South Rim Campground

Very nice campsites. Small trees surounded each site to give you some privacy. Fire pits and picnic tables were in each site. We were in B for campers. They also had education programs on most nights for you to learn more about the park. Could not get a signal with our phones while we stayed here.

This campground is like a typical forest service campground. Our site had a private picnic area which was nice, but in the evening, we could hear all of our neighbors talking. The campground was packed while we were here on a Saturday in July. I'd recommend making a reservation even though there are 1st come sites available.

The best thing about this campground is the park itself. The views are incredible. If you're in a tent or truck camper, the East Portal Campground is worth considering or at least driving to it's at the bottom of the canyon and quite scenic.

We reserved ahead of time, but the campground is big enough to have spaces available in shoulder season. Nice space between sites, and variety enough to find one in the size you need. Trails nearby and the whole park is at your fingertips. Definitely worth the stay instead of having to commute into the park from town.

He had a black hood and boots, but otherwise was coated in cinnamon. Young and wild and free, I fell in love with him as he sauntered, at first, across the road to East Portal (where no campsites were still available on a Saturday afternoon around 3pm), but by the time our connection had begun it was already over…he ran off into the scrub oak forest and lost himself between the serviceberries and Gambels.

I tried to find pleasure in the deer, walking with their babies, reportedly attacking humans with dogs to such a degree that they have banned walking your dog in the South Rim campground at all during the spring and summer months, but still, beautiful as they were, they'll never replace my precious bear cub love that will forever make this Black Canyon all the sweeter in my memory.

Bonus info!

No cell service, at all.
Can and plastic bottle recycling.
No firewood, so buy it outside of the park.
1 mile hike from C Loop to Visitor Center is a beauty, easy, but sometimes dangerous for the kids! No dogs allowed on this trail either.
2 cougars spotted in the last week! #yikes!

There are three loops - one is dry camping reservable online, one has hookups reservable online, the last C is first come first serve. There were no reservable spots open for our weekend, and we had a super long drive to get to the first come first serve on a Saturday night. The nice camp host greeted us before we entered the campground area and told us that A8 was open which was in the reservable loop! Must have been a no show? It was a pull through so great for our little trailer. While vegetation blocked most of our views, you can hear all your neighbors. Our back up plan was the free BLM area a mile or so outside of the park. It looked big enough for a few tents/trailers.
Dogs cannot be walked outside of your camp site in June/July due to aggressive mama deer. Otherwise, the trail heading out of the campground is dog friendly. Take a drive down East Portal Road, the views are amazing. "In Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, pets on leash may be walked on roads, in North Rim Campground, to the overlooks, and are allowed on the Cedar Point Nature Trail, and North Rim Chasm View Nature Trail." - NPS

We enjoyed our stay in South Rim Campground, kind of. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison is something to see and experience for its geologic wonder and overall beauty. However, a new policy enacted this year by the park service put a bit of a damper on our stay. Between June 1 and August 10, dogs are essentially unwelcome in South Rim Campground and on the nearby Rim Trail. The deer have taken over the campground, and they apparently have become aggressive towards dogs and humans during their birthing period. To mitigate the potential hazards to visitors, humans and dogs, canines must be constrained onleash ONLY in the campsite. They cannot he walked on the roads in the campground. We had two huge deer in our campsite along with our moderate-sized dog, and we experienced no problems. Albeit the deer had not given birth to a fawn yet, but they were both very pregnant. On top of this constraint, the campground hosts were NOT friendly.

We found a fine place to walk and exercise our pooch on BLM land about 1 mile outside the Park entrance kiosk on Highway 347 where there are many roads and several boondocking opportunities for vans and very small trailers.

The campground is easy to access on paved roads, but the campsites are gravel. There is a NO GENERATOR policy, so it is quiet. Loop B has electric hookups so you won’t need them there. Loop A has no electric. Loop C is tents and very small trailers only. We paid $14/nt for electric hookup in Loop B with our discount for an Annual Park Pass; it’s $22/nt without the pass. Water is available at a single spigot in each campground, but a sign reads THIS WATER IS HAULED 14 MILES BY TRUCK. CONSERVE. NO FILLING OF RVs. So if you are staying for several days in an RV, I’d recommend filling with water before you climb the hill to the park.

