East Portal Campground — Curecanti National Recreation Area
Reviewed Jul. 21, 2020

well situated, shady, quiet

As others have noted, the first set of camping sites you encounter when you get to the bottom of 5 miles of twist turny 16% grade are more exposed but you drive right in, while the others are just a little down the road, you park in the sites facing the river, and walk your stuff down a little embankment to very cool, quiet, shady sites that I really liked. There are vault toilets here, there was potable water, tent pads, picnic tables, garbage and recycling bins, and bear boxes. No firewood for sale at the campsite, so get some at the little store right off highway 50 when you turn in toward the park.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison is stunning and not that heavily traveled. The East Portal, this camping ground, offers the only easy access to the river, since most of the roads and whatnot are a couple thousand feet up along the rim. The Gunnison here is gold medal trout water, being just below a dam, and there is about a mile of water fishable from shore / via wading from the camp site. Lots of big brown trout can be seen just hanging out a few feet from shore via the little path, and there are lots of beautiful riffles, pockets and holes to float your fly in. I didn't catch anything, but other anglers said they did. The one guidebook I consulted indicated that this water will see lots of angling as the season progresses, and especially on weekends, so the trout are wary and finicky. I didn't find them too spooky when I was casting to them, but I did find that they seemed to have no trouble resisting what I was floating past them.

Anyway, a beautiful site to catch some fresh air, fish some beautiful water, enjoy Colorado.

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  • Review photo of East Portal Campground — Curecanti National Recreation Area by Joe J., July 21, 2020