South Rim Visitor Center — Attraction in Four Corners States

5* for the kind gentleman at the park store and the park. 1* for the nasty lady working at the park store at 4 pm on 09/29/23.

The gentleman was very kind and informative. The park is beautifully maintained. The lady working in the store was mean and bitter. I was looking at a shirt, waiting my turn to turn the display while another couple was looking at them. The mean park lady told me to just turn the display. I answered that I didn't want to barge in front of the couple. The couple and I were now uncomfortable. I walked away to look at the books. The mean lady followed and watched me in the store. When the display was free, I turned it to get my size. The mean lady walked over and turned it hard to the extent I had to quickly pull my hand away. Then her phone started ringing pretty loudly. The kind gentleman told her that her phone was ringing. She sarcastically said she was a mediator and that it was one of her clients and that if they called to schedule again, she'd make them wait until November.

I don't know how she got that job at the park, but a nasty, bitter person like her would be fired from the firm from where...

Excellent location for this visitor's center! Inside there's the typical ranger's desk complete with maps and all the information you could need; a store; and some fascinating information regarding the geology and history of the park. Just outside there's a picnic table (having it labeled as a picnic area on the park maps is a little misleading) and some benches, and a boardwalk a short distance down to an amazing overlook. There's also 2 separate restroom buildings, so potty opportunities abound here! For what it's worth, we did just about everything the south rim has to offer (short of going into the canyon) in under 8 hours or so. Kids did the junior ranger program, we hit all the overlooks and did the Warner Point Trail, as well. Did the Rim Rock Trail from here to a little ways past Tomichi Point, but turned around as it was getting dark. Also drove down the East Portal Road and got as close to Crystal Dam as we could. Skipped the Uplands and Oak Flat Trails, but did stick around after dark for a pretty cool astronomy program near...

This visitor center is in a quaint log cabin structure that has nice views of the gorge right from the deck. I believe this park has the benefit of newer facilities because it was established in 1999. There are fun activities for kids, replicas of animal skulls, and feathers, molds of animal footprints, and even molds of their poop, so kids can keep an eye out for signs of animals when they are out hiking. There is an easy view microscope to take a look at some of the types of rocks in the gorge. There is also a 20 minute video chatting about the history of Black Canyon of the Gunnison becoming a national park, unfortunately the project its using feels like its 20 years old. That needs an upgrade, otherwise this visitor...