Itinerary - Day 4

Day 4 of our adventure has us traveling from Gothenburg, Nebraska to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, which is located in the Western part of Colorado. This is the first "destination" of our trip. Today's drive will cover approximately 604 miles, with an approximate travel time of 9 hours 45 minutes. This will be the second longest drive of our adventure, in terms of miles traveled, so it's a good thing that we won't be doing any traveling on day 5! At this point, we're going to need a break from driving.

Given the length of our drive, I expect to arrive fairly late in the day. Once again, the order of business tonight will be to set up camp, cook dinner and relax. The good news, is that we'll be able to take our time the next morning, and not have to worry about getting things packed up and on the road.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison is one of, if not the most impressive canyon in North America, in terms of its narrowness, sheer walls and depth. In some places within the canyon, the depth from rim to canyon floor is over half a mile!!! I'll definitely have to keep a close eye on Josh while we're walking along the canyon rim!

There's a little personal history for me with this place. In 1973, I think that was the year, my family took a similar trip to the one Josh and I are taking, though it was a little less ambitious. The plan for that trip had us visiting Rocky Mountain National Park, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison (before it was part of the National Parks system) and Mesa Verde National Park (a later stop on our adventure). There may have been some other stops on the that trip, but those are the ones I remember.

One afternoon, while we were sightseeing at Black Canyon of the Gunnison, an afternoon thunderstorm rolled in. It was a severe storm, with hail stones almost the size of golf balls, torrential rains and strong winds. My father had to pull our car off the road and we sat in the car, waiting for the storm to move along. When it finally ended, we continued our afternoon of sightseeing, and later returned to our campground. When we arrived there, we found our tent down, and badly ripped up and our belongings had been scattered around the area. After checking the damage, my father determined that the tent was not usable, so we walked through the campground, collected what we could find, packed everything up, and headed home. I never got to see Mesa Verde National Park, and all in all, it was a real bummer.

I sincerely hope that Josh and I do not encounter a similar fate when we're there!!!

Tomorrow will be a day of sightseeing, hiking and cycling, and who knows what else, but more on that in the next post!