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National Park Service · Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park · CO

Black Canyon Of The Gunnison South Rim Campground

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Caution

No Water Available in Park Water systems throughout the park have been shut off for the winter season, October to April. Please plan ahead and bring your own drinking water.

Information

Cashless Operations Black Canyon's operations are now cashless. South Rim Campground is by reservation only via Recreation.gov. East Portal & North Rim campground sites are first-come first-served and accept payment using Scan & Pay through Recreation.gov's…

Alerts: National Park Service alerts API · Oct 17, 2026

ReservableBookable through March 31; the next season isn't published.

Book on recreation.govWe make nothing when you book

Right now: Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 15:14 UTC
A night: $20–$34Across the site types the agency prices
Sites: 8914 of them walk-up

Photos · NPS Photo (Victoria Stauffenberg)

65 ftLongest rig

8,240 ftElevation

1,509 ftWater · an unnamed pond

6.6 miNE of Montrose, CO

14Walk-up sites

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices

In the agency’s own words

A camping trip to the Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park makes for a beautiful getaway for sightseeing, stargazing, and hiking. The park protects the most dramatic section of the Gunnison River Canyon; no other canyon in North America combines the narrow opening, sheer walls, and startling depths of Black Canyon. Keep reading

Recreation

Take one of many spectacular hiking trails such as the Oak Flat Loop Trail and watch for birds like the black-billed magpie. In summer, catch an evening educational program in the campground amphitheater. Winter activities include snowshoeing on Rim Rock Trail or go cross country skiing on South Rim Drive (South Rim Campground is first-come, first-served in winter).

Facilities

Campsites are open year round, but drinking water is only available mid-May through mid-October. Electric hookups are in Loop B and available year around.

Natural Features

Perched on the South Rim of the Black Canyon, this campground is surrounded by scrub oak forests and sits atop ancient hard rocks. Deer, grouse, bears, and bobcats are known to frequent the area.

Nearby Attractions

Visit the Cimarron Canyon Rail Exhibit to see railcars and the last remaining railroad trestle on the Black Canyon of the Gunnison route. Head upstream to Curecanti National Recreation Area to enjoy water recreation on Colorado's largest reservoir.

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

What the agency tells you

Rule

There are no water hookups or dump station at South Rim Campground.

Rule

Cell phone reception is unreliable in the area.

Rule

Check out time is 11:00 a.m.

Everything else this campground posts · 5

Rule

Bears frequent the area; all food must be kept in approved containers

Rule

This is a high elevation facility (8,000 feet/2438m). Learn how to "Take it Easy at Altitude" and more on the park's Safety web page.

Rule

Weather varies greatly from the canyon rim to the canyon floor; bring appropriate clothing

Rule

GENERATOR USE IS NOT PERMITTED.

Rule

There is NO wood collection or firewood sales in the park. Don't Move Firewood : Help protect our forests! Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood near your destination and burning it on-site. Moving firewood is illegal in some states.

Read them on the agency’s own page →

Source: recreation.gov facility notices, quoted verbatim · Sep 9, 2026

Tents and rigs

Sites: 89
Hookups: 22 electric, 1 water
Longest rig: 65 ft
Paved pads: 2 of 89
Accessible sites: 2
Pets: Allowed
Campfires: Allowed, barring fire bans
Shade: 87 of 88 sites

Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Toilets: Vault Toilets - year round
Drinking water: Yes
Camp host: On site; recreation.gov lists “Host”
Stay limit: 14 nights; recreation.gov facility rule maxStay

Source: National Park Service and agency records

Around the campground

On the water: Reservoir, River; Amphitheater; Backpacking; Birding; Cross Country Skiing; Evening Programs; Fishing; Guided Interpretive Walks; Hiking; Ranger programs; Picnicking; Scenic drives; Stargazing; Visitor center; Wilderness access
Tree cover: 19%
Night sky · 335th darkest of 522 in CO: Bortle 3

Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026

Tree cover: NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC), one 30 m cell at this coordinate · Sep 9, 2026

Night sky: VIIRS Day/Night Band annual cloud-free composite, VNL V2 2024 (Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines), read at the published coordinate · Sep 8, 2026

Fully booked on Sat, Oct 17, all 25 sites takenread 15:14 UTC

recreation.gov lists 84 of the 89 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.

