Black Canyon maps from the park brochure

Here’s the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park map from the official brochure, showing the viewpoints, roads, and major trails. Click the image to view a full size map or download the PDF.

Here’s a Black Canyon of the Gunnison South Rim map, zooming in on the main visitor center area, which includes the South Rim Campground, Oak Flat Loop, Rim Rock Trail, and others.

This is a regional map of Black Canyon of the Gunnison that shows the park in relation to nearby highways and towns such as Montrose. Click the image to view a full size map or download the PDF.

Black Canyon trail maps

Unfortunately I haven’t found any good free trail maps for Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park (just the free one below). However, the National Geographic Trails Illustrated map is great for showing the entire park along with all trails and backcountry campsites. It also includes Curecanti National Recreation Area, which is adjacent to the east and is commonly visited at the same time as Black Canyon. I love this map series when planning my trips.

This Black Canyon trail map isn’t too detailed but shows the backcountry routes down to the river that aren’t displayed on the full park map. It goes without saying: you’ll want actual topo maps for those hikes!

Black Canyon campground maps

Here’s a South Rim Campground map. This campground is located about a mile from the South Rim Visitor Center and is the park’s most popular campground. Sites are available for reservation all year.

The East Portal Campground map shows both the drive-in and walk-in sites at this first-come, first-served campground along the Gunnison River at canyon bottom. It’s a beautiful quiet location!

This is the Black Canyon of the Gunnison campground map. This map removes all extraneous information to only show the location of the three park campgrounds and whether the access road is paved or unpaved.

Black Canyon lodging map

This part of Colorado is pretty remote, so you don’t have a lot of towns to choose from when deciding where to stay. Montrose is really the only option if you’re planning on seeing the major park sites. To the right is an Expedia interactive Montrose lodging map, so you can see where it is in relation to the park. You could also browse the top-rated Black Canyon lodging to compare prices, amenities, photos, and guest reviews.

Assorted Black Canyon maps

Here’s a Black Canyon of the Gunnison cross-section. It shows the canyon steepness in three locations with no vertical exaggeration: the Painted Wall, Chasm View, and the Narrows.

This is a Black Canyon climbing closure map. This map shows the routes that are closed from March 15 to July 15 each year to protect nesting raptors, centered around Serpent Point and Echo Canyon.

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison wilderness map shows the 51% of the park that is congressionally designated wilderness. About another 30% of the park is undeveloped backcountry.

Here’s a Colorado physiographic province map, showing how the Black Canyon of the Gunnison is located on the eastern edge of the Colorado Plateau, bordering the southern Rocky Mountains.

Black Canyon science maps

This is a Black Canyon of the Gunnison hydrology map, showing the sources of the Gunnison River: the San Juan Mountains, the Sawatch Range, the Elk Mountains, and the West Elk Mountains.

Here’s a vegetation map of Black Canyon, labeling the various forests and woodlands (Douglas fir, pinyon-juniper, etc), as well as showing where only bare rock covers the surface.

Archived Black Canyon maps

As the National Park Service releases new maps and updates old ones, I do my best to compile them all here. As maps get updated, I move the older versions down to this section. I never delete maps as I believe it’s important to trace the history of how parks change over time. But be advised that the ones here have newer versions further up this page.

This is the previous Black Canyon of the Gunnison map from the mid-2010s NPS brochure. It’s been superseded by the new ones posted above. Click the image to view a full size map or download the PDF.

This old South Rim Campground map is from the mid-2010s. Back in these days, campsites were cheaper and first-come, first-served sites were still available. Today this campground is for reservations only.

…and more!

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