Buena Vista, CO >> Richfield, UT (&& Black Canyon of The Gunnison National Park)
We both took a vacation today on Friday and left Buena Vista around 7:30 after a beautiful last look at the mountains outside our Airbnb and picking up some donuts.
About 45 minutes later it started getting a little snowy but we didn't think much of it, we have gotten used to the weather constantly changing as you drive through the mountains, but another 30 minutes later, the snow got a bit heavier. Then we wound around another curve and a man in a yellow jacket was directing us behind another car off to the side of the road.
About an hour later, we were finally free and continued on our way to the National Park.
Right after this, we got stopped on the road (by a lot of signs and cones and a nice traffic guide), telling us we could not take the 25 minute drive to the park and instead need to take the 1 hour and 20 minute drive due to rocks that fell on the main road (unsafe driving conditions). As the co-pilot, I really enjoyed the views, Ryan on the other hand, was really confused why we were not there yet (because I made the decision not to tell him how long it would take to get there on this new route- when he found out, he was positively THRILLED, to say the least!)
The long route was beautiful and finally brought us to the 'entrance' of the park! This required a bit off 'off-roading' aka an unpaved road and avoiding a lot of potholes. The entrance we went through was based on the honor system of paying the fee- good thing we have the year pass for all National Parks!
The reason I wanted to go to The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park because I had seen it was the least visited National Park in Colorado and in the top 15 least visited National Parks in general, so it needed some love and why not take a few extra minutes (our hours in our case) to go there! I will say, they DID NOT make it easy to get the entrance. Even with Google Maps, we were still a bit confused on where to go but when we did eventually make it, it was VERY worth it and we are happy we went!! We are pretty confident we might be the only people that went there today!
After the park (and a quick hike in the park), we finally switched drivers and I (Maddy) drove the next 5 hours to Richfield, Utah for the night!