OpenBooked

Every one of the 25 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 18 are free on Wed, Oct 21. read 15:14 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t

These counts cover the 89 reservable sites only. This campground also has first-come sites, and recreation.gov publishes no availability for a site you can’t reserve.

Booking windowThrough March 31Bookable now through March 31, 2027, the end of the reservable season. The season after it isn't published yet.recreation.gov

Max stay14 nightsthe facility record

A night$20–$34plus $8 to reserve, once per bookingthe agency’s rate schedule

A weekend$48–$76DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above

If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservationrecreation.gov’s schedule

Runs itNational Park ServiceBooked through recreation.govthe agency’s record

Watch for a cancellation

Full? Watch it.

One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.

We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.

Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.

Book on recreation.gov

We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.

Every line of the receipt · 14

What you actually pay

The sign priceNational Park Service

A night, per site$20–$34

Standard Nonelectric$20

Standard Electric$34

Rates for the season the campground is in now, May 14, 2026 to Dec 31, 2026.

There is an additional $6 electricity attribute fee for Standard Electric sites.

The booking feerecreation.gov

Reservation fee, booked online$8

One fee per reservation, however many nights you book, and it’s non-refundable. $9 if you book by phone, $3 in person.

Pass discounts only apply to the recreation (or use) fee for the facility. Other charges such as electricity or water hookups, reservation or other fees are not eligible for a discount.

What a stay costs

One nightDerived$28–$42

A weekend, Friday and SaturdayDerived$48–$76

Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $20–$34 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.

If your plans changerecreation.gov

Change fee, moving to dates outside your booking$10

Cancellation fee$10

Cancelling the day before, or the day of$10 + your first night

No-show$20 + your first night

Who keeps the booking fee

The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →

How we know this receipt · 5

Sign price: recreation.gov facility rate schedule, quoted as the agency publishes it · Sep 10, 2026

Booking fee, change fee, cancellation fee, no-show: Rules and Reservation Policies, Recreation.gov, the published fee schedule, curated by hand into lib/reservation-fee-schedule.json (9 rows, each carrying its own verbatim sentence). The publisher states these policies were last updated September 2019. · Sep 9, 2026

The two totals: Derived by CAMPANAC by adding the agency’s own published nightly rate to recreation.gov’s own published reservation fee. Both components are cited above; the addition is ours and is shown only where every component is known. · Sep 9, 2026

Who keeps the booking fee: Recreation.gov facility policy text, Dead Swede Campground (facility 234221) · Not on the national policy page. This is agency policy text recreation.gov publishes on individual campground pages; this site holds it verbatim on 45 active campgrounds (campground_rules.cancellation_description, scripts/load-facility-rules.mjs). · Sep 9, 2026

The contract: Reservation Gods: Who Stole Our Campsites and Sold Them Back to Us, More Than Just Parks, April 2025 · Apr 1, 2025

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

recreation.gov availability, read 15:14 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

89 sites · which ones have room · the site map

The sites, ranked

from 84 mapped sites

55 ftbetween you and the next site, typically

Most roomLoop B B023 82 ftLoop B B016 77 ftLoop B B022 75 ftLoop A A030 71 ftLoop A A024 71 ft

Least roomLoop A A014 36 ftLoop A A015 36 ftLoop A A027 43 ft

Source: Derived by CAMPANAC from recreation.gov per-site coordinates (nearest-neighbor distance) · Oct 12, 2026

All 89 sites

89 of 89 sites located

Standard62RV / electric22Type not stated5

Aerial · Esri World Imagery

Sites: recreation.gov (RIDB), coordinates as published · Aug 23, 2026

Imagery: Esri World Imagery

SleepsTakes aUp to

Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 89 of the 89 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.

The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 84 of the 89 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.


