Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
Your Complete Guide to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
Updated 2026 · National Parker
Do I Need a Reservation?
No timed entry permit is required to enter the park. However, if you plan to hike into the inner canyon, you need a wilderness permit. Permits for the South Rim routes can be reserved at recreation.gov. North Rim permits are first-come, first-served at the visitor center. Day hiking on the rim requires no permit at all.
Getting There
Black Canyon of the Gunnison is about 4 hours from Denver and 3.5 hours from Colorado Springs. The South Rim entrance is 15 miles east of Montrose on Colorado Highway 347. The drive to the park from Montrose takes about 20 minutes.
Where to Get Coffee
Stop at Cimarron Coffee Roasters on South Grand Avenue in Montrose before heading to the park. Local roaster, highest rated coffee in town, open early.
Where to Eat After
Horsefly Brewing Company in Montrose is the move. It is 20 minutes from the park entrance and worth every minute. Get a burger. They use locally raised beef from Kinikin Processing. The 50/50 is their most popular — half ground beef, half bacon. It sounds unconventional but ask for peanut butter on it. You will not regret it. About 15 beers on tap, live music on weekends, and a heated outdoor patio.
The Rim
The South Rim Road runs 7 miles along the canyon edge with 12 overlooks. Most people drive it and stop at each one. That's a perfectly good way to see the park. The canyon drops up to 2,722 feet in places and the walls are so sheer that some sections of the canyon floor receive less than 30 minutes of sunlight per day.
At many of the overlooks you will see birds riding the thermals rising from the canyon. Peregrine falcons and ravens are common. Watch for them hovering at eye level in the updrafts coming off the rim. It is a genuinely unusual experience.
Hiking the Rim
The rim trails are accessible and spectacular.
Rim Rock Nature Trail: 1 mile, easy. Good introduction to the geology and plant life of the canyon rim.
Cedar Point Nature Trail: 0.4 miles, easy. Two overlooks with excellent canyon views. Good for photography.
Warner Point Nature Trail: 1.5 miles, moderate. The best rim hike in the park. Ends at the highest point on the South Rim with panoramic views of the canyon, the San Juan Mountains, and the Uncompahgre Valley.
Hiking Into the Canyon
This is not a casual hike. The inner canyon routes are unmaintained, steep, and involve serious scrambling. There are no marked trails. Routes follow steep gullies and rock chutes to the canyon floor. Round trips take 4 to 8 hours. Poison ivy is common on the lower sections. Getting off route on the way back up is a known hazard. If you go: get your permit in advance, start early, and tell someone where you are.
Dark Sky
I didn’t realize it before going, but this is the real reason to come. Black Canyon of the Gunnison is a certified International Dark Sky Park. Stepping out of the car at night is like standing inside a planetarium. The Milky Way is fully visible on clear nights. If you can time your visit around a meteor shower, do it. The experience is better than anywhere else in Colorado.
The South Rim Campground puts you inside the park for the full dark sky experience. No light pollution, no driving back to town. Book early at recreation.gov.
Best Time to Visit
Summer is the most popular season. The rim is accessible, the weather is warm, and wildflowers are at their peak on the canyon walls.
Fall brings fewer crowds and excellent conditions. The aspens in the surrounding Gunnison National Forest turn in late September and early October.
Winter closes parts of the South Rim Road but the park stays open. Snow on the black canyon walls is a striking visual. Snowshoes are useful for rim access.
Spring is unpredictable but uncrowded.
Worth Knowing
The canyon is named for the amount of sunlight it receives, not the color of the rock. The Precambrian gneiss and schist on the canyon walls is 1.7 billion years old. It is some of the oldest exposed rock in North America.
Cell service is limited inside the park. Download offline maps before you go.
Guide by Shawn Parker · National Parker · national-parker.com