Gunnison Gorge Wilderness and the Black Canyon

Nate and I left Salida early in the morning and headed toward the Black Canyon. 

 

Our objectives were to reach the Gunnison Gorge Wilderness High Point just to the north of the Black Canyon, take some time to look at the Black Canyon South Rim and if we had time, drive around and look at the North Rim as well.  We were meeting Mike and Walter in Lake City later that night to prepare for hiking Uncompahgre the next day.

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We drove 11 miles out a gravel road to get near the Wilderness High Point.  We came entirely too close to a forest fire that we somehow didn't even notice on the way in.   In reality we were in no danger, we just couldn't figure out how the smoke was not visible to us on the way in.  The WHP was an easy hike and we wandered around the rim looking down into the canyon.

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We next hiked around the South Rim but didn't have time to make it to the north side.   We looked at Needle Rock in Crawford before heading around to Delta and then to Lake City.