MONTROSE, Colo. — Trails closed to the public on the South Rim of Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park are now back open, a spokesperson with the National Park Service said Thursday.
The Oak Flat and Uplands Trails on the park’s South Rim were reopened Thursday after being closed since July 10 due a lightning-sparked fire inside the park.
Park Superintendent Stuart West told Denver7 earlier this year that the fire burned approximately 13% of the 30,000-acre national park.
Forty-five road signs were destroyed in the fire, West said, with other structural damage including safety railings along overlooks and trails, which have been repaired.
Officials said that as of this week, a trail crew completed repairs to the entirety of the Oak Flat Trail and to the portion of the Uplands Trail between the Oak Flat trail’s junction with the South Rim Road near the campground.
But other closures remain in place due to damaged facilities, unstable rock and falling trees:
- The Rim Rock Trail
- The Uplands Trail between the Rim Rock Trail and the South Rim Road junction
- East Portal Campground
- South Rim Campground
- The Gunnison and Tomichi wilderness routes
The north rim of the national park reopened to the public in late July.
The fire inside the national park was one of more than dozen burning in Colorado’s Western Slope this summer.
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