East Portal Campground
1Heads uppark alert
- Right now
- Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 15:27 UTC
- A night
- $20When it reopens, per site
- Sites
- 16In the agency’s record
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 4 notices
In the agency’s own words
The East Portal Campground is located within Curecanti National Recreation Area, but is adjacent to and only accessible from Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. The campground is located at the bottom of the canyon, along the Gunnison River. It is a small campground of 15 sites (10 are tent-only), shaded by box elder trees. East Portal is closed in winter, when the Bureau of Reclamation closes the East Portal Road. Elevation: 6526 feet (1990 m). NOTE: Black Canyon of the Gunnison charges a $30 per vehicle entrance fee which you will pay upon arrival (or purchase in advance ). The park also honors interagency passes for entry (e.g., senior, access, Golden Age, 4th grade, etc.). Keep reading
Facilities
East Portal is a small campground of 15 sites (10 are walk-in tent-only; 5 are vehicle accessible), shaded by box elder trees. Seasonal potable water access and trash collection. Food storage in bear boxes is required. Each campsite has a fire pit, grill and picnic tables. The campground has vault toilets only.
Natural Features
East Portal offers plentiful shade and nearby access to the Gunnison River. Spectacular views of Black Canyon of the Gunnison and Curecanti are abundant.
What the agency tells you
East Portal Campground is at the base of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, down a steep (17% grade) and curvy road. Vehicles in excess of 22' of total length are prohibited on this road.
The East Portal Campground is located within Curecanti National Recreation Area, but is adjacent to and only accessible from Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, which charges a $30 per vehicle entrance fee. You will pay this fee upon arrival (or purchase in advance). The park also honors interagency passes for entry (e.g., senior, access, Golden Age, annual, 4th grade, etc.).
East Portal Campground is closed in winter, when the Bureau of Reclamation closes the East Portal Road.
Everything else this campground posts · 1
STOP THE SPREAD OF INVASIVE SPECIES . Remove plants, seeds, animals, and mud from boots, gear, pets, and vehicles. Clean your gear before entering and leaving the recreation site. Stay on designated roads and trails, and follow local guidelines for firewood . CLEAN, DRAIN, DRY boats and any other recreational equipment that contacts water. Dispose of unwanted bait, worms, fish parts, or other organisms into the trash and not into the environment. For more information visit the National Invasive Species Information Center .
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 16
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets - seasonal
- Drinking water
- Yes
- Bear boxes
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- River
- Night sky · 306th darkest of 522 in CO
- Bortle 3
Nothing to book until it reopensread 15:27 UTC
recreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
Tell me when it reopens
Watch for it to come back
One email when the agency reopens it, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check the agency’s own record once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time it stops saying closed.
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.
Every line of the receipt · 15
What you actually pay
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 · 4
Why this page can’t say why
recreation.gov lists every site at East Portal Campground closed this Friday and Saturday night. The National Park Service has published no closure notice we hold, so this page can’t say why, and it won’t fill the gap with a guess. A closed night isn’t a sold-out one: the reservations its record still carries were taken before the sites were closed.
There’s no notice to quote and no reason to argue with, so this page offers you the watch and the list below, and no letter.
Open within 150 miles · 4
The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.
- Rio Grande CampgroundRio Grande National Forest · 63 mi · walk-up
- Buffalo Pass CampgroundRio Grande National Forest · 66 mi · walk-up
- Saddlehorn CampgroundColorado National Monument · 71 mi · 79 sites
- DexterSan Isabel National Forest · 82 mi · 4 sites
recreation.gov availability, read 15:27 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
16 sites
All 16 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 15 of the 16 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Scan and Pay | East Portal Campground Scan and Pay | type not stated | |
| 001 | standard nonelectric | $20 | |
| 002 | standard nonelectric | $20 | |
| 003 | standard nonelectric | $20 | |
| 004 | standard nonelectric | $20 | |
| 005 | standard nonelectric | $20 | |
| 006 | standard nonelectric | $20 | |
| 007 | standard nonelectric | $20 | |
| 008 | standard nonelectric | $20 | |
| 009 | standard nonelectric | $20 | |
| 010 | standard nonelectric | $20 | |
| 011 | standard nonelectric | $20 | |
| 012 | standard nonelectric | $20 | |
| 013 | standard nonelectric | $20 | |
| 014 | standard nonelectric | $20 | |
| 015 | standard nonelectric | $20 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Black Canyon Of The Gunnison South Rim CampgroundBlack Canyon of the Gunnison National Park · 2.6 mi
Black Canyon Of The Gunnison North Rim CampgroundBlack Canyon of the Gunnison National Park · 5.2 mi
Cimarron Campground7.6 mi
Cimarron Campground (CO)7.7 mi
Lake Fork CampgroundGunnison Field Office · 18 miSoap CreekGunnison National Forest · 18 miAfter entering Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, turn right on East Portal Rd and follow it for 5.5 miles (8.7 km).
NOTE: East Portal Campground is closed in winter, when the Bureau of Reclamation closes the East Portal Road.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Montrose, CO
Typical weather
Typical October night 26°F, day 64°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 3°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
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.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
East Portal 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 →