Black Canyon National Park is 17 miles outside of Montrose, straight back up the mountain we had descended that day before, and then a little higher. We did some iPhone research and learned that the grade (steepness) of a road is determined by how many feet the road rises out of 100 feet. The road to Black Canyon is a 6% grade, which means it rises six feet every hundred feet.
Well that doesn’t sound steep, but it was definitely one of the most severe inclines we’ve taken so far. It took over two hours to reach the canyon
Our time to enjoy it was short, however. It was pretty awesome though
The two hour climb took approximately 15 mins to descend. No kidding. I’m really starting to enjoy bombing these hills. It was terrifying at first but if you can just stop thinking about all the horrible things that can happen to your body if you crashed at 40 mph, then it’s awesome. We hurried and hurried, because Travis’ cousin Kate was at the park’s entrance, waiting to pick us up and take us to Crested Butte.