The next stop on our trip was the Gunnison Co. It’s a cute town with lots of recreation areas. We stayed at the Lakeside RV park so that we could get a nice shower and get some electrical hook ups and water and what not. We are campers but even the best of campers need some cleaning up after a few days. The Rv park isn’t something I typically look for or reserve a spot at, I like to be far away from people and enjoy the sounds of nature not people but, this was a great stop over. The showers were great, and the location was perfect.
As I had mentioned in a previous post, it was thunderstorms and rain in the evenings here too but that didn’t stop my kids from wanting to get in the lake that was located directly across the street from the Rv park. While the water was cold, the kids didn’t seem to mind as they got right in and swam around until mom got a little worried about all the lightning.
The next morning we were hooked up and ready to make our move to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park ( it has got to have one of the longest national park names out there right?). We headed right for the south campground in the park where we were staying for the next couple of days. I have mixed emotions and reviews about the campground itself but the park was super interesting.
The campground was tight and tough for big rigs to get into but that comes with having a long trailer. The spots however, were right on top of each other. The did have some oak brush, or whatever, that sort of divided spots but you could see and hear everything your neighbor was doing, and it was full so you were surrounded. We were very close to the Amphitheater which was nice. The ranger held a cool vulture talk that my kids really enjoyed, and the stars were AMAZING. There were deer in the campground and I wouldn’t not stay there again but it also wont be on my “gotta get back there” list.
The park itself was totally interesting though. The top south half had lots of cool scenes to look at as you looked down the canyon of black walls. There were lots of fun scribbles in the rocks from years of wind rain and settlement ( or something like that, I’m very much not a rock expert). The park offers many observation points were you could pull out an view from the parking lot or take a short walk to a view point.
The crown jewel for me though was the East Portal. It was a long and windy road down the canyon to the base along a river. The bottom looking up was breathtaking and cool and refreshing with the water flowing by. There were many people along the water fishing and of course my kiddos had to try their hand at it. It just had a very relaxed feeling. There were info stations along the road side that told about the old community of about 250 people that once lived there. It was crazy to think they had a school and homes down along this river. I find all of that sort of thing very interesting when you compare it to the very quiet and homeless area it is today.
If you ever are in area, I would definitely make a stop to this national park. It could be done in a day or take a few days to really relax and take in some hikes.
