Today was dedicated to visiting Black Canyon (of the Gunnison) National Park. Another truly stunning piece of Colorado landscape. It took us ’till 9 o’clock to get there and having paid our $30 admission – no reduction for pensioners – we discovered that the road was still closed beyond the Visitors Centre, meaning that South Rim Road birding (some of the best in the park) was off the agenda. We then enquired about the Oak Flats trail for a stab at Dusky Grouse. ‘Yes it was open but it was a little slippy and you might be better off using spikes’ said the Ranger, but a guy managed to get round the two mile loop yesterday without a problem’. As we need Dusky for one of the ‘big six’ we decided to give it a bash. It took us two hours to get half way with Jane spending as much time on the ground as she did standing! Two guys ahead of us, but going in the opposite direction, reported seeing three grouse though all had disappeared over the ridge. We stuck it out until lunch but frustratingly only heard a couple of calls. After lunch we gave it another two hours, this time from the safety of the overlook but again no joy. Mercifully it wasn’t a ‘dot day’ with a small handful of ticks added and we did do a recce in the evening for our crack at Gunnison Sage Grouse – the rarest of our trip targets.