Cell service is not available in the campground, but you get good service on the South Rim Road west of the visitor center.

I would highly recommend driving down the East Portal Road to the Gunnison River deep inside the canyon. The road is steep, but nothing that any car or truck can’t handle. Use FIRST GEAR and save your brakes. It is a different experience seeing the river and canyon from this viewpoint, one worth it. Don’t just drive to the bottom, turn around and leave without getting out of your vehicle. Walk down to the river, 50’ or less, and feel its cold. And look up and around you at the sheer walls of this glorious natural chasm. It will be something you’ll remember.

We camped here on 7/6/18 for 3 nites. Some sites have shade. Loop C is first come. Bear boxes water and no cell coverage. We had an excellent lightning storm one nite.

We stayed here the end of September weather was beautiful, but I am sure it is hot in the summer, little shade. The altitude was 8,500 ft which we had some trouble adjusting to it.

There are 3 loops, one loop has electric, one loop is reservations and one is first come first serve. We were there off season so all of them were first come first serve.

There were vault toilets. We have a cell booster so we could text and make calls. No dump station, but there is one water station at each loop.

I'm so glad I decided to make the trip to Black Canyon of the Gunnison. What an amazing park! I look forward to returning and exploring other areas.

The campground itself was nice but fully packed. Of course I was visiting in the summer and on a weekend no less so I didn't expect solitude. The sites are pretty small but bushes around them offer some visual privacy.

Loops A and B are for reservations, while loop C is first come first served. I was lucky to arrive at around 10AM on Friday and get a spot in C. The other loops were fully reserved. By afternoon loop C was totally full. Seems like a lot of one nighters though as all my neighbors left Saturday morning. Of course new people promptly arrived.

The park service summer programs are cool and the amphitheater is just a short stroll. This summer there is an astronomy program with presentations on things like black holes and constellations and volunteers with telescopes you could peer through. The stars here are outstanding.

The campground currently has restrictions on pets. I guess the lady deer here are aggressive and don't like dogs and dog walkers hehehe. There are a lot of deer! So cute to see baby Bambi in your campsite.

The campground has vault toilets and limited water supplies that are trucked in. I suggest bring your own water. There are bear boxes and picnic tables.

Loop C is the oldest and the sites are small with pretty tight parking. Think twice before bringing your big ol RV in here. It really isnt the place. Most sites have pull over parking spots along the side of the road through the campground. When I was there someone put their slides out and blocked the one lane small road. If you have a bigger rig I suggest making a reservation for the other loops, I think loop B has electric.

No cell service at all in the campground but you might get service on the park roads or the road out of the park towards Montrose.

Oh and btw Montrose is actually a really cool town. I went into town to get some stuff done and went to the farmers market and other downtown shops. So cute!

The spots in Loop B combine the best of all worlds: reservable so you can get a site that fits (some are quite small), with electric service, decent separation and privacy via Gambel oak hedges, and wildlife aplenty. There is a 1-mile trail from the campground to the visitor center and a 3-mile loop that can be completed from the campground on the Rim Rock, Oak Flat, and Uplands trails. Be sure to drive the scenic drive and visit every overlook -- some require a fair bit of walking to get out to the points, but it's worth it to see different perspectives on this very unique geological feature.

Our favorite part of the park was the very dark skies at new moon. Views of the Milky Way and other stars were incredible, and the campground is dark just like the rest of the park so there's no need to venture far from home to take in the night skies.

The biggest ding on the campground is that sites tend to be very unlevel, and larger rigs may have trouble getting into spaces and getting level. We saw several Class As with their wheels in the air in an effort to level up, and we never quite got level even using all our blocks. There is no cell service on AT&T in the campground, but we were pleasantly surprised to find we had 6-8 over the air TV stations including ABC, NBC, ION, CW, and several PBS stations. Our visit of 10 days was way too long to see the park but with Montrose just 15 miles away we got a lot of errands done. The City Market on the south side of town by the WalMart is a real standout for groceries!