Press "Enter" to skip to content

Tag: warner route

Deep Black: The Warner Route

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park | Saturday, May 16, 2026

After hiking into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison last year via the Gunnison Route I believe I said that I wouldn’t be interested in hiking any of the other Inner Canyon routes into the canyon, but I guess I lied because earlier this year I had the strange desire to give another of the Inner Canyon routes a try. Currently the only other route that is open from the South Rim is the Warner Route because of the South Rim Fire last summer, so back in early April I grabbed a Wilderness permit on Rec.gov so I could give this one a try. Of course, not only is this route the longest one at about 2.75 miles each way, but it also has the most elevation change at over 2,700 feet! I asked my friend Jackson if he would be interested in joining me this time and thankfully he was up for the challenge! We left home bright and early on Saturday morning and were on the trail from the Warner Point Trailhead shortly after 7:00am.

Leave a Comment

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Saturday, October 17, 2015

It’s been a few years since I had been to many of the main overlooks along the South Rim in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and I thought it was time to finally get back for another visit. Diane and I left home early enough on Saturday morning so that we were able to make it to the Cedar Point overlook about a half hour before the sun came up. I spent that time photographing The Painted Wall and the deep canyon below us until shortly after the sunrise. Once the sun was up we drove the rest of the way to the end of the road and hiked out to Warner Point since I had never been out there before. Clouds started rolling in from the west as we hiked back to the trailhead as a storm front moved into the area that was supposed to bring us some rain for the next couple of days. After our hike, we drove back out of the park and stopped at a couple of the other viewpoints along the way. Before leaving we drove down the East Portal Road to the Crystal Dam on the Gunnison River and were pleasantly surprised to find a couple nice patches of fall colors along the way. It’s always nice to spend a few hours along the rim of The Black Canyon.

2 Comments