Black Canyon of the Gunnison

It's only 15 miles or so in a straight line from Lake City over to Ouray and Silverton. A little bit farther if you drive your ATV over Engineer or Cinnamon Pass. But much farther if you have to drive around by way of Montrose, which we did. On the other hand, the drive down the Lake Fork was beautiful and despite some concerned looks from my copilot, took the Blue Mesa cutoff over to US 50. It probably saved some miles; it may have saved some time.

Taking the long way around gave us an excuse to visit the Black Canyon - not that we should have needed one. The best thing about this canyon is that it really looks like what a canyon should look like. Deep, vertical, sort of scary. And the rocks are beautiful, too.