Loop A	A001	standard nonelectric	42 ft			52 ft	765 ft	206 ft	$20
Loop A	A002	standard nonelectric	35 ft			49 ft	782 ft	158 ft	$20
Loop A	A003	standard nonelectric	29 ft			71 ft	850 ft	145 ft	$20
Loop A	A004	standard nonelectric	43 ft			49 ft	802 ft	116 ft	$20
Loop A	A005	standard nonelectric	28 ft			71 ft	871 ft	74 ft	$20
Loop A	A006	standard nonelectric	42 ft			53 ft	825 ft	80 ft	$20
Loop A	A007	standard nonelectric	29 ft			44 ft	867 ft	58 ft	$20
Loop A	A008	standard nonelectric	50 ft			44 ft	898 ft	14 ft	$20
Loop A	A009	standard nonelectric	35 ft			53 ft	903 ft	86 ft	$20
Loop A	A010	standard nonelectric	32 ft			49 ft	964 ft	150 ft	$20
Loop A	A011	standard nonelectric	44 ft			56 ft	1,022 ft	146 ft	$20
Loop A	A012	standard nonelectric	32 ft			49 ft	1,007 ft	186 ft	$20
Loop A	A013	standard nonelectric	27 ft			51 ft	1,057 ft	214 ft	$20
Loop A	A014	standard nonelectric	16 ft			36 ft	1,107 ft	225 ft	$20
Loop A	A015	standard nonelectric	32 ft			36 ft	1,088 ft	190 ft	$20
Loop A	A016	standard nonelectric	32 ft			55 ft	1,155 ft	248 ft	$20
Loop A	A017	standard nonelectric	50 ft			62 ft	1,114 ft	180 ft	$20
Loop A	A018	standard nonelectric	27 ft			49 ft	1,213 ft	266 ft	$20
Loop A	A019	standard nonelectric	29 ft			49 ft	1,175 ft	226 ft	$20
Loop A	A020	standard nonelectric	24 ft			49 ft	1,118 ft	169 ft	$20
Loop A	A021	standard nonelectric	58 ft		yes	49 ft	1,092 ft	142 ft	$20
Loop A	A022	standard nonelectric	33 ft			55 ft	1,159 ft	254 ft	$20
Loop A	A023	standard nonelectric	38 ft			55 ft	1,131 ft	225 ft	$20
Loop A	A024	standard nonelectric	43 ft			71 ft	1,066 ft	140 ft	$20
Loop A	A025	standard nonelectric	40 ft			69 ft	1,079 ft	226 ft	$20
Loop A	A026	standard nonelectric	40 ft			60 ft	1,030 ft	253 ft	$20
Loop A	A027	standard nonelectric	18 ft			43 ft	1,027 ft	192 ft	$20
Loop A	A028	standard nonelectric	36 ft			60 ft	1,007 ft	269 ft	$20
Loop A	A029	standard nonelectric	34 ft			43 ft	999 ft	211 ft	$20
Loop A	A030	standard nonelectric	36 ft			71 ft	975 ft	311 ft	$20
Loop A	A031	standard nonelectric	65 ft			57 ft	931 ft	245 ft	$20
Loop A	A032	type not stated	18 ft				952 ft	304 ft
Loop A	A033	type not stated					876 ft	286 ft
Loop A	A034	standard nonelectric	50 ft			57 ft	879 ft	218 ft	$20
Loop B	B001	standard electric	16 ft	30 amp	yes	64 ft	580 ft	189 ft	$34
Loop B	B002	standard electric	35 ft	30 amp		64 ft	517 ft	230 ft	$34
Loop B	B003	standard electric	35 ft	30 amp		63 ft	627 ft	121 ft	$34
Loop B	B004	standard electric	32 ft	30 amp		55 ft	602 ft	107 ft	$34
Loop B	B005	standard electric	32 ft	30 amp		55 ft	636 ft	69 ft	$34
Loop B	B006	standard electric	23 ft	30 amp		56 ft	689 ft	73 ft	$34
Loop B	B007	standard electric	35 ft	30 amp		56 ft	695 ft	41 ft	$34
Loop B	B008	standard electric	21 ft	30 amp		53 ft	753 ft	108 ft	$34
Loop B	B009	standard electric	21 ft	30 amp		53 ft	801 ft	146 ft	$34
Loop B	B010	type not stated	32 ft	30 amp			808 ft	166 ft
