Monday, July 29, 2024

Starting mileage: 17842, Distance travelled: 148, Miles hiked: 5

Although we didn’t get to hike all the way to the Gunnison River, we did hike down into the canyon a bit on today’s adventure. We parked at Tomichi Point and jumped on the Rim Rock Trail to the Visitor’s Center to see the amazing views from there, including Gunnison Point. We continued along the Oak Flat Trail which dipped down into the canyon by about 500 feet. The Oak Flat Trail connected us to the Uplands Trail through a flat, brushy meadow, which connected back to Rim Rock Trail back along the canyon to our van at Tomichi Point, for a total distance of about 3.8 miles.

There was more flora than fauna along the trail but we did see several birds and David caught a photo of a baby bunny.

After completing our hike, we drove the remainder of the scenic South Rim Road, stopping at various overlook trails. The most impressive was the Painted Wall, a 2,250-foot sheer drop on the north rim. It is one of the largest vertical cliffs in the country, almost twice as tall as the Empire State Building.

We left the Black Canyon to head for Carbondale, CO to have dinner with David’s college friend, Lisa and her family. That also shaved off a couple of hours from our drive to Fort Collins. David surprised her by contacting her after nearly 20 years when he realized how close we were to where she lived. We enjoyed a lovely evening meeting everyone, including Lisa’s husband, Jeff and their 13-year old daughter Madeleine. David and Lisa had fun reminiscing about their college days and he was pleased to find her doing well. We found Carbondale to be a lovely little small town and we enjoyed Thai takeout and a drink from the local distillery.