from the rim. Read more . . .