National Parks & Rec Areas
Curecanti National Recreation Area | Blue Mesa Reservoir
Curecanti National Recreation Area is a series of three reservoirs along the once wild Gunnison River. The reservoirs that make up Curecanti today are a destination for water-based recreation high in the Rocky Mountains. Best known for salmon and trout fishing, Curecanti also offers opportunities for hiking, boating, camping, and bird watching.
Morrow Point Dam is a 468-foot-tall (143 m) concrete double-arch dam on the Gunnison River located in Colorado, the first dam of its type built by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Located in the upper Black Canyon of the Gunnison, it creates Morrow Point Reservoir, and is within the National Park Service-operated Curecanti National Recreation Area. The dam is between the Blue Mesa Dam (upstream) and the Crystal Dam (downstream).
Take a boat ride into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison
Join a park ranger for a leisurely 1½ hour boat tour on the Morrow Point Reservoir. You will travel into the famous Black Canyon of the Gunnison, learning about geology, wildlife, early inhabitants, the narrow-gauge railroad, dams, or reservoirs. Be sure to bring your camera!
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
Deep, Steep and Narrow
Big enough to be overwhelming, still intimate enough to feel the pulse of time, Black Canyon of the Gunnison exposes you to some of the steepest cliffs, oldest rock, and craggiest spires in North America. With two million years to work, the Gunnison River, along with the forces of weathering, has sculpted this vertical wilderness of rock, water, and sky.
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