Towering walls of dark gray stone shoot up over 2,700 feet above the fast, churning Gunnison River, forming one of the most breathtaking canyons in the country. In some spots, it’s deeper than it is wide—this massive gash in the Earth is so tight that sunlight only reaches the bottom around noon. The park safeguards the deepest and most exhilarating 14 miles of the gorge, roughly 75 miles upstream from where the Gunnison meets the Colorado River.
Picture carving two parallel walls of tough gneiss and schist, stretching the length of Manhattan and standing taller than two Empire State Buildings stacked together—using nothing but water as your tool. At an almost unimaginable pace of one inch every hundred years, it would take all of recorded human history just to grind through five feet of rock. What you see from the rim is the result of two million years of slow, relentless work.
The metamorphic rocks at the canyon’s base are nearly two billion years old, dating back to the Precambrian—the Earth’s oldest era. Here and there, twisting pink veins of igneous pegmatite streak through the walls, brightening up the canyon’s otherwise stern look.
Both Native Americans and early white explorers mostly steered clear of this daunting canyon well into the 1800s. In 1900, five men tried to navigate the river in wooden boats, scouting it as a possible water source for irrigating the Uncompahgre Valley. After a grueling month—their boats shattered and supplies exhausted—they quit. But the very next year, two men made it through in ten days using rubber air mattresses. Soon after, work began on a water diversion tunnel; completed in 1909 after four brutal years, the six-mile-long tunnel cut through rock, clay, and sand. The job was so backbreaking and hazardous that workers typically lasted just two weeks. Today, three upstream dams have further subdued the Gunnison, but the canyon and its stretch of river remain untamed.
Drives and hikes along the rim offer countless chances to gaze into the stunning canyon and admire its sheer cliffs and towering rock formations. Ravens, golden eagles, and peregrine falcons glide through the vast open air. Up top, a dense forest of Gambel oak and serviceberry shelters mule deer and black bears, while farther down, Douglas firs flourish in the shade, and cottonwoods and box elders cling to life along the riverbanks.
How to Get There
The South Rim sits 15 miles northeast of Montrose, via US 50 and Colo. 347. The North Rim is an 80-mile drive from the South Rim, following US 50W and Colo. 92. Turn south off Colo. 92 onto the 15-mile North Rim Road—the first half is paved. Nearest airports: Montrose and Gunnison.
When to Go
Summer draws the biggest crowds, but if you’re hiking at midday on exposed trails, be ready to sweat—and pack plenty of water. Late spring and early fall bring crisp, perfect walking weather. Winter opens up options for backcountry camping, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing. With the rim at 8,000 feet, winter can start as early as November and linger into April. Snow cuts off vehicle access to the North Rim, but the South Rim road stays open year-round as far as the second overlook.