Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Black Canyon of the Gunnison
IUCN category II (national park)
Gunnison River at the base of Black Canyon of the Gunnison
Location in Colorado Show map of Colorado Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	Montrose County, Colorado, United States
Nearest city	Montrose
Coordinates	38°34′45″N 107°43′39″W / 38.5791°N 107.7276°W / 38.5791; -107.7276 (Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park)
Area	30,750 acres (124.4 km2)[1]
Established	October 21, 1999
Visitors	357,069 (in 2023)[2]
Governing body	National Park Service
Website	nps.gov/blca

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is a national park of the United States located in western Colorado and managed by the National Park Service. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison was established as a national monument on March 2, 1933. It was redesignated a national park on October 21, 1999, and incorporated 4,000 acres owned by the Bureau of Land Management. The Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area was created at the same time. There are two primary entrances to the park: the south rim entrance is located 15 miles (24 km) east of Montrose, while the north rim entrance is 11 miles (18 km) south of Crawford and is closed in the winter. The park contains 12 miles (19 km) of the 48-mile-long (77 km) Gunnison River. The national park itself contains the deepest and most dramatic section of the canyon, but the canyon continues upstream into Curecanti National Recreation Area and downstream into Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area. The canyon's name owes itself to the fact that parts of the gorge only receive 33 minutes of sunlight a day, according to Images of America: The Black Canyon of the Gunnison. In the book, author Duane Vandenbusche states, "Several canyons of the American West are longer and some are deeper, but none combines the depth, sheerness, narrowness, darkness, and dread of the Black Canyon."^[3]