Colorado Camping Trip: Black Canyon of the Gunnison

We're halfway through our Colorado trip, and I wish we could go right back! There's something about being away and traveling with your family that is so much fun. 

We were staying near Gunnison, Co. and we were about an hour away from the Black Canyon. My grandfather loved going to Colorado, and he always said that the Black Canyon of the Gunnison was his favorite. So, it was pretty cool that my family got to go to a place that my grandfather loved. 

My parents drove over with us, and because of construction it was about an hour drive from the campground. We came in to the south entrance and marked another national park off our list. 

Wow. It really is black.  It's also steep and dangerous! 

There's a river that runs along the bottom of the canyon, and it had to be dammed up, and a tunnel built in order for the city of Montrose to get water. 

There was a great lookout near the visitor center. 

I wish the pictures did it justice, but it does not. 

We visited two canyon's on our trip- Palo Duro, which is very orange, and the Black Canyon.... we really just have to visit the Grand Canyon, and we've probably checked them all of our list. 

The girls brought along their hiking sticks, and we chose a shorter trail that was about a mile long to hike through. 

Our hike was beautiful but it was hot!

There were lots of crystals in the rocks. 

And the flowers along the trails were really pretty. 

After our hike we had lunch, and jumped in the car to cool off and drive around to some of the look out points. 

The Black Canyon is great if you want to hike the upper rim; it's definitely more dangerous if you want to go down in to the canyon, an if you don't hike, then there are a lot of look out spots that are easily driveable. 

Once we finished our drive at the top, we drove down to the bottom of the canyon to see the dam, but fair warning that drive was scary! It was very steep with lots of turns and I was so grateful we weren't pulling our camper.

We drove back to the campsite, had dinner with everyone and stayed up late to watch the stars. I think I counted at least 10 shooting stars that night!