Black Canyon of the Gunnison | |
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![]() Gunnison River at the base of Black Canyon of the Gunnison | |
Location | Montrose County, Colorado, United States |
Nearest city | Montrose |
Coordinates | 38°34′45″N 107°43′39″W / 38.5791°N 107.7276°W |
Area | 30,750 acres (124.4 km2)[1] |
Established | October 21, 1999 |
Visitors | 308,962 (in 2018)[2] |
Governing body | National Park Service |
Website | Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park |
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is a national park of the United States located in western Colorado and managed by the National Park Service. There are two primary entrances to the park: the south rim entrance is located 15 miles (24 km) east of Montrose, while the north rim entrance is 11 miles (18 km) south of Crawford and is closed in the winter. The park contains 12 miles (19 km) of the 48-mile-long (77 km) Gunnison River. The national park itself contains the deepest and most dramatic section of the canyon, but the canyon continues upstream into Curecanti National Recreation Area and downstream into Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area. The canyon's name owes itself to the fact that parts of the gorge only receive 33 minutes of sunlight a day, according to Images of America: The Black Canyon of the Gunnison. In the book, author Duane Vandenbusche states, "Several canyons of the American West are longer and some are deeper, but none combines the depth, sheerness, narrowness, darkness, and dread of the Black Canyon."[3]