Black Canyon of the Gunnison

The Black Canyon is 1800ft deep, which is a full football field longer than the Sears Tower in Chicago. The Black Canyon is accessible in Montrose, CO which is 40-some miles from the mouth of the Gunnison River in Gunnison.

The first time I hiked down into the canyon was with my brother back around 2000 or 2001. Starting up in the treeline, you use a lot of switchbacks to get down the extremely steep canyonside. We knew we were in for a good time when we came to an 80ft chain that lowered us down to the rocky section of the descent. Although we sound extremly tough and rugged by mention of this chain, kids do it every year (of course they don't have cool hats and developed chest muscles).

The loose rock scree was a mix between "Hey this is kinda like surfing" mixed with "Oh SH!T." One second you're sure-footed, the next you're on your backside scrambling to get back up onto your feet.

To make sure you're still on the correct path down toward the river, every five minutes or so you'd spot a stack of smaller, square shaped, stacked rocks that mark the trail. I always thought they were called "karns," but I haven't been able to find anything to back that up, sooo...yeah.

Once down on the riverside, there's not too much to do except relax and look up at the gigantic canyon walls. It's quite humbling to know that you're looking up at the edge of the canyon, and that the Sears would comfortable fit inside. Christian and I grabbed a quick picture out on a rock in the river, and headed back up. Awesome work out, awesome time.

I came back a few years later with friend and co-worker, Tim Williams, and we actually camped out overnight at the base of the canyon. Pretty amazing time, especially when I fell in the freezing river after trying to traverse a section of rock in full-out hiking boots. Not too nimble.

Highly recommend this. This was the most difficult hike I'd ever done at that point in my life (and then I found adventure racing!).