Loop B	B011	standard electric	30 ft	30 amp		57 ft	876 ft	157 ft	$34
Loop B	B012	standard electric	25 ft	30 amp		64 ft	815 ft	205 ft	$34
Loop B	B013	standard electric	36 ft	30 amp		57 ft	886 ft	208 ft	$34
Loop B	B014	standard electric	32 ft	30 amp		61 ft	907 ft	168 ft	$34
Loop B	B015	standard electric	36 ft	30 amp		70 ft	955 ft	236 ft	$34
Loop B	B016	standard electric	35 ft	30 amp		77 ft	879 ft	168 ft	$34
Loop B	B017	standard electric	27 ft	30 amp		71 ft	959 ft	231 ft	$34
Loop B	B018	standard electric	50 ft	30 amp		58 ft	853 ft	181 ft	$34
Loop B	B019	standard electric	40 ft	30 amp		58 ft	796 ft	129 ft	$34
Loop B	B020	standard electric	28 ft	30 amp		71 ft	760 ft	167 ft	$34
Loop B	B021	standard electric	44 ft	30 amp		71 ft	727 ft	151 ft	$34
Loop B	B022	standard electric	21 ft	30 amp		75 ft	703 ft	204 ft	$34
Loop B	B023	standard electric	21 ft	30 amp		82 ft	626 ft	275 ft	$34
Loop C	C001	standard nonelectric	19 ft			50 ft	321 ft	189 ft	$20
Loop C	C002	type not stated	20 ft				380 ft	150 ft
Loop C	C003	standard nonelectric	21 ft			48 ft	358 ft	145 ft	$20
Loop C	C004	type not stated	21 ft				417 ft	99 ft
Loop C	C005	standard nonelectric	22 ft			48 ft	393 ft	110 ft	$20
Loop C	C006	standard nonelectric	28 ft			51 ft	433 ft	86 ft	$20
Loop C	C007	standard nonelectric	21 ft			49 ft	481 ft	36 ft	$20
Loop C	C008	standard nonelectric	21 ft			51 ft	471 ft	93 ft	$20
Loop C	C009	standard nonelectric	21 ft			49 ft	520 ft	47 ft	$20
Loop C	C010	standard nonelectric	21 ft			61 ft	533 ft	111 ft	$20
Loop C	C011	standard nonelectric	21 ft			60 ft	574 ft	79 ft	$20
Loop C	C012	standard nonelectric	21 ft			66 ft	610 ft	157 ft	$20
Loop C	C013	standard nonelectric	21 ft			60 ft	639 ft	133 ft	$20
Loop C	C014	standard nonelectric	21 ft			68 ft	587 ft	199 ft	$20
Loop C	C015	standard nonelectric	21 ft			44 ft	631 ft	173 ft	$20
Loop C	C016	standard nonelectric	21 ft			55 ft	577 ft	226 ft	$20
Loop C	C017	standard nonelectric	21 ft			44 ft	643 ft	187 ft	$20
Loop C	C018	standard nonelectric	21 ft			61 ft	635 ft	237 ft	$20
Loop C	C019	standard nonelectric	21 ft			50 ft	690 ft	171 ft	$20
Loop C	C020	standard nonelectric	21 ft			55 ft	726 ft	210 ft	$20
Loop C	C021	standard nonelectric	21 ft			53 ft	667 ft	137 ft	$20
Loop C	C022	standard nonelectric	21 ft			55 ft	687 ft	179 ft	$20
Loop C	C023	standard nonelectric	21 ft			61 ft	608 ft	102 ft	$20
Loop C	C024	standard nonelectric	21 ft			61 ft	612 ft	152 ft	$20
Loop C	C025	standard nonelectric	21 ft			55 ft	544 ft	114 ft	$20
Loop C	C026	standard nonelectric	21 ft			55 ft	560 ft	168 ft	$20
Loop C	C027	standard nonelectric	21 ft			43 ft	504 ft	148 ft	$20
Loop C	C028	standard nonelectric	21 ft			58 ft	522 ft	191 ft	$20
Loop C	C029	standard nonelectric	21 ft			43 ft	466 ft	169 ft	$20
Loop C	C030	standard nonelectric	21 ft			45 ft	469 ft	219 ft	$20
Loop C	C031	standard nonelectric	21 ft			45 ft	424 ft	226 ft	$20
Loop C	C032	standard nonelectric	21 ft			61 ft	407 ft	168 ft	$20

