Rating:
Round Trip Distance: 0.6 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 7823 - 7920 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 30 mins.
Trailhead: Devil's Overlook
Fee: $15/vehicle
Attractions: Scenic overlook
The Devil's Overlook trail is located within the South Rim section of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. The trail is one of a half dozen or so short trails along the Rim Drive Road that lead to overlooks on the rim of the canyon. Each overlook trail is a little different from the others with new and unique views of the canyon. By the time you hike them all you will feel like you have put in a good and rewarding day of hiking.
They like to give the distances of these short trails in yards. This trail is almost a third of a mile each way.
The trail descends almost a hundred feet over its total length as it winds through oak, sage and serviceberry bushes.
There are numerous flowers in the spring like this deathcamas. There are also several varieties of wild onions but since it is not allowed to pick or harvest anything within the park there is no need to worry about getting them mixed up.
The walls and buttresses are rugged and broken in appearance. At one point you can see through the wall of one branch of the canyon into the next and through the opposite wall of that one also.
Across the canyon from the overlook is the road leading into the North Rim section of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. The road to the North Rim begins at the south end of Crawford Reservoir, near Crawford, Colorado. The entire length of the road is gravel.
One aspect of the Devil's Overlook trail is that from the overlook you can look almost straight down to the Gunnison River over 1800 feet below.
Pilots seem to love flying over the Black Canyon. This C-130 is probably flying out of Gunnison, Colorado from the Air National Guard.
