Download free topo maps of Black Canyon Gunnison National Park. Use the adjoining 7.5 minute quadrangle legend to locate the Colorado maps you need.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is located in the state of Colorado just downstream from Curecanti National Recreation Area at one end and the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area at the other end of the Park. In all of recorded history no human life has ever lived in the Canyon. Wildlife traverses parts of this immense tower of mountainous terrain, uplifted millennia ago by the changing earth. No part of this towering range stands as a barrier to the birds that fly through the multi-varied ecosystems which provide habitats for Peregrine falcons, eagles and Great horned owls among others. The Gunnison River flows through the immense canyon walls and while the Park stretches over only twelve miles of the forty-eight miles of the Black Canyon, this is undoubtedly the most magnificent part of it. Mountain lions, coyotes, elk and more roam the Park; the most often seen are the mule deer known for their bounding speed that helps protect them from the mountain lions, bears and the coyotes. Likewise the Bighorn sheep are similarly protected from the predators on the rugged terrain. The diversity of habitat is due to the height of the canyons, providing different types of conditions from the bottom to the top of the Canyon. Where towering Douglas fir may thrive at one level, only scrub oak forest may survive at another level. At the lower wet areas near the Gunnison River another level of wildlife and plant life is seen.