Price: Derived by CAMPANAC: each site takes the per-night rate this campground publishes for the site’s own site type (recreation.gov rate schedule). recreation.gov publishes no per-campsite fee, and a site whose type carries no published rate is left blank rather than called free · Sep 11, 2026

25 of 89 listed

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number

Coordinate38.55056, -107.68667

The mapSee it on the map

The driveDirections ↗

The phone970-249-1914 EXT 425

The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗

Where it is

Also near here

East Portal CampgroundUncompahgre Field Office · 2.6 mi

Black Canyon Of The Gunnison North Rim CampgroundBlack Canyon of the Gunnison National Park · 2.7 mi

Cimarron Campground10 mi

Cimarron Campground (CO)10 mi

Cottonwood Grove CampgroundGunnison Gorge National Conservation Area · 18 mi Soap CreekGunnison National Forest · 20 mi

Getting there

The park is located approximately 250 miles (402 km) southwest of Denver. The South Rim of Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is 15 miles (24 km) east of Montrose, CO, via U.S. Hwy 50 and CO Hwy 347.

Directions: Driving directions as the agency wrote them · Sep 9, 2026

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

This Afternoon60°Sunny

Tonight38°Mostly Clear

Sunday56°Mostly Sunny5% rain

Sunday Night40°Slight Chance Rain Showers then Mostly Cloudy15% rain

NWS forecast for Montrose, CO

Source: National Weather Service, GJT forecast office · Oct 17, 2026

Typical weather

Typical October night 33°F, day 55°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical January night 14°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

90°32°10°

Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more

A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.

Measured at: MONTROSE 11 ENE, CO (USW00003060), 0.6 miles away and 162 ft higher

Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, monthly normals · Sep 8, 2026

The land, and who answers for it

who answers for it

Who answers for this land

Black Canyon Of The Gunnison South Rim Campground is in Colorado’s 3rd congressional district. Its representative, Jeff Hurd (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Source: U.S. Census district boundaries and the MTJP Congressional Public Lands Score

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from

Right now: recreation.gov is offering sites on 30 of the next 30 nights, which isn’t something a closed campground does.

Sites on recreation.gov: recreation.gov’s own month availability payload for this facility, asked for October 2026, November 2026 and July 2027. It names 84 of the 89 campsites the agency files here, and every one of them carries an answer either way. A campground nobody has read carries no answer at all, never a no. · Oct 11, 2026

Elevation: USGS 3DEP elevation point query at this campground’s coordinate · Sep 7, 2026

Tree cover: NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC), one 30 m cell at this coordinate, taken as the median across the 89 campsites here that carry a reading · Sep 9, 2026

Water: USGS National Hydrography Dataset, nearest perennial lake, reservoir, river or stream to this campground’s coordinate · Sep 8, 2026

Night sky: VIIRS Day/Night Band annual cloud-free composite, VNL V2 2024 (Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines), read at the published coordinate: 0.12 mcd/m² of artificial all-sky glow, ranked against the 522 rated federal campgrounds in Colorado · Sep 8, 2026

Sky-glow model: Duriscoe, Anderson, Luginbuhl and Baugh (2018), a simplified model of all-sky artificial sky glow derived from VIIRS Day/Night band data, the National Park Service sky-glow model

Cell signal: the Park Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.

Nearest town: U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line 2024 places, measured by CAMPANAC to the town boundary; population is the ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimate · Sep 9